Hello,
I was recently accepted to Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, UCLA, Cal, and GW honors, and I’m having a lot of trouble deciding where to attend.
I plan on double majoring in Computer Science and Public Policy/Political Science, and eventually pursuing a career in programming/entrepreneurship, government, or consulting, and I know a lot of these schools have strong departments in both. However, I’m not sure what schools a double major across fields/schools like that would be possible.
Other factors that may come in to play are: I am an Asian Male and not catholic (but I participated in Notre Dame’s leadership seminar and didn’t feel uncomfortable at all), I do not plan on rushing (but I am a fan of partying casually), I would like to live in an urban city, I love being around people, and I plan on pursuing Model UN, Student Government, and most likely founding a start-up. I’m not certain about grad school yet, but if I do choose to attend, my dream would be Oxford for PPE (ideally as a Rhodes Scholar) or Cal/Stanford for computer science.
As far as money is concerned, Vandy/ND would cost the least, GW would cost about $10k more (I was awarded a Presidential scholarship), and UCLA/Cal would cost almost 40k more. I know Cal has extremely strong Poli-sci/Comp-sci departments, but I’m not sure that can justify such a large hike in price.
Any help on as to where I should attend would be appreciated, and I plan on posting this in the Vandy and Cal forums for more perspectives.
I would definitely advice against both UCLA and Cal on the basis of a) cost and b) difficulty to double major, as many students there have a hard enough time finding the classes they need to graduate in four years for even a single major. Berkeley has a strong Computer Science program but I don’t think its enough to make up for those two aforementioned shortcomings.
Depending how interested you are in consulting, none of ND/Vandy/GW seem to offer major advantages in terms of being a target school for big businesses (if anything, Cal is the closest to being a target) so I would probably choose based off of fit in that case.
Vanderbilt has a fairly tough and intense Public Policy studies program (I’ve been interested in it and looked it up myself) so double majoring while also maintaining a high GPA will be a challenge.
Finally, if you’re really dedicated to possibly becoming a Rhodes Scholar, Vanderbilt students often dominate that region for the Rhodes Scholarship since it’s the best school in that respective district.
Personally, I’d say your choice is between Notre Dame and Vanderbilt, with perhaps Vanderbilt edging out because it has a better Public Policy and CS program and since the Nashville area would be more beneficial for a startup. That being said, you can’t go wrong with Notre Dame either.
Having just visited GW today, I would think that it would be a great place for a political science/public policy major. I thought GW would be cheaper than both ND and Vanderbilt if you got a scholarship at GW. GW also fits for your wish to be in an urban area.
Something to consider: Greek life is pretty huge at Vandy, whereas ND does not have fraternities/sororities. My daughter’s roommate chose ND over Vandy mainly for that reason.
I agree that your choices are between Vandy, ND, and GWU. All have their tradeoffs.
ND is definitely not urban but it also does not have fraternities.
Then Vandy is urban but does have fraternities.
GWU also has fraternities, but is the most urban, yet not quite as elite as the other two.
So, I recommend that you prioritize your preferences. My hunch (and it is only a hunch) is that you would be most comfortable at GWU, since you are interested in political science and government. The local news in DC is national news everywhere else in America. Plus, the proximity to all those government agencies is bound to be helpful when looking for internships or a job.
Cal and UCLA are both excellent schools and are probably the best fit for your stated objectives. If you investigate, then you will likely find the lore of not being able to get classes is bigger than the actual problem.
Cal is definitely the best choice in terms of the quality of the programs of interest and its proximity the best start-ups and incubators in the world. Berkeley and the Bay Area are wonderful urban areas, if a little edgy/sketchy at times. My wife and I have been out of the UC system for some time but I’d say the claims that it is difficult to get classes are likely overblown, as that was never a problem for us.