Hi folks,
I’m trying to decide whether to go to mcgill or Brandeis. Both are going to cost about the same amount of money. Both have good comp Sci departments as far as I can tell, though Brandeis has much better access to profs and mcgill had a much wider variety of classes.
Essentially, I am trying to decide between a large school and a small school. Im not sure if I like big lectures or small discussion classes better, because I haven’t experienced much of either (just the weird hybrid that is 20 person public high school classes).
Does anyone have thoughts or experiences related to this? Also, is there a substantial difference in career prospects for either school? Any other information/personal experience regarding either school is more than welcome.
I don’t think that there is a substantial difference in career prospects, but you’ve hit the nail on the head that Brandeis has much better access to profs and McGill has a much wider variety of classes.
Brandeis also has cross registration with a variety of other schools in the area, so if you’re a junior or senior and able to have a car, it wouldn’t be difficult to take a class at Wellesley, Olin, Tufts, BU or BC. BU in particular has a very good computer science department and is large enough to have a wide variety of classes. Could be issues with different school breaks/schedules.
You’ll find small discussion classes and big lectures at both schools. The two locations are very different. Have you visited?
Have you visited both schools? McGill is ideal for the adventurous student who wants to experience a different culture while being only 31 miles from the US border. It is not the “traditional college experience”. McGill has particular strength on AI.
Brandeis is suburban with fairly easy access to Boston. McGill is right in the middle of downtown Montreal, yet it is not a concrete campus.