Deciding Between Universities (Computer Engineering Major)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So I know I have to reply to universities by May 1 but it's only getting harder in time to making a decision. I got into these 5 universities:</p>

<p>University of Massachusetts, Amherst ($6k Chancellor's Scholarship)
UC Riverside (no scholarship)
UC Santa Cruz (haven't received the admission packet yet so no idea)
Virginia Tech (same as above)
Illinois Tech ($9k International Tuition Scholarship+$2500 Housing Scholarship)</p>

<p>Plus, I still haven't heard from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor but I'm guessing it's gonna be a rejection since I haven't still heard from them.</p>

<p>As I live in Turkey, I will never had the chance to visit these schools before I make this decision so all I could have had the chance to do so far has been checking out almost everything I could find about these schools on the internet and talking to people around me about making this decision. So especially, I'd like to hear from people who visited one (or a few) of these campuses or actually took classes in them, or any inside scoop would help me a lot too :).</p>

<p>I am going to study computer engineering as major and would really want to study social psychology as a minor (even though I doubt I will happen to study social psychology as a minor so probably just psychology). So it is really important for me to find to school at which I can get the best computer engineering education possible. However, I should strongly emphasis on that academics are not all that matters to me. Especially, my social life will have a great impact on my college experience since I'll be leaving my home country and will start a whole new social life in the USA. So I'd like to know in what school I will be more likely to have a better social life as well as what school is a better place for an international student, like an international-friendlier school. Oh and I've never been to the US before so I have no idea what location is the best when it comes to weather, social life, safety, pretty much everything lol.</p>

<p>At last, idk if any of these matter at this point but I do wanna involve in research and internships so I especially have no idea at where I will have better job/internship opportunities. I really don't know if I will want a transfer after a few semesters, I might want one cuz I did all my applications, SAT+ACT's and everything in like 3 months and I know I could have done better if I had more time, but I might not want one cuz I wouldn't wanna bother myself with all the transfer process and orientation. However, I'm sure I would want to study for a master's degree too. And I really really need to defer my enrollment for a year (or 1 semester, not so unlikely tho) because of various reasons.</p>

<p>I'm sorry if I bothered you with a long post. All your replies will help me a lot. Thank you :)</p>

2

<p>You can find all kinds of weather information for each of these location at [National</a> and Local Weather Forecast, Hurricane, Radar and Report](<a href=“http://www.weather.com%5DNational”>http://www.weather.com) For ideas about how much airfare would cost, try [KAYAK</a> - Cheap Flights, Hotels, Airline Tickets, Cheap Tickets, Cheap Travel Deals - Compare Hundreds of Travel Sites At Once](<a href=“http://www.kayak.com%5DKAYAK”>http://www.kayak.com) For ideas about what to do in each location, try [Lonely</a> Planet Travel Guides and Travel Information](<a href=“http://www.lonelyplanet.com/us]Lonely”>http://www.lonelyplanet.com/us) the state and city tourism offices, and the local newspapers.</p>

<p>Is your deferral because of obligatory military service? If so, it should be easy to arrange. Contact each of these places NOW and ask what you need to do to defer admission for a year. When you do that, ask the places that have offered you scholarships if the scholarship will still be there when your deferral period is over, or if you would need to apply for it.</p>

<p>Since you know now that you probably won’t be able to enroll until the fall of 2012, it would be OK for you to reapply next year or to apply to a new set of universities next year.</p>

<p>Take a look at all of the scholarship offers, and compare them to the estimated Cost of Attendance (COA) that each place has given you. Do all of those COAs include the same things? Adjust them so that you can account for all of the different factors, and then see which is going to be less expensive for you. Remember, if you can’t guarantee that you can cover all of your expenses for the first year, you won’t get your student visa.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

3

<p>Wait, so is it it really ok for me to notify a university that I accept their offer of admission and then defer my enrollment then apply to other unis? This surely will help me to get less stressed, thanks! I thought I’m not allowed to do that.</p>

<p>No, it’s not because of military service, it’s because various reasons including family issues, health issues, my desire to gain more theoratical and practical experience (e.g. a job) before I start college, etc. And cost of attendance isn’t really a concern for me atm, me and my parents, who will pay for university, think that my first priority is to decide which university is best for me. Thank you :)</p>

4

<p>The best school for CS academically is probably VaTech. The best school for weather is UC Riverside. UC Santa Cruz has warm weather, but rainy winters and foggy mornings in the summer. The best weather at Santa Cruz is in the fall when the fog is gone and the rain hasn’t started yet. That said, the UCSC campus is gorgeous, set in hills among the redwoods and Santa Cruz is a great laid-back town. UCSC has okay CS, but is not the premier CS school in the area (Stanford holds that honor). It’s psychology dept, however, is good. UC Riverside is in the suburbs of LA which means lots of traffic to get anywhere with a vibrant nightlife or to get to the beach. However, probably easy to hit the desert or local mountains for fun. UC Riverside is more likely to be a commuter school than UCSC. However, both schools have large diversity so you will feel right at home as an international, more so than the other 3 schools on your list.</p>

