These two are on the final shortlist. Are there folks out there who are in the same boat? And if you are chose one over the other, could you please share your thoughts?
Both are great schools for CS and we are struggling to make a decision.
My son was in the same situation (also a CS major). If it is at all possible, visit each campus. They are vastly different! And look at each program - they are both great schools for CS but each takes a slightly different approach.
After visiting both schools, DS has chosen GaTech for the following reasons:
- Tech has made him feel wanted throughout the application and acceptance process
- Admissions responded to an email question he sent within 24 hours (during the height of admissions frenzy!). Personal attention like that makes a difference.
- At Connect with Tech weekend he was able to stay with a CS major and sit in on an AI study session plus attend a CS class. We also had the opportunity to chat with students at lunch (random kids, not Tech representatives) to get a real perspective. They all stressed that the school really tries to help kids be successful.
- The Co-op program, internship programs, and study abroad opportunities seem more accessible than at the other schools (no co-op at UIUC or UT)
- Access to the Invention Studio!!
- The chance to minor in Computational Business (a business minor for CS majors)
- The option to change majors easily (highly doubt he would change but it is nice to know it is possible)
- The city of Atlanta! He likes the fact that he can get off campus and explore easily. UIUC is nice but you live, work, study, and play all in one area out in the middle of nowhere. Chicago is a three hour train ride away (we did it - fun, but it isn't something you could do every weekend). Austin is a great city, too, but we are from Houston so the chance to leave Texas is appealing.
- Tech seemed to have a more diverse student population.
- The size - UIUC and UT-Austin are huge with 40,000+ students. DS really liked the size of Tech since it isn't too large or too small but still offers all of the "college stuff".
- Freshman Experience - the support network that is in place for students was a big plus for DS.
- And most of all - the CS program, with the 8 Threads approach really appeals to him. He also likes that CS is in it's own College and is not part of Engineering (UIUC) or College of Natural Sciences (UT-Austin).
So, that is why my son is heading off to Tech this fall. Both UIUC and Tech are solid schools for CS so I recommend researching each program and each school as much as possible and visit if you can. Good luck!
The above post is correct, I actually live in Illinois and still might not choose UIUC. UIUC is a normal gigantic public school that happens to be great in engineering and CS. So everything else isn’t up to par. While GT is all smart people and so on. Being in the middle of nowhere didn’t really appeal to me
Thanks @treehuggermom and @originalosei2.
I understand the admission selection process for GTech is major-blind and the acceptance is around 30% while UIUC CS (in COE specifically) is ~10% while the university wide acceptance is over 50%.
Does this disparity make a difference? Any thoughts?
It is difficult to compare admission stats of a mainly technical/science school to a giant state flagship university with numerous non-technical colleges.
Those 30% who were accepted to Tech have an average SAT score of 2185, ACT of 32, have taken 10 AP/IB courses, and 95% of them have taken AP Calculus. I don’t know what UIUC’s overall admissions stats for this year are but CS in COE is extremely competitive. I’m sure the stats for those kids are impressive as well.
I think it comes down to the question of whether you want to attend a large university with pretty much every major available or a smaller school with kids that are more geared toward the sciences.