<li>Which of the two is better for purely CS??</li>
<li><p>incase i plan to do a minor in business</p></li>
<li><p>iv gotten into Information Systems at CMU… so IS at CMU or CS at UIUC/Umich whats better???</p></li>
</ol>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Quite honestly - both are highly respected. Both are fantastic schools, and it really depends on what state you are in. I would choose the school that is in state, since both are so closely matched, and it will be MUCH cheaper. By the way, congrats on your admission to both of those schools, which are prestigious in the tech arenas.</p>
<p>I realize I didn't answer your 2nd or 3rd question - you really can't go wrong with UIUC or UMich for business (although my impression is that UMich is better for business). If you got into UMich, don't bother with CMU. Nothing against it, but you have the oppurtunity to go to two of the top universities in the nation (UM or UIUC), and that is not something to dismiss UNLESS... you really like CMU. The college rankings are not universal, so if CMU has something you like that UM and UIUC don't, then go for CMU - I promise you won't regret that. If not, you won't regret either of the other schools. I have to say above all though, that later in life, you will really be proud of being a UM grad. My Dad went there, and it is very important to him. Ask some locals though - I went to college in California.</p>
<p>@behannah
well im from india... so they r all kinda same 4 me..
n you wouldnt have ne idea about the IS at CMU would you?
infact i personally wanted to go to a private school thats why all the hassle...</p>
<p>...Someone doesn't realize that CMU is considered to be the BEST school for Computer Science. You can also try to transfer from IS into CS at CMU.</p>
<p>I wouldnt count on transf. from major to major though. If its harder to get into CS/EE at CMU than any other major in engineering (And Ive heard that it is) then I doubt theyd just let you transf. </p>
<p>UIUC and mich are both tops for engineering in general, however UIUC's CS is higher ranked.</p>
<p>I was recently talking to another forum member, Lauras50. Her son got into IS at CMU last year but chose Rice for CS. She said that IS is very Math- oriented and has a different focus than regular CS programs, and that it's not really programming oriented. Her son wants to program so it wasn't the right school for him. You could PM her and ask more about the difference- I can't really remember all the details of what she said (my son didn't apply for IS). It depends on what you want to do.</p>
<p>I think if you decide that you want CS not IS, you might not want to enroll at a school where you have to count on transferring. That said, students on the CMU thread have mentioned that transferring into SCS is possible, especially if you do well in certain computer courses.</p>
<p>uiuc 10 char</p>
<p>OP, I have high regards for CMU SCS/SEI in general. I think the CMU IS program is very distinctive and very different from the traditional CS programs (i.e. UIUC and UM). </p>
<p>Go to CS if you want to learn the theories of architecting/designing/developing software systems (e.g. gmail, Windows, computer games etc) or explore ways to make computers easy (e.g. speech recognition, 3D visualization) or useful (e.g. protein sequencing, weather modeling & prediction etc). I just cover a few basics but there are more possibilities ...</p>
<p>Go to IS if you want to <em>manage</em> complex software system <em>projects</em> as in a project manager in service companies like Infosys and IBM which hire most of the CMU IS graduates. You will get more info risk management, decision making, business process modeling etc. Many people with CS/engineering background are actually in some of these roles. In all respects, CMU IS is perfect for someone who wants to jump directly into these roles.</p>