S is accepted to all, not considering in-state or not, though we are in-state for UMD. thoughts, comments. I always learn something when I ask…
Does net price matter to you? If so, how do they compare on that aspect?
For each school, check whether he is admitted to the CS major, or just the school in general. If the latter, check whether there is a high GPA or competitive secondary admission process to enter the CS major later.
There probably won’t be much difference in actual education between schools unless there are different specialization tracks available.
Of course the price tag for UMD would be the cheapest and I know their program is good, but my S may want to leave MD as my daughters did. Just fishing for info on each school, and yes he was admitted to the CS major in every school. (NC state is an general engineering track 1st year)
Would it be correct to assume that all are comfortably affordable, without parent loans or parent-cosigned student loans?
I just glanced at the Virginia Tech info but it looks like computer science is within the engineering school . Is there a separate application for CS there? I know any of the engineering programs there start within general engineering first.
VT, NC State and Maryland all have good programs as far as I know . I would go with cost and fit. And not worry so much about whether or not your son may want to leave Maryland at some point. Any good program should be fine, no matter where he ends up living.
http://www.enge.vt.edu/_files/undergraduate/com_requirements/COM_GE.pdf indicates that VT general engineering frosh need to apply to their desired engineering or CS major after completing the listed prerequisites. A 3.0 college GPA at VT means assured admission to the desired engineering or CS major. Students with lower GPAs are ranked by GPA and admitted until the major is full.
Students not in engineering must meet higher standards to be eligible to change into an engineering or CS major, and are only admitted on a space-available basis: http://www.enge.vt.edu/_files/undergraduate/com_requirements/COM_NonGE_Admitted_2016_After.pdf
In my opinion, it’s between VTech and NC State.
@ucbalumnus thanks for that info for VT, I knew he had to be admitted for gen engineering 1st year, but wasn’t aware is wasn’t guaranteed for CS 2nd year. Food for thought. And yes, luckily we can afford wherever he wants to go with no loans. @sevmom my son thinks he wants to leave MD now! You know, it’s the state university, many kids from his HS will go there. If not for the excellent CS program he wouldn’t even have applied there, but is considering now. And @LBad96 he LOVED NC state when he visited, but I believe it’s the lowest ranked out of these 4? Still a good program near reasearch triangle. Such a tough decision.
Well, he doesn’t need to see anybody from his high school days he doesn’t want to. It’s a large campus . My instate niece is at Maryland now in one of the Honors colleges. She had some pricy privates on her list but I know her parents are glad her instate option has worked out so well. She seems very happy there.
FWIW, US News ranks UMCP #15 in CS, the highest ranking among these 4 schools.
This is a graduate program ranking, but strong graduate programs must tend to have trickle-down benefits for undergrads.
I wouldn’t think any of the other 3 OOS public schools are worth a big price premium over Maryland at in-state rates. College Park also has the advantage of proximity to internship opportunities related to computing/IT in the Baltimore-Washington corridor.
College is a time people can sample other communities, cultures, geographic locations without making more than the 4 year commitment to it. Also people become more conservative over age. Normally I’d advocate for trying something new. But there is not that big a difference in the various schools your son applied to. They are all close and safe. So it makes sense for him to choose the one that he felt he’d like best-for whatever reason.
sigh yes UMD is most cost efficient. He is considering, we haven’t seen Umass yet, attending admitted student open house, he got a nice scholarship there that puts it number 2 for cost. And I agree @lostaccount it is a time to explore and since they are all good programs, maybe we will let him go where he wants.
I have a son who graduated from VT in engineering. Great school but we were instate. Maryland does sound like your best option. However, if you set a budget with him before he applied and all of these schools are still within that budget, then I can see that it would be tough to now not “let him go where he wants.” We told our kids we would help fund the equivalent of instate costs and they made decisions based on that in terms of where to apply. Every family has to decide for themselves what they are willing to pay.
Delete.
@sevmom how is your son doing now? Does he feel he was well prepared to find and be competitive in the job market? Did he like VT and is he glad he went there? What didn’t he like about it? Sorry about all the questions! Answer what you feel like 
Yes, he liked it very much. There is very good recruiting on campus . They have an Engineering Expo (Career Fair) that attracts many companies. I’m sure Maryland has something similar. He met good friends there, was an undergrad TA, was turned on by his department to a good internship opportunity . That internship led to a full time offer a couple of years ago. He recently moved on from that and is involved in a startup . He was not the greatest student in high school (SAT’s and EC’s were fine, GPA could have been better) but he turned it around at Virginia Tech and graduated Magna Cum Laude. He was well prepared to enter the job market. Very good school spirit. Very good food on campus. His older brother went to UVa and my VT kid did so well his freshman year that I did ask him if he wanted to try transferring to UVa (he was not competitive out of high school because of his grades and did not bother to apply) . He had no interest which confirmed to me that he was where he was meant to be. Nothing really that he didn’t like. He had to be proactive once in getting a class to keep on track but that is typical at lots of schools. He is very glad he went there but I think you would find that same sentiment from lots of Maryland graduates as well.
Some young people at that age (my freshman daughter included) need to get further away from home and the experience is good for them. I’d recommend letting him go OOS rather than stay in MD. VT is a good school.
Some of this depends on the financial stuff. An OOS choice that is substantially more than a very good instate choice is doable if the finances will work without substantial hardship or loans. If the finances are not an issue, that always opens up more options.
Thanks for info on VT, sounds good, will pass on to my son. We’ll take a look at Umass, maybe attend UMD admitted day as well. Go from there.