The OP will be a senior member in no time based on this thread alone. So to continue his climb, 75% choose Colombia over UMich and the 25% that do go to UMich, it’s due to the cost.
Huh? Changing levels of “membership” have to do with the posters post number not the thread count number
Didn’t know you would take it seriously. ;))
Sure looks like a misunderstanding of the process here… But the misspelling/confusion of the College for the country (Columbia/Colombia) should have been a tip. Unless the OP wants to REALLY go out of state :D/
Oh no, I guess I don’t know what the process here is for climbing the forum ladder.
@Much2learn “That is definitely true. This year is the first time I have seen a 21 year old undergrad with a CS offer of $100k+ salary and another $100k+ in onboarding (signing bonus + relocation + stock/options). The talented CS kids seem to be really cleaning up this year. Are you seeing that more broadly?”
I can’t really speak for companies outside of bay area, stocks are used as a differentiator out here and also to help these young kids get some money for housing :-). So it’s tough to say whether Google uses stocks outside the bay area where they don’t run into other companies offering stock as a key part of their compensation.
This kind of thread comes up often, and the points made are more or less the same. My point is this: a school like Columbia is a luxury, and an expensive one if you have to pay full price. It provides some benefits Michigan doesn’t, the chief of which (in my opinion) is a set of more academically accomplished peers (compare the two on https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/compare-colleges) to see the difference here. That is a factor that matters a lot to some people, and much less to others. The difference is not all that great when we’re talking about Michigan, which is a top public, and perhaps even less if a student is definitely interested in CS (or engineering). The decision is actually not a “no-brainer” for a thoughtful person. But it does boil down to how much you’re willing and able to spend for a luxury item.
Do you all think the OP should attend San Jose State over MIT? Since SV hires more people from SJS? Meg Whitman, Jeff Bezos, Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates attended schools in what athletic conference?
None of them wen to Columbia, they want to Harvard and Princeton, which is a different discussion. For UM vs Columbia for Computer Science, Michigan is better all around in terms of prestige, campus feel, cutting edge research etc… Harvard vs Michigan or Princeton for CS is different, I’ll grant that.
“It provides some benefits Michigan doesn’t, the chief of which (in my opinion) is a set of more academically accomplished peers”
Hunt, it should be noted that Michigan differs significantly from Columbia in that a significant portion of its student body (20%) are pursuing non-traditional tracks, such as architecture, performance arts (music, student dance etc…), nursing, kinesiology, etc…not to mention Division I athletes. Students enrolled in the same programs as those offered at Columbia will likely not be noticeably less “accomplished” at Michigan, whether it is students enrolled in the CoE, or those majoring in Business, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics etc…
“The decision is actually not a “no-brainer” for a thoughtful person. But it does boil down to how much you’re willing and able to spend for a luxury item.”
Hunt nails it. The kid expresses a clear preference for the Columbia “experience” over the nearby State U “experience” (even though the State U here is one of the best state Us there is). 6,000 undergrads in NYC and 29,000 undergrads in Ann Arbor are very different propositions obviously. Seems like this kid likes strawberry more than chocolate, which is fine.
Unless there’s a clear need to preserve cash for grad school (doesn’t seem to be), the family can afford to pay full price. So this very lucky kid should go to where this kid wants to go. Which is probably Columbia.
It’s nowhere near that simple. The strength of preference is an important consideration, as is where the 180K goes if they do not spend it. If I as the student got to keep that 180K for post-grad to invest or buy a house or a car or get ahead in various ways financially, Columbia is in no way worth it. If that 180K means my parents can retire two or three years earlier, that’s a consideration as well. It’s a conversation to have with them.
I’m not sure where you’re getting this strong strength of preference which you have been using as part of your argument all thread. The quotes below are the only mentions of preference in the thread by the OP:
Not to mention that the OP originally mentions going to grad school.
You also keep insisting price is not important when the OP explicitly states that it is a factor for them.
All of this also ignores the possibility that Michigan for CS could be the better choice in a vacuum for some students, possibly this one, given the additional information in this thread (unfortunately buried in tangents).
Hunt’s analysis does indeed lay it out well. While very helpful, it doesn’t answer the question for this specific case.
The question isn’t whether a Columbia education is worth a ton of money, it’s whether the small trace of superiority that some claim Columbia holds over Michigan is worth $180,000. Unless the OP is filthy filthy rich, that’s almost the definition of a no brainer.
If class size matters, Columbia would have smaller classes, but is that worth all that money?
“Do you all think the OP should attend San Jose State over MIT?”
I don’t think anyone said that or even hinted it. What it shows is that in Silicon Valley prestige of where you attended undergrad is not as important as in the northeast. In order to get promoted you have to get stuff done and be able to work well with other people, typically not in brand conscious industries like consulting and finance. You have get stuff done too but you can be pretty cut throat about it.
Michigan! especially since columbia is among the most expensive schools of the usa, and Michigan is a school many people would die to go to
Interesting but UMich is not showing up in the latest Times CS rankings. Oversight ?!? Columbia is #19.
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2018/subject-ranking/computer-science#!/page/0/length/100/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats
UMich does appear in the Eng rankings!
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2018/subject-ranking/engineering-and-IT#!/page/0/length/100/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats
I’m not seeing UC Berkeley or UCLA in the latest Times CS rankings.
The Times is a British ranking. They don’t really know much about US universities. Not ranking Cal in the top 5 (let along the top 30) is an egregious oversight that casts serious doubt on the credibility of the CS ranking. Michigan and UCLA’s absence from the top 30 is less damning, but still pretty telling. UIUC should be ranked slightly higher, and Brown should be ranked higher too.
The fact that Cal, Michigan and UCLA were not at ranked at all suggests that they were inadvertently left out.
The Engineering ranking is more consistent, although again way too British-heavy. Oxford ranked higher than MIT in Engineering?! In what world?
Read up on Tony Fadell, a U Michigan engineering grad https://www.wired.com/story/tony-fadell-revenge-on-silicon-valley-from-paris/amp
This article also references NiKlas Zennstrom (the founder of Skype), another Michigan man. 