CS Schools with Good Merit Scholarships

College Search & Selection
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<p>Right. My co-worker who went to Wisconsin noted that.</p>

<p>One question is whether the OP’s son can do well enough in a foreign language AP. Illinois seems pretty generous with the foreign languages (and calc): <a href=“Academics, Undergraduate Admissions, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign”>http://admissions.illinois.edu/academics/placement_ap.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Then, say if you major in Stats & CS (they also have a Math & CS): (<a href=“http://provost.illinois.edu/ProgramsOfStudy/2014/fall/programs/undergrad/las/stats_comp_science.html”>Asian American Studies – Office of the Provost), if you manage to go in with 40 credit hours due to APs (of a 120 hour degree; the engineering school is more like 135 or something), and take 6-11 hours almost every semester, tuition would be around 80K? (<a href=“http://registrar.illinois.edu/financial/tuition_1415/Fall/ugrad_engineering.html”>A Brief Review – Office of the Registrar)</p>

<p>Illinois also won’t increase your tuition while you are there.</p>

<p>A bunch of the general education requirements seem like they can be knocked off with AP credits (as, unlike Wisconsin, a lot of the AP credits do map to actual classes; you would want to check first, though): <a href=“LAS gen ed distribution requirements | College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Illinois”>http://www.las.illinois.edu/students/requirements/gened/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Not sure if the OP’s son would be happy with almost all CS & stats or CS & math classes. Or maybe he’d think that’s great.</p>

<p>You could cross-register for CS classes at GTech at Emory (though they may be difficult to get).</p>

<p>Hmm, I looked at Emory, and their CS degree requirements do seem to be a bit of a joke. 7 CS courses required for the BA in CS (but at least you could do data structures, algorithms, and operating systems, which I consider to be the must-do courses for a decent CS degree). OS not required for either a BS or BA in CS? (What?)</p>

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<p>We have looked at the University of Miami but the CS program did not appear to be particularly robust.</p>

<p>We have not looked at Miami U. Ohio State seems like it would be a better choice in the area as it has a larger name and alumni network. Very different kinds of schools though.</p>

<p>University of Richmond seems to be a pretty small program. He would like to go to a program that is fairly large with a lot of offerings.</p>

<p>We have kicked around UIUC and Wisconsin and they both have great reputations in CS. It may be worth throwing his hat in the ring but I would guess they are a long shot on getting substantial merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>I do not think he has any interest in going to a school where he is an “outlier”. He likes being surrounded by others that challenge and push him. </p>

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<p>I do not think he will get any AP language credits. He took German for two years and spent a month in Germany and really enjoyed the class but his school only offers German one period a day and it conflicts with getting AP Chem junior year and looks like it will conflict with either AP Phys or Calc his senior year. I do not see him self studying for a foreign language exam.</p>

<p>Actually, I think he would like the idea of taking all math and CS classes but the reality he would/will discover is that 16-18 credits of all Math/CS classes is hard or at least that was the case for engineering when I was in school and I anticipate CS being equally challenging.</p>

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If he applies to UW but is not a direct admit into CS, it will not be a difficult choice. He will not go there. He wouldn’t want to and I wouldn’t want him to.</p>

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<p>I’m confused. Is he a rising jr or a rising sr? Did German conflict with getting AP chem this past school yr or would it conflict this upcoming school yr?</p>

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<p>That’s true. 16-18 hours of math and CS would be killer.</p>

<p>However. 6-11 hours a semester (3 courses) costs about $21K in tuition a year at Illinois (and it’s fixed). To graduate in 4 years, he’d have to come in with a ton of AP credits, though.</p>

<p>CS in engineering would not require a foreign languge:
<a href=“http://cs.illinois.edu/current-students/undergraduates/undergraduate-curriculum-requirements#BSENG”>http://cs.illinois.edu/current-students/undergraduates/undergraduate-curriculum-requirements#BSENG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There’s also Illinois Pathways (<a href=“http://pathways.engineering.illinois.edu/”>Academics – Engineering Pathways), but then the first 2 years are at a CC (but Parkland is in Champaign).</p>

