Help me choose where to attend! USC/UCSD/Edinburgh/Canada/etc

College Search & Selection
1

Ok, so I have no idea what school to pick and no one to help me out.

I am going to major in either computer science (CS) or a joint computer science/business admin (CSBA) degree, depending on the school’s programs.

My parents will pay 25k/year, for four years. Anything more is my responsibility from loans/work.

I want to know which school will get me the best job/worth the debt(?), etc.

I plan on living on the west coast, probably southern california.

From this list, which do you think I should attend? I have visited them all and love them all pretty well. They vary quite a bit, but I am adaptable. I grouped similar ones together. I have been admitted to all.

SCHOOLS:

University of Southern California
Yearly cost w/living would be ~40k, so 60k in debt… is this too much? I should be able to get a good job w/ USC degree right out of CSBA Viterbi, right?
CSBA
love this school so much!!!
Great resources.

UCSD/UCI
UC tuition, so only a little bit of debt, which i could work away while in school.
CS
Ok schools, don’t want that many students. I liked SD more than Irvine, of course. Not incredibly happy about such a big student body.

University of Edinburgh
About 40k a year, so 60k debt
18th best school in world (QS rankings)
Far and difficult classes.
Weird living situation.

McGill University/UofToronto/UBC
Canadian tuition, so I would have no debt (less than 20k/year)
Good school, not great job prospects??? is this true?
Huge class sizes.
UofT has a bell curve…

Loyola Marymount U
About 30k/year, 20k debt
CS
Ok school, I wanted a tiny bit larger though.

I am still waiting on berkeley, CMC, and hamilton. But i don’t like hamilton and berkeley is a tiny bit too ‘berkeley’. Claremont McKenna would be nice but i don’t think they give any merit aid so possibly out of the question.

I am ignoring boston college because too expensive… no FA or merit, so 68k/year+

I want to go to grad school, so good GPA will be required.

What is your vote?

2

Keeping in mind that I’m only a Junior, I would go for UBC because it’s an amazing place, you won’t go into debt, but I haven’t heard much about it’s CS program.

Otherwise, I would go for UCSD. It’s 6 college system is pretty cool, and it’s CS isn’t bad.

3

I’d go with UCI or UCSD unless you really hate the schools. A UC education is nothing to look down your nose at, especially if you don’t have to go into much debt.

USC’s tuition alone is almost $50K, so you might be underestimating the cost. I went to grad school there and might go into debt of about $60K-$70K for an undergraduate degree, but no more.

I understand what you mean about Berkeley. People either love it or hate it.

People overestimate what it takes to get into grad school. Lots of schools are desperate to get people into their graduate programs. Anyway, I’d suggest working for a few years before going to grad school. You may find you don’t need or want to go to grad school, but if you do end up going, your employer may pay for it if you go part-time while you work.

4

Yeah the figures I posted are after FA and merit aid that I’ve been awarded, including living.

I don’t like uci quite a bit but ucsd is cool. It looks like Ucsd will be one of my top choices.

5

My vote is USC, even with personal loans. As long as the economy holds up (crosses fingers), the CSBA degree will allow you to pay off $60K in 5-6 years very easily (just don’t trade salary for equity :smile: ). You may even be able to pay some of that off early if you can get good summer internships.

Seeing as how you want to live in socal, USC seems to be an easy choice. You will make tons of connections going to school there and working summers.

The other schools don’t really fit in my opinion.

Ask your parents if they will front-load their contributions to push off interest on your loans. $40K the first two years and then $20K 3rd year.

Edit to say that USC’s CS and Business schools are hot right now which factors into my opinion. And the “Silicon Beach” area is up and coming.

6

Perhaps I should think about this in context of whether I want to go to grad school or not? If I weren’t, I would feel more inclined to make my undergrad degree “count,” per se. Is it worth thinking like that? I don’t want to have to make that decision now.

7

I fell in love with usc when I did the explore program, but I didn’t get the scholarship that I was interviewed for. That’s why this is so hard for me, because I really really love usc, but now its going to be so darn expensive.

8

Sounds like you are still a little disappointed about not getting that USC scholarship. You still have a lot of time, I would defer this decision and hopefully some of that sting will dissipate.

Assuming full pay at UCSD (~30K?) the difference with USC is only $40K over 4 years, right? $80-100K extra is not worth it, but $40k may be, especially considering you are interested in a business undergrad program.

I don’t think you should assume you will go to graduate school. A million things can happen, you want to make undergrad count. But you are not my kid and I am also not an 18 yr old facing an extra $40K in debt so…

9

Hey so if anyone was wondering,

With more consideration and lots of discussion, I’ve decided on USC. They sent me some other money and I love it so much more than UCSD.

My parents will be paying more than originally stated, but I will still be in some debt. It will definitely be manageable.

Thanks all for the help.

10

Where are you borrowing that money? If you aren’t a US citizen or legal permanent resident, you won’t qualify for any of the federal loans. If you do qualify, you can’t borrow more than the federal limits ($5,500 freshman year, $6,500 sophomore year, $7,500 junior year, and $7,500 senior year) on your own. For more loans than that, you need a qualified US-cosigner, or your parents would have to borrow the money.

Before you turn down the Canadian universities, make dead certain that you do have access to all of the money that you need for all four years.

11

I am a dual Canada/US citizen. I qualify for the fed loans. Also, my parents will cosign on the last 20k of loans over the federal limit. They’re going to ‘front load’ their contribution so that private loans are taken out only in my later years. I am going to try to be an RA on campus sophomore year and would then have virtually no debt because of how my finances will work that year. I am not sure about junior/senior year yet, but FA will be very very likely vs this year (my parents had a good year). We’ve got lots more that we’ve talked about which I am not going to post on CC:)

I do still have the candians to fall back on until june (i would just lose the USC dept that I will be placing by May 1).