I received most of my decisions, but I’m being torn apart. Essentially (also this is all opinionated, so please let me know if you disagree), I’ve received acceptances to 5 schools I’m seriously considering.
Johns Hopkins University, UCLA, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Georgia Tech, and BU
I want to pursue CS in college.
The way I see it, there’s three types of colleges on my list: heavily prestigious (JHU,UCLA), really good at CS (UIUC, Georgia Tech), and really affordable (BU full ride, though money isn’t an issue).
I’m not sure how to go beyond, because what’s most important to me is internship and job prospects.
Another thing I’m not sure about is if it’s even worth paying OOS tuition. Money, once again, isn’t the issue, but I don’t think I should go to an underfunded university with large class sizes, where I can get lost and not find opportunities, as opposed to a private university for a similar price.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for all your help!
I just feel that why pay OOS tuition to a school, where most students are paying in-state tuition? And in terms of opportunities, I feel there may be opportunities, but little guidance on how to take advantage of those opportunities. But perhaps someone with more insight on state schools vs private schools can provide me insight.
I think the private vs public distinction you’re making is a bit blown out of proportion - you’ll need to take more initiative, but UIUC and GT CS are plenty well funded and are solid academic programs with great resources opportunity. It’s true that it will be a bit more impersonal, but compared to JHU/BU, I think the difference in CS strength will end up being a net win.
Based on your criteria, I’d narrow to GT/UIUC/BU. JHU won’t offer any special for CS and isn’t worth the cost. UCLA won’t beat GT/UIUC. GT is probably the better choice for their co-op program/resources for internships/job prospects as well a research if you wanted to do it. In your shoes, GT would be my pick, but there could be more details here that makes UIUC make sense. If money is an issue, I think BU would serve you just fine.
When you say “money isn’t the issue,” what do you mean? Do you have wealthy family who can easily pay for the total cost of attendance, or money in the bank all ready to cover the entire cost, or what? Will you have to take on debt?
I think your three types is a bit reductive; all of the schools on your list are prestigious, well-known schools; and although departmental rankings are usually for the graduate level and don’t perfectly correlate with the undergrad level, most of the schools on your list are great for CS. (Georgia Tech and UIUC do stand out at the doctoral level, but UCLA is no slouch, and Boston U is a good mid-ranked program).
You’ll get good internships and job prospects from any of these universities, as long as you are willing to put the effort in to seek them out and make the connections you need to. But college is about way more than just building towards your career, and there are lots of other aspects that will influence your career prospects. Think about your peers, the setting, the extracurricular offerings (sometimes you can make connections and get experience there, too), the environment - all of these things will shape not only your career but also who you become as a person.
UIUC, for example, is in a small college town when the rest of these are all in large cities. Georgia Tech is a technical school and most of your classmates will be engineering and sciences majors, whereas the other ones have more comprehensive offerings and you’ll have classmates with a wider range of interests and majors. Los Angeles and Atlanta are sunny and warm most of the year; Urbana and Boston are cold in the winter, and Baltimore’s kind of in the middle.
i, personally, think your choices boil down to JHU and GT.
do you want a smaller undergraduate population? JHU
do you want a bigger undergraduate population? GT
do you want D-I sports? GT
do you want D-III sports? JHU
can you handle the sweltering heat? GT
can you handle the bitter cold? JHU
it will all come down to fit in my opinion. i can’t really speak for BU, but i know the rest of those schools’ CS programs are very, very good. you can’t really go wrong.