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<p>Is your son an RPI medalist? Cause that comes with a minimum of a $60,000 scholarship (over 4 years). If your son is a particularly viable candidate, then he could qualify for more. It’s not that uncommon for a good candidate to get 100K-120K in scholarships from there. RPI (in Troy, NY) is expensive, and even with these scholarships the 4-year price tag is still over 100K. But if you’re willing to pay 140K-160K for 4 years, then it’s an option. It’s not a great one, but it’s still there. </p>

<p>I’ve heard of a couple of people on here getting hefty scholarships from WPI (Worcester, MA). Don’t know too much about these though</p>

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<p>@WAPacker‌:</p>

<p>“I agree on the AP/CLEP credits. They can often be used to meet many of the humanities/social science requirements and may free up some room in the schedule to take some additional classes of interest but they don’t tend to shorten the time required to complete a degree in engineering or cs.”</p>

<p>I would say it depends a lot on the college. At many schools now (a lot of privates), they’re almost useless.
At many state schools, though, they can definitely cut down your tuition costs, even if they don’t shorten the length of time.</p>

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<p>@Mom2aphysicsgeek Sorry for the confusion. He is a rising senior. AP Chem conflicted last year and AP Phys or Calc would conflict during his senior year.</p>

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<p>U of New Mexico should be in-state tuition (or cheaper) for your son:
<a href=“http://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/”>http://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>RPI list price is around $227k for tuition + R&B for 4 years. If the upper end of the stated range on scholarships is 120K that puts us right at the $100k I used as a screening criteria. Sounds like a long shot but one we would take if he liked the school.</p>

<p>$80-$100k is what we could expect to pay for 4 years in-state here in WA. It really does seem like whether you go to RPI or Washington State University or Ohio State University and are able to land a job at Micrsoft you are going to be paid the same salary. Microsoft hires WSU and OSU grads and I bet that they hire RPI grads as well. Certain schools seem to open certain doors from a recruitment standpoint better than others but it seems like most CS grads are getting jobs and they are all paid the “going rate” in the region. I have a hard time justifying paying $140k-160k if I can’t figure out what the extra $40-$60k is buying. My son is interested in attending a highly regarded/ranked school but he feels like I do that the premium it is worth is probably not large. That said, he is genuinely interested in Alabama but I don’t think it is necessarily his top choice at this point but he does recognize there are some opportunities he may get there that he may not get at some of the higher ranked schools. The downside will be poorer recruiting at the school. A&M and Purdue have great recruitment and we will pay a premium for that but we expect the actual education at the three schools will be more similar than different. </p>

<p>These privates offer some big scholarships but they start with a list price that is $10-$20k/yr more than a typical OOS public so the scholarships make them competitive at best. Are they worth more for an undergraduate CS degree? We may be willing to pay a premium but we want to know what we are paying for. Seems like we keep coming back to public schools although USC, Rose Hulman and Case keep lingering around.</p>

<p>I appreciate the feedback on different schools that may be worth considering. Several of them we had not even given a glance before. Keep them coming.</p>

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<p>U of New Mexico could be a bargain.</p>

<p>He may be in outlier statust there though. Would have to look at the stats for engineering/cs students versus the entire class.</p>

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<p>This list of the best CS department (or at least the CS departments with the best CS undergrads) got me thinking:
<a href=“Computer Science Universities - #7 by PurpleTitan - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17339789/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>UBC is just north of you folks and their tuition is reasonable: <a href=“Undergraduate tuition fees | Student Services”>http://students.ubc.ca/enrolment/finances/tuition/undergraduate-tuition-fees&lt;/a&gt;
Science tuition of $24K.</p>

