Computer Science - SJSU/IIT/Stony Brook vs Penn State UP/Rutgers NB

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

<p>On one hand there is a pool of three colleges, all located in major cities.</p>

<p>SJSU($25,000) -
Ups - California, right in Silicon Valley, nice internships and exposure, very cheap
Downs - unsure of reputation and academics, No relatives there, College name won't be beneficial if I want to do masters</p>

<p>IIT($30,000)-
Ups - Close relatives, Cheap, reputed in Chicag, many international students
Downs - unsure of academics and future prospects of placements, bureaucracy </p>

<p>Stony Brook($33,000)-
Ups - NYC, Reputed CS program
Downs- Commuter campus, a lot of top-class universities in the vicinity, unsure of overall university </p>

<p>And then there is a pool of some universities which are highly-ranked and are well-known throughout US, out of them I have chose two -</p>

<p>Penn state($42,000)-
Ups - very well known, highly ranked, high school spirit, repurposed alumni network and career service centre
Downs - hell expensive, being a state college- very less cultural diversity, middle of nowhere, unsure of internships and part-time jobs</p>

<p>Rutgers ($39,000)-
Ups - proximity to NYC, Cultural Diversity, Many Indians, reputed program and university
Downs - class size, RU screw(bureaucracy), unsure of internships, expensive</p>

<p>So in all, I am really very confused. Now first decision lies in what to choose - the first group or the second. I don't know whether choosing the second group for all it's ranking and repute be worth the extra money spent. On the other hand, if I am travelling 8000 miles far away, I don't wanna land somewhere(first group) that won't land me job later and not help me build a strong academic base.</p>

<p>Please help me figure out which one should I choose or atleast which group to choose. Reasons are extremely welcomed.</p>

<p>Waiting :)</p>

2

<p>I can’t tell you about the other universities, they are all good choices, but I can answer questions about Illinois Tech as I have been a professor in physics here for 30 years and two of my children have attended the university.</p>

<p>The location is great, my daughter likes to roam about the city and there are two elevated train lines on campus that can get you anywhere. Lots of things to do off campus as well as on.</p>

<p>The academics are tough. We are a tech school and so our expectations for our students are much the same as CMU, RPI, or Case Western (among others). The students run a yearly survey and the faculty and academics are uniformly highly rated. Since we are a small university (2,800 undergraduates, 5,000 graduate students) there is a good chance of getting to know your professors, particularly in the Math Department.</p>

<p>IIT is well known to employers and our graduates do well in placement (we just received a memo from the career center that placement rates for 2013 were 92% which includes graduate school of course) and in salary (just search on “Engineering Schools by salary potential”). Anecdotally, my son graduated with a Computer Engineering degree in 2010 at the height of the recession and found a great job within a month through contacts made as an undergraduate. For graduate school, I can speak best about the physics majors and our students get into highly selective Ph.D. programs regularly and are well prepared in comparison to students from other programs.</p>

<p>Your final concern was about bureaucracy. This is a concern for the upper administration and the yearly student survey is mostly about how administrative offices interact with students. This has been improving since the university takes the survey results seriously and makes changes based on them. With a bit of good advice, students can navigate these offices smoothly. Faculty are always willing to help.</p>

<p>Feel free to ask me additional questions and good luck on your decision.</p>