My S managed to get off the WL for Northeastern CS with some merit scholarship that puts the cost 40k within UCSC CS.
Is NeU CS worth the cost given its coop program?
We live in Bay Area. How much of a challenge is the weather going to be in Boston?
What’s the exact cost difference? Would either require loans and if so how much? Depending on that, maybe. It’s a really well thought out CS program with a very good intro curriculum you can read about here:
https://felleisen.org/matthias/Thoughts/Developing_Developers.html
If you’re into the co-op program as well I think it’s worth some level of premium here but how much really depends on your individual financial situation and how strong your preferences are.
Weather is obviously different but how much of a challenge really depends on the person. I came from FL and had no issues, but I generally knew I wanted seasons instead of Florida weather. Generally, if you get a good heavy winter coat, a good pair of boots, and learn to use layering you’ll be fine and the rest of the wardrobe adaptation happens over time.
How much would Northeastern cost compared to UCSC?
The weather thing is unique to each person.
Thank you. Cost is about 126k for UCSC and about 165k for NeU. We’ll be able to support him for around 100k.
UCSC is obviously closer to home and close to the tech valley. But how is the CS reputation and opportunities with NeU? Is the private school setting worth the additional cost given it is CS?
He got into RPI and Lehigh too but didn’t get as much in scholarships so he ruled them out.
A “private school setting” doesn’t mean anything - you have to look at the specific offerings of each school.
A 40K cost difference over 4 years is not huge, but in this case, you’ll already have your son taking on 25K in debt - there’s no need to triple that when you have a quality option in UCSC.
Since he can borrow only up to about $27k without cosigned student loans or parent loans, that makes the decision in favor of UCSC.
@PengsPhils
So even if money were same is UCSC CS still better than CS at Northeastern?
My S is interested in going to Northeastern at this point and we are trying to decide where he would get the best quality education.
If money were the same I’d argue for Northeastern based on both research and teaching approach by a bit, but this isn’t a night and day difference.
For research strength: http://csrankings.org/#/index?all
Northeastern’s co-op focus is also a notable difference that can help set up postgrad jobs (66% of Northeastern CS grads have full-time job offers from a co-op when they graduate) but CS is also a pretty employable field with a good deal of internships available.
Point being, if we get down to it I’d argue Northeastern has an edge for CS, but I wouldn’t go out taking 40K more in loans than you are already planning to. You can see in terms of research UCSB is still a top 50 producer of CS research in the US. Postgrad outcomes between these are not going to vary significantly.
As mentioned, you’ll also have to cosign any loans over the federal limit of 27K
Obligatory note that I’m a Northeastern CS grad so take my assessment accordingly.
Thank you for your feedback. He’s also excited about the coop and the type of students that come to NEU. Hope your experience there was good.
He feels that UCSC CS is not rated as highly. It’s a UC and I see it is a pretty well ranked school. Though not as high as NEU. If he got into for CS in UCI or UCSD (currently WListed) we would’ve asked him to choose that.
As a programmer myself, it literally doesn’t matter where he goes to school. CS is ridiculously employable. There’s no benefit to paying all the extra money sending him to a private school when a good state school is nearby. Ignore rankings. They’re just subjective opinions that like to tell you what to think. Just because someone has the money to publish an opinion in US News, it doesn’t make the opinion more valid.
If your income was high enough that you could afford either then perhaps some of the features of NEU would be a tipping point in making a decision. And heck, just the opportunity to try living on the other coast for a few years might be enough for some. But is it worth $40K in loans? It’s a personal decision, I wouldn’t do it but others might.
Not a good plan IMHO. It isn’t like they teach him something special at a “higher ranked” school that the others don’t, or have some method of making it easier. You get a job in CS by having a strong resume (good grades, internships) and then doing well in the coding interview. All this is on his shoulders. The irony is that rankings matter more when the subject is “squishier”. How do you hire History majors for investment banking? You put a lot of emphasis on finding kids from top-ranked schools in hopes those are the best for the job. But no matter what school you came from, any CS hiring manager can tell in a 45 minute interview whether you have the skills they are looking for.
Thank you for your honest feedback.
As a retired programmer, I totally agree. An employer isn’t going to make a distinction between the two schools unless the person doing the hiring is an alum of one of them. Your son should go to the school he feels most comfortable at and where he thinks there’s a more conducive learning environment. He should also compare the two programs and see if either of the schools offers a specialty track, such as games or data science, that looks especially interesting.
Thank you all for the helpful feedback