<p>And International Major Entrance Scholarship would put the cost within range:
<a href=“http://you.ubc.ca/tuition-scholarships/international/”>http://you.ubc.ca/tuition-scholarships/international/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@WAPacker:</p>

<p>I think that the main advantage to going to one of the top 15 is for the network. You’re more likely to meet kids who will found a startup that makes it big at those places than other schools. And also, for those schools that are Wall Street targets (and semi-targets), a better chance to work on Wall Street.</p>

<p>Also, proximity could also be a help. So Santa Clara, while not known to be a top CS school, places very well in the Valley because it is located there. They also offer merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>Wall Street is one where the name of your school matters. I agree with that.</p>

<p>Networking is valuable. The very top schools can put you in contact with the right people.</p>

<p>The proximity is an advantage. Santa Clara was on his list in kind of a luke warm status for a while but he removed it. We talked about it again the other day so it may make it back on the list. </p>

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<p>We had not really considered the Canadian schools. Thanks.</p>

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<p>Here’s my little personally-biased ranking by tiers (biased towards getting you on to a trading floor or ground floor of a tech start up:
<a href=“Something really odd that I've noticed - #24 by PurpleTitan - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>Something really odd that I've noticed - #24 by PurpleTitan - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums;

<p>Not sure how much you or your son care about a shot at Wall Street. If not (and looking at only CS), I still think Stanford/Harvard/MIT are worth full-pay for the network if he wants to be entrepreneurial, only CalTech and Princeton would be in tier 0.5, and tier 1 (which I have as worth 3/4th the full-cost of a private) would contain the rest of the Ivies, Harvey Mudd, Chicago, Duke, USC, CMU, Cal, Illinois, Michigan, & UDub. I might throw Santa Clara in there as well, purely based on location (and I don’t know enough of the Canadian schools to really comment).</p>

<p>Of those, only USC & Chicago (and Santa Clara) have realistic merit scholarships to take you to even 3/4th cost (CMU has them as well, but they’d be very hard to get; Duke has their 60 full-tuition scholarships a year–not sure what you have to do to get them; they seem insanely difficult to get). Of the publics, only Illinois and UDub can be had for that cost, OOS (if you bump Wisconsin, Texas, GTech, UCSD, and UCLA up to this tier, all of them except UCLA would qualify as well; still, that’s $180K total if you don’t count AP credits or scholarships to take out a chunk of it).</p>

<p>This is with a baseline of $120K total (which, I concede, might be a little high), mind you, for a public flagship who’s grads make a median of at least 80K mid-career (so top 30% out of 1000 schools in the Payscale rankings).</p>

<p>With full-tuition at 'Bama, your son could consider just going there (or another full-tuition place like Stevens or Pitt honors or Maryland honors if you get the full-tuition scholarship there; of which I’d say Maryland is definitely the best, BTW) and then after 4 years, assuming his grades are good, if he really wants a better shot at Wall Street (or go where a lot of entrepreneurs come from), aim for a masters/MBA from Stanford/Harvard/MIT/Princeton/Dartmouth/etc. The money you saved on undergrad could go pay for all/most of the Masters.</p>

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<p>If he as some level of proficiency in German (particularly if the time in Germany gave him enough additional practice to raise his proficiency beyond the highest level course he had in high school), then he may be able to place into German courses more advanced than the beginner one in college, even in the absence of an AP score.</p>

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<p>For CS jobs or entrepreneurship in a given area, a highly regarded school for CS in the area is probably the 800 pound gorilla for being a recruiting ground. For example,</p>

<p>Silicon Valley: Stanford and Berkeley
Seattle area: University of Washington
Austin area: University of Texas
Research Triangle Park: Duke, UNC, NCSU</p>

<p>Of course, some schools have a high enough profile to attract a fair number of non-local recruiters. Schools like Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, CMU, UIUC, Cornell, etc. would be examples for CS (but certainly not the only examples). But the small startups and the like have less need and resources to recruit at non-local schools if there is a good local school.</p>