<p>I need your best advice on picking out the best colleges out of the ones i have been accepted to.
I plan to do engineering in Computer Science/Aerospace/Mechanical. (Preference in the same order).</p>
<p>What I need from a college:-
1. Has an excellent reputation.
2. Employers love it.
3. Good Student body who are motivated.
4. High education standards. (not just lecture halls filled with people).</p>
<p>The colleges I have been accepted to:-
1. UC Davis
2. U of Washington, Seattle.
3. Penn State (with Schreyer's honors program).
4. UC Irvine.</p>
<p>So, plz advice at your best, as if I am your friend, or brother, or son.</p>
<pre><code> When it comes to your major and ranking, none of the four schools are on the top 10 in that field, but they all fall under the same level of ranking ( top 50 or 60) depending on the specifics. That being said, UC Irvine is the least populated among the 4 schools.
</code></pre>
<p>So in all, they all have great engineering programs; seems likeable by employees based regions; all large public schools, and seem to fall under the same ranking badge for your program. So the weeding factor here might be other things such as finance; student body make-up; location, campus activities etc.
Not sure of your state of residence at this point or perhaps if you are International. After reviewing all the suggestions that you will get on here, It will be helpful to revisit finances, and go with the one with the most “FINANCIAL AWARD” or least amount of debt if any. Lastly let “FIT & BALANCE” be your guide.
Best of luck.</p>
<p>Bear in mind that the list where U washing is place #6, Pen State, and Irvine #29, and Davis #34 is for schools with graduate programs in Computer Science. The list for schools where Graduate programs are not offered is separate.
So as you can see, like I said earlier, all four schools do well in the 3 majors you listed; so you might want to use other factors and not just rankings in your final decision.
I will say try this link, you may find it useful…</p>
<p>@ donut9: I agree with jkeil911 and blx347 you might want to provide more information for better better beneficial feedback.
All 4 schools have excellent reputations, employers love is a matter of company needs and recruit region, they all have good Student body who are motivated and some who are not, they re all large schools, so lecture halls filled with people are great possibilities.
Therefore, it might benefit you to provide additional info such as:
-What programs did you get accepted to in each of these schools?
-Financial award amount?
-Residency, International etc?
-Your affordability?
-Carrier track/ graduate program etc?</p>
<p>If you are not a direct admit in CS at washington you will have to take all the required courses for CS and also need a high GPA to get into. You can also look up CS major at washington website to get better information. I have also received acceptances from washington,irvine and davis but dropped washington as only 30% of the students get CS ,which is a very high risk factor. This is also the same process for Mechanical eng. .</p>
<p>@donut9 do not pay attention to those rankings, you are not applying to the PhD program so those aren’t particularly applicable to you. What is applicable is the undergraduate education and they are all good in their own way. All U.S. publics. The Schreyer’s offer sounds nice, I think it is a good advantage to be able to do research. You may be able to do it at the other colleges too, though. If you didn’t get direct admit at UW, it seems you will be fighting to get in and need to be at the top 25 percent of the class someone knowledgeable here is saying only 1 in 3 get a CS admit, although there are some alternate related majors that may be good options for your interests. Check the UW website, they have some pages discussing it. Also look into requirements to transfer in to the UCs if you weren’t admitted to one of those majors.</p>
Has an excellent reputation: UWA, PSU/UCD depending on region, UCI
Employers love it. PSU/UWA, UCD, UCI
Good Student body who are motivated. Shreyer, UWA, UCD/PSU, UCI
High education standards. (not just lecture halls filled with people). all have high education standards but the only one that allows you to largely bypass the “lecture halls filled with people” is Shreyer.</p>
<p>based on this, if you didn’t get into CS at UWA, then the best pick for your criteria is PSU/Shreyer. It’s one of the best Honors Colleges in the country and the opportunities are amazing (their specialty is trying to snatch kids who didn’t get into Ivies but got into the next batch of schools, enticing them with resources and sometimes scholarships). It’s the only university on your list that will offer more than “lecture halls filled with people” during your first 2 years - you could get all your classes with 15-25 people.
My answer would be different if you’d been pre-admitted to UWA CS, but since it’s not the case, right now the major is super competitive - think the highest stats kids all fighting it out for a 1 in 3 probability of making it into CS.</p>
<p>Thanks friends. Wonderful comments. I agree with most of you about Schreyers.
But I wish to know does the State word in university name, will affect my profile later on?
How is UC Davis in CS n Aerospace?
If the only thing left in the world be reputation, then where would you go? PSU or Davis. (forget financials).
Which place will make you a better engineer (also motivated).</p>
<p>I wish to make the best educated decision. And I really can’t thank you guys less.</p>
<p>No, “State” word doesn’t affect anything, it is just the name of the college. There are all kinds of colleges, public, private, big and small. It is the quality and reputation that matters, not the name. What you do in college and in your jobs after is the most important thing, once you are in one of these, take advantage of opportunities that are there. In some states like CA, having “state” in the name means a bit less prestigious college than a UC, but In Pennsylvania it is in the name of the top public college. So that is nothing. Graduate schools and employers understand and know these colleges. They are not fooled by names or ignorant like High School kids can be.</p>
<p>I don’t think the reputation difference will make a big enough difference to make it the criteria. Grad schools will like both. I’d pick other criteria. Employers on the west coast they will know Davis more, East Coast will know Penn State more, I don’t know which is more impressive to people in your country. Maybe you’d better check if it will make a difference when you are job hunting.</p>
<p>edit to add:say “I can’t thank you enough”, saying “I can’t thank you less” is a funny insult.</p>
<p>The “state” in the name of a university has different meanings depending on the State.
In the South, it often means “University that used to be for African Americans at the time of segregation”, ex. University of Tennessee vs. Tennessee State, University of Alabama vs. Alabama State.
In some States, it means “universities created to encourage engineering and sciences after the Morrill Act, in addition to the traditional universities”, for instance Iowa State/University of Iowa.
In Pennsylvania, it means “best public university in the State” (if you will, the Pennsylvania equivalent of UCs in California.) Everyone knows that “Penn State” is THE public flagship in Pennsylvania and NO ONE confuses it with a traditionally segregated campus or a directional. The most frequent confusion is with Penn (UPenn, University of Pennsylvania)
The Pennsylvania equivalent of the “cal state” universities are the PASSHE schools (Slippery Rock, IUP, West Chester, etc).
Pennsylvania has three strong public universities: PSU, Pitt, Temple. PSU is the best of the three. Shreyer adds another level to that and is extremely prestigious. Psu would be equivalent to Davis academically, but Shreyer makes the difference for me. The learning conditions you’ll get are amazing for a large university.</p>
<p>I am also admitted to UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and UC Santa Cruz. How are they? I have heard good about UCSB. For Comp Sci, which will be best ?</p>
<p>Still Shreyer. Understand: there’s very little out there that beats Shreyer among public universities. You have Barrett or USC’s Honors.
Those change the experience at the university, the opportunities, the level of interaction right from your first year, etc., and even dorm (and, for Shreyer, food*) quality.
UCSB ad UCSC are good for comp sci and well-located but if you don’t want all-lecture halls your first year … not the place to attend.
*better dorms with their own cafeterias = better food</p>
The most frequent confusion is with Penn (UPenn, University of Pennsylvania)