Hi everyone. I was recently accepted into Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design and Northeastern’s Computer Science and Design Combined Major in the Honors Program.
Here’s the debate I’ve been having with myself…
Northeastern: 42k per year, Honors program (which basically means better housing and some perks), Design and CS programs are lower ranked, in Boston (I love the city), a super nice co-op and study abroad program, closer to home
Carnegie Mellon: 63k per year (~20k more), Design and CS programs are top 1-3 in the nation, in Pittsburgh (unfamiliar w the city), no co-ops and less significant study abroad, farther from home, heavier work culture, statistically higher salary upon graduation
With all this said, my family is able to and willing to pay for either school. However, NU will provide me with more support for graduate school if that’s the path I decide to take. Please leave any thoughts below. I am a horrible decision maker and am hoping for some advice. Thank you so much!
@PengsPhils Thanks for replying!
- For CMU I got accepted to the Undergraduate Design Degree, but I am planning on doing Human-Computer Interaction secondary major or minor which combines a lot of CS. My goal as of now is to work in UX design or design management.
- For NU, the honors program provides more financial support and opportunities for study abroad (students can travel 2-3 times), although you’re right that it’s possible in CMU as well! Just more expensive and requires more external planning.
- Oh, and by support for graduate school, I just meant that NU will just be less financially taxing on my family and I.
Right now, I am trying to weigh prestige and rank with price and college experience.
Be aware that the HCI secondary major appears to have a pretty competitive admission process: https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/academics/hci-undergraduate/major/applying
That said, even with that the difference in the amount of CS that includes compared to Northeastern’s CS+Design major is pretty significant. How much CS are you exactly looking for? UX design can range from generally little programming to going more of the front end developer and designer in one route.
I’m not an expert in the UI/UX industry but generally it is my impression that grad school isn’t needed or strongly encouraged. Experience/skills/classes/portfolio will matter a lot more, so I wouldn’t be too worried about grad school IMO.
@PengsPhils I’m honestly hoping to use college to delve deeper into design and user experience through classes/projects/clubs and see where it takes me. I’ve taken several CS and design classes in high school and I love them, but I realize that college may be different. In addition, my dream is to work for Disney Imagineering, but I realize that my path is subject to change and it’s up to me and my experiences to determine my future.
Considering that graduate school is not generally needed for these areas of study, I’m overall just hoping for insight into which school you would recommend.
You seem really knowledgable about all of this so thanks again for all your help!
To me, it sounds like you’re more design-focused than CS focused and the Northeastern CS/design degree might be too CS focused than what you want. For that design focus, CMU has a great program and since grad school isn’t needed and your family can afford it, I would go CMU here based on everything you’ve said.
All that noted, congrats on two great acceptances! There’s no bad choice here so if fitwise you are pulled strongly to one of these, I wouldn’t let one consideration override that. Good luck!