My son was fortunate enough to receive the full Banneker Key scholarship, but was also accepted to Duke. In some respects it’s a win-win situation, but it does create a hard choice. We posted the below question on the Duke board and three responses unanimously opined that Duke is worth the cost. As noted below, my son will be a computer science major, and Maryland’s program is highly regarded, and he would also be in the cyber security program. The main point the Duke community made was that Duke would put my son in better position for elite computer science positions - you can see the responses on the Duke site. While we will speak with Maryland’s advisers, I was wondering what the Maryland community thinks. Frankly I expected more of a mixed response, although there were only three. We are planning on another visit to Duke as we have visited Maryland several times and of course I’m an alumni.
@TerpDad888 I read your post at Duke’s thread. It is a good idea to visit Duke again. Read about their FA policy and think about reasons/possibilities to lower your contribution. If you have new information to disclose/discuss with FA office, make an appointment with them during your visit. Right now, it is my understanding that you need to pay out-of-pocket $200,000 over 4 years if you son decides on Duke.
First, Duke is a more prestige school than UMD. Nobody would argue against this. This is why UMD giving out full-ride to keep best students in Maryland.
Second: Are you comfortable to pay $200,000 over 4 years without getting any loans? If yes and you think it is worth of the money, go for it. If No and you need to get loans, the choice is to stay in Maryland.
With respect to academics, the CS department at Duke is good; the one at UMd is very very good (almost excellent).
Duke is fancier place than UMd according to most people.
IT comes down to whether you are interested in spending the money for your son to have the Duke experience. I don’t believe for a second that it’s going to pay $200K more to have sent him to Duke. Nope. Maybe $20K more, but someone as sterling as your son, will make up for that first year or so gap,if there even is one in no time. You are paying for bragging rights and other such things, not for a boost in earnings, not in CS.
My son did the job rounds along with STEM majors from every elite school as well as the ones barely mentioned here. It all came down to what they knew on some tests in these software type firms. My son landed jobs from a litle LAC that didn’t have much of a CS program over kids from MIT and the ivies. And he had been accepted to an ivy in his day, and accepted the little school instead where he did major in math and enjoyed himself. The money it cost for him to go there over other choices was worth it to us because we could afford it and because it was gift to him for his first choice and it panned out because he loved his years there. Had we paid for ivy, it would have been again, a gift to him, not for any enhanced career situations. IT was not an investment. It rarely is. Had we truly been hard up to pay the additional money, we’d have told him as we had it on the table what we could pay, and he stayed within those parameters This is not an investment in your son that you are going to recoup, IMO, unless he hits some lottery at Duke which he might hit at UMD.
When it comes to cyber security, UMD has connections with the NSA, the DHS, the CIA, the Pentagon and the FBI, all located in the DC area. There are also numerous companies (large and small) that provide technical expertise. The ACES program is the first and only Honors Undergraduate cyber security program. Last year, UMD, in partnership with the MITRE Corporation was selected to establish a National Cyber Security Center of Excellence at NIST.
Good Luck
Have you gone to an admitted student day at UMD yet? DS and I went yesterday - my son will also be a CS major but chose the DCC Honors Program instead of ACES. I have been the member of the family that has been hesitant about UMD but after visiting the dorm - Prince Frederick Hall (ACES is there too) and meeting the current students who were very impressive (who have internships with Google and jobs lined up with Microsoft after graduation! All without the Duke name!) I am now fully on board. Good luck to you and your DS!
I read your post on the Duke board and saw the link that someone posted about which colleges are most represented in Silicon Valley and it struck me as missing some big names in the CS world - perhaps the list is accurate if you consider all majors but if only considering compsci majors I think the list would look differently. Anyway, I found this link to be interesting…
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/alumni-network-2/
@TerpDad888
Congratulations on BK!!
We too visited yesterday’s admitted student OH and came back very impressed with the ACES program. My son could sit in on two upper level CS classes - the prof of the first one took him out for lunch and chatted with him about research opportunities, the prof of the other one talked to him for an hour after the class ended. The ACES program seemed very well planned, the student panelists were amazing, the opportunities abundant, and like they all said, its more about figuring out what to say ‘no’ to than what to say ‘yes’ to!!
For CS, UMD is very well regarded and the name of the school makes little difference as long the opportunities exist. In my opinion UMD is headed to the top 10 soon.
We have to visit Cornell next, but UMD is very much in the running!!!
I just posed your situation to my son who graduated from UMD last year in computer engineering and is currently working on master’s in computer science. He said hands down, UMD. He knows multiple kids who secured positions with all the big names - not just in technology companies (ie Goldman Sachs etc.). Additionally, as a previous poster pointed out, students who are able to also obtain security clearances become even more marketable, even if they chose not to use them later on. He loved his experience at UMD and was VERY prepared for the workforce with his choice of job opportunities.