5

<p>UCSC has one advantage for a computer science major – its proximity to “Silicon Valley”. Companies recruiting university graduates or interns find it convenient to recruit at local schools (this includes schools like San Jose State, UCSC, and Santa Clara as well as the much better known UC Berkeley and Stanford). While some may travel to recruit, they will only do so to a selection of high profile schools (which may include Virginia Tech, but not likely the others).</p>

<p>(Of course, as an international student, there are other issues like work visas that could complicate matters if you want to work in the US.)</p>

6

<p>@ricegal: That’s very detailed info, thank you! Would you say Virginia Tech is the premier computer engineering school in the area? I’ve been thinking I’d choose UCSC over UCR (mostly because of the location, and I guess there is no major difference between their academics). But that only leaves me with 4 options :confused: lol</p>

<p>@ucbalumnus: Yes, that’s been bugging my mind a lot. Apperantly, Virginia Tech has better academics and reputation that will help me when I’m applying for jobs than other schools in my list when it comes to computer engineering. However, UCSC is way closer to the Silicon Valley, which means better internship (and maybe research) opportunities (actually more likely it means more opportunities, I mean, you can meet your future employer or colleague while walking down the street or waiting a bus at the bus stop lol. In this aspect, it looks like being at a campus like next to the Silicon Valley is more advantageous). So, would it make sense choosing UCSC’s location over Virginia Tech’s academics and rep?</p>

7

<p>I finally did a pro-con list lol</p>

<p>Virginia Tech: Better academics and rep of CE than my other options (really important), huge campus and over 20k undergrads (which is a good thing to me lol), great research and patent activity, it’s engineering program has the best rankings of my 4 other schools, lotsa extracurricular activities, overall more oriented to my field.
But it’s in the middle of nowhere (according to the Princeton Review surveys lol). Plus, I spent almost all my life in a big city so idk how I’ll fit in (or if I’ll want to live in, since I’d prefer a big city) a town for 4 years (however, I guess I wouldn’t mind that since I’ll be spending most of the time inside the campus and like all the campuses has social activities for students), worse world rankings than any other school in my list except IIT. Oh and I have no clue how I’ll fit into the student body as an international.</p>

<p>Illinois Tech
I’d want to study in Chicago lol, academics shouldn’t be that bad since it’s a technological university, ec activities I’d really enjoy, student body more like me (geeky but study hard party hard).
Well, campus is a total deal breaker, medium size campus and approx. 2500 students. 2500 students? I mean c’mon, my elementary school had more than 2500 students! Plus, worse than VaTech in ALL ratings I’ve looked up. So I’d choose VaTech over IIT…</p>

<p>UCSC
Location, location, location lol. Better internship etc. opportunities+place I’d probably enjoy better. And all the UC’s have good rep imo
Cons: they might not let me defer my enrollment, not one of the best UC campuses (again, imo), not very CE oriented, which also results in their engineering program having worse ratings.</p>

<p>UCR
I can’t really think of UCR’s pros over UCSC so I guess UCSC between those two.</p>

<p>UMass, Amherst
Best world rankings in my list, it appears to be a well-rounded campus. Opportunity to study BS/MS in 5 years if I keep my GPA up, which is definitely an good option for me. Idk a lot about this school :frowning: , so about the cons I guess I can only say not as much CE oriented as VaTech and IIT. And not a great rep, I guess?</p>

<p>At last, I’ve read lots about these school’s engineering programs, however I couldn’t really find anything spesific about their computer engineering programs. For example, according to their site, VaTech’s 9 engineering programs are ranked in top 20, but no sign the CE program. Would you mind sharing anything that will help me with getting to know more about school’s engineering programs’ success (except their CE sites lol, already checked them out)?</p>

<p>As appears, I still need help in here :). Thank you</p>

8

<p>At most universities computer engineering is part of the electrical engineering department. In fact many of the top EE departments have renamed themselves ECE, electrical and computer engineering. That is the case at Virginia Tech and may account for why you do not find separate ranking for computer engineering there.</p>

<p>[Virginia</a> Tech | Electrical and Computer Engineering](<a href=“http://www.ece.vt.edu/]Virginia”>http://www.ece.vt.edu/)</p>

<p>Roughly speaking computer engineering deals with hardware (e.g. circuitry, chip design, etc.), which is why it is associated with electrical engineering. On the other hand, computer science deals primarily with software (algorithms, operating systems, programming languages, etc.). Most of the universities you have on your list offer both computer engineering and computer science.</p>

9

<p>So i should assume electrical engineering ranks apply to fomputer engineering too since both are in the same department? Makes sense lol, thank you :). I might choose computer science in future too, haven’t decided between both.</p>