Choices for Computer Science:
Example: If Carnegie Mellon says $35,000 per year for everything, then the State school/Full Ride sounds wonderful!
This is similar to another recent thread. You don’t need an Ivy League-caliber college to get a great CS education, so why pay extra! The only caveat you might consider, is to think about what you want to do after you graduate.
Yes.
And the student CAN get a Master’s in CS, after accepting the Scholarship!! So, Full ride for Undergrad, & then go to top college for more education!
Getting merit scholarships at top privates is tough, and, even after grant aid, middle class students still have to pay 25-40k. @magtf1 is absolutely right in his analysis, and i advise you to take it carefully.
Among UK and UCF, know that Orlando has more opportunities for employment than Lexington and UCF has nearly double the students of UK (nearly 50k). However, note that UK has a more campus-like, state school feel than the campuses of UCF and Cincy. All three are similar in prestige, so choose the one at which you feel most comfortable.
Among the privates, you can’t really go wrong. The highest quality CompSci program on your list is CM with Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell not far behind. Again, no wrong answer, so if you opt for this route, choose the one with the best merit aid.
That’s all I’ve got. Good luck!
Pick the place you like best of 1-3. Send in your deposit so you can get in line for the best housing option/early course registration/any other special thing they’ve got on offer.
If/when you are admitted to any of the other places on your list, and if/when any of those offers are affordably, that would be the time to decide whether or not you want to accept one of those offers, and let your choice from 1-3 know that you won’t be attending after all.
What did the net price calculators for the schools you list in choice 4 say?
You don’t have to decide anything yet, do you? Wait until you have all possible offers to make a decision.
Decision is May 1 (to hold the seat). It’s between KY and FL (such different campuses). KY has 150 CS students, and FL has around 1,500 CS students. Both would need cars to get to good Co-ops. The FL already advised us that the easy access Co-ops at Research Park are VERY competitive (just take a shuttle), so in may come down to transportation.
As for the top colleges, Brown was around $37,000 a year (the others were a bit lower). Carnegie Mellon ONLY has 5% acceptance Rate for CS majors, and students make $100,000 on average (starting salary… VERY nice!)
A few schools may depend on what your EFC is. I think Case Western has a policy that will ensure you only have to pay your EFC if you get in.
My son is accepted into a state university with a very large scholarship. We are waiting on higher ranking school decisions. I hadn’t thought about it but a post above mentions grad school. My son may be interested in grad school and could go to the more prestigious college at that time.
Per KY site (CS/Engineering)–
Fifteen percent of UK co-op graduates go on to pursue advanced degrees – at schools such as UK, Purdue, GA Tech, MIT, Duke, Virginia Tech, Johns Hopkins, University of Florida, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Tech, Carnegie Mellon, and UC Berkeley.
Originally, UCF in pretty Orlando seemed like best choice. But then, I was advised by people who LIVE/work there that Orlando has:
MSMead,
Glad to know you are in same boat as us. Which state school are you looking at?
Why not Cincy?
Can your parents pay 35k from income and savings?
If so, yes I believe it makes a difference to attend CM or Harvard or Princeton for 35k because of everything that happens outside the classroom in terms of resources, opportunities, connections. It’s not comparable and that’s why kids who had full rides elsewhere choose to attend these schools.
If not, it’s too bad you applied to unaffordable schools. 
So much work wasted, so much hope, for what?
Out of the three schools, UCincinnati has excellent paid co-ops and a modern, urban campus; UCF is in Central Florida (not near a beach) so it’s very hot and it is suffering from growing pains but it’s near internship sites, UKY is the most traditional university but less good than either one for CS.
MYOS1634
Need to clarify: I am the parent, and we can afford the 35K
I agree about CM, Princeton, Harvard, etc. Those are DREAM schools (VERY hard to get in,
students have HUGE connections to Facebook, Google, and more!!)
So, if my S gets in, visits and feels at home, then we’ll pay, and feel proud that he got in, went and got a diploma from a Harvard. He interviewed with Harvard, Princeton, and Duke!
As for Cincinnati, they will take a tour on the way back from Lexington (1 hour from Cincy). Spoke to CINCY, & those required CO-ops come with issues:
P.S. KY has NEW Dorms, a newer CS building, and a newer Honors building, a Steak/Shake inside 1 of their new dorms, HUGE school Spirit with basketball, and 2 career fairs every year.
I think Orlando would have more STEM research and internships, but as I stated, you are now competing with 1,500 other students for THAT Co-op VS 150 kids at KY for a specific Co-op.
Full ride or full tuition? These are different. Do you have to pay room/board/travel, etc at the schools offering scholarships? Full ride means they pay all. Full tuition is tuition only.
Full Ride, which is hard to pass up. We would pay for Travel & Books
CINCI -you pay for the Meals (but FL and KY cover the Food/Dorms at specific Levels)
Yes, its hard to pass up. But as others have said, wait til all the numbers are in to decide. IF you have the luxury of f financial flexibility, wait and see how it falls out.
Yes, we’ll know on March 31!! Jump up and down IF you get into PRINCETON!! Do the Happy Dance! Then hope for the best… travel there, see how it feels, & if comfortable paying to be IN the BEST of the BEST…We are lucky that we have options, and that we can cover the EFC.