Hey guys! I’m new to this but see there is a very helpful community here willing to help me choose my college options so please give me your opinions/advice. Ok so aside from other options I was offered I am leaning towards Georgetown & UCSD but they’re very different & offerings are too.
I’m a native SoCal & have been living here my entire life but w/in the past few years I’ve dreamed of being in the east coast & experiencing a real winter. I never really saw myself attend ucsd (see i feel i would be more urban living like ucla but thats another story haha) & it wasn’t after I was admitted when I attended triton day that I could kind of picture myself there after having toured the school this past summer but also i knew i kind of wanted a diff. environment from the always sunny socal/“beach for fun” life. La Jolla/SD area seems quite different from the OC area where I’ve spent most times on the beach which is why I’m not so sure of the SD/Jolla area. I was admitted as CogSci at ucsd but may be planning to change to cs major (i know its impacted) if i like specializing in cs through cogsci (i have no prior background in cs but find it surface level interesting which is one of my concerns since I’ve never been exposed to it before). There i would pay around 10k/yr.
Now Georgetown I am not sure how great their cs program is & how challenging it is. It’s a pretty cool idea to live in the east coast (though i imagined myself in a more urban area- d.c. is kind of small being used to surrounded by local cities) but I would like to know more about its student body especially diversity- ethnicity- I don’t want to just make friends of similar backgrounds(I know it’s up to me but I have experienced people-of a certain ethnicity or of higher socioeconomic background- who did not make an effort to continue a conversation I began). Also, being raised in SoCal I have been quite accustomed to the liberal & diverse communities here. I am not sure if Georgetown would be very different as in terms of how students/people are. Though I know wherever I go out of state there will be a culture shock. Are these just stereotypes/misinterpretations of GU students? I’ve read of the GU stereotypes such as “preppy/snotty/conservative” type. I know each school has its pros/cons but I want to get an overall feel of whether I would be able to call it my home away from home. What is there to do in d.c. other than historical sights/museums/bars? Outside of D.C.(DE,MD,VA etc)? Where do students go for fun/weekends/breaks? What may be the job opportunities after receiving B.S. especially in cs? Do you guys think I can go on to grad school at stanford for cs with a georgetown education in cs? See at this point I’m not sure if I prefer the prestige though both schools are quite prestigious imo. In GU I was also accepted to their GSP program(offers ++++ benefits: mentoring/networking/financial/trips etc) & total i would pay per year is about 2k. Huge difference (financially, student life, preparation, benefits). So far the emails I have been receiving from GU are very nice as in the people who respond to me are very helpful & I even received a letter indicating how they liked an aspect of me (which i mentioned in my app) & offer a program/club with my interest which makes me feel that I have been seriously taken into consideration not just a number. Please help me narrow this tough decision. Give any experience you’ve had with these (any) schools/what your viewpoint is.
Thanks in advance!
----Since this is in UCSD Thread, I would appreciate any advice about ucsd such as the impacted cs major & how hard it would be to change from cogsci to cs, though gu advice is still welcomed.—