<p>May 1st is getting close, and I'm still not even close to deciding where to go to college.
I want to hit a computer science major with a finance double major or minor, and I've narrowed down my list to the following few. Please let me know your thoughts!</p>
<p>UC Berkeley: I know that the program is one of the best in the country, however I end up paying 34k a year to go there. Also, I heard that the cutthroat attitude of the students sometimes results in people sabotaging each other in order to save their grades. That's not how education should be :(</p>
<p>USC: I know that it's not as highly ranked, but it has a Computer Science and Business Administration major. Also, I have a trustee scholarship AND an invite from the honors college (so I end up paying less than 17k a year). I don't really like the hot weather though + not sure whether there are opportunities for CS majors in LA. </p>
<p>UCSD: Once again, not as highly ranked, but I have Regents here (I end up paying 28k a year). School seems really chill and like a cool place to be, but don't know if my degree would have serious credibility when I graduate.</p>
<p>Northwestern: LOVE THE WEATHER. CS not as highly ranked as the other schools and I end up paying 55k a year. Seems like a different atmosphere (I liked the school). Also, I know that there are plenty of opportunities in Chicago.</p>
<p>I have no idea what to do. Any comments help :) Thank you!</p>
<p>I think you should forget ranking for a while. If money works out for Northwestern then you should go there. My daughter’s best friend mom went there for CS and she is a general manager at a well known software company in Silicon Valley.
Are you serious when you wrote degree from UCSD will not have serious credibility. If you didn’t get into UCB EECS then the CS from L&S is just the same as the CS from UCSD. UCSD has the second highest number of nobel prize winners from the UC system, only second to UCB. From memory, UCLA only has 6 and UCI only has 3.
The admission rate of UCSD has nothing to do with the quality of the program.
Did you know the 2 guys that create Mac for Apple graduated from UCSD and the first employee at Facebook was from UCSD. Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Sorry, not being snobby. I got into UCB EECS.
It’s just what I’ve heard from my family and friends. When I tell people I got into SD, they say “Oh great Congratulations” but when I say Berkeley, they say “Oh my god berkeley”
Obviously the prestige for the two schools is different.</p>
<p>Yes UCB EECS is very hard to get in. The admission rate for UCSD is higher than UCB but that is not the same as the degree does not have any credibility. Maybe I misread your post.</p>
<p>^^they say omg berkeley because berkeley is known to be so rigorous? UCB is one of the best schools in the nation for what you want to do, and you got direct to the engineering college! Superior to UCSD. However, I usually recommend that pre-professionals and engineers take the cheaper school (for different reasons). In this case, the cheapest school is a really good uni and a really good program: USC Honors. That honors program is pretty sweet. It’s going to do right by you, along the lines of the Murphy without the extra 38K per year. The reason I suggest the cheapest school more often than not to engineers is that no matter where you graduate from your salary is going to be about the same in any one region of the country (i.e., for the same position, you will make more in Silicon Valley than Huntsville, AL, because the cost of living is more). Go where you get out of college with the least amount of debt because you’re going to get a job and prestige won’t buy you higher salary.</p>
<p>I think USC is a better fit for the combination of CS and Finance except cellobuddy does not like the location. But I think there is a lot of misconception, especially the part about CS major in LA. Have you heard of Silicon Beach(near Santa Monica)? Lots of startup companies there.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley is the obvious best choice here. You could’t be wrong with Berkeley EECS. Many people who attend the EECS program reject the Ivies, Caltech and other top schools. It has an admit rate of only around 10%. All the top employers know how prestigious that program is. </p>