Before reading on, please answer this question first: would you attend Northeastern University’s College of Computer and Information Sciences for half off, or would you rather go onto priority waitlist for Carnegie Mellon, for either School of Computer Science or Tepper School of Business? I would like to know your opinion without my bias, so please do share regardless of what I have written (typed?) below
I never in my life imagined I’d be considered by Carnegie Mellon. Best CS school in the nation? No way they’ll look at me. Well, they did. I just got my admission decision, and they WAITLISTED me (with an offer of priority waitlist) for School of Computer Science and Tepper School of Business. I likely won’t get a scholarship though (which is needed, looking at that price tag…) I’m going to see the school for the first time on Monday (3/27/17)
However, during Early Action, Northeastern University accepted me for College of Computer and Informational Sciences, and gave me a $20k scholarship. For NU, it was love at first sight. I live in Cali, so I hadn’t seen Northeastern until yesterday (and several online pictures in the last few months). Yet when my academic counselor gave me a list of colleges to research last June, on a list of 30-40 colleges, Northeastern stuck out immediately. That night, I stayed up until early morning on NU’s Wikipedia page. Ever since I’ve been accepted, I’ve had little doubt in my mind that I’d go there (considering my doubt that I’d get into CMU).
Here’s what I’m currently thinking: the only thing CMU has over NU to me right now is prestige. NU’s biggest advantage is the wonderful co-op program, which will probably line me up with a great job after I graduate.
Would you be taking out loans to go to CMU? If so, how much per year / total? Any loans for Northeastern? Any other things we should know from the financial side?
Financially, my parents are willing to do whatever it takes if it means going to the school I want to go to. I don’t know how much money would be loaned for either school, but they’re inevitable. With FAFSA and scholarship, and considering all other fees, NU would cost about $35k, while CMU would cost about $65k. Overall, CMU would probably be around $25-40k in loans, while NU would be no more than $10k, probably (just estimating, without knowing any financial information from my parents).
Do you want to teach at the college level or do high-level research? If not, I’m not sure CMU is worth the extra $$. And you can always go to a bigger name school for grad school, which is what really matters. Just my 2 cents.
Your grasp of money and numbers sounds shaky-you should know how big the hole is you’ll be digging yourself at each school before you make a decision. “Not knowing any financial information from my parents” is NOT OK to make a decision with-you’re just pulling random numbers out of your butt.
CMU’s CS is really, really REALLY good. But is it worth an additional 6 figures of debt for you and your parents? Only you and they can decide that. NEU’s CS is excellent and in many cases, innovative. The sticker price for both schools is about the same. -$20k/year + internships (there are multiple threads out there right now regarding how much money you’ll make on those during school) is something to consider.
MotherOfDragons you’re right… 20k off is not half off of NEU’s tuition, but when you add FAFSA grants, it is a little under half off for me :).
I’m sure my grasp of numbers are just fine. I read aloud my post to my mother before hitting the orange button, and she said it was fine. She hadn’t quite talked it through with my father about how much they’re willing to take on in loans - but, again, they say that they will make it work for whatever cost of attendance is, as long as it’s the place I’m certain I want to go to (thus, we AREN’T . The “random numbers out of [my] butt” were very big ballpark estimates (as, again, my parents haven’t yet decided how much they will pay out of pocket. My father is very anti-loans, but I highly doubt they’ll be able to pay the whole cost out of pocket).
TexasMom2017 thank you for your opinion. That’s what I was thinking - NEU is great for the price I’m getting, on top of me already loving the idea of co-op. I’m not very interested in research, so that’s not a high priority for me, and CMU’s answer to NEU’s co-op program is summer internships.
On top of that, I’m {most likely} going to be graduating in 5 years either way - the only difference would be that the extra year at CMU would be doing minor credits (still doing academia), while NEU’s extra year is spent doing internships…
If this is the case, you’ll have to pay for 5 years of academics at CMU, which will add another 60K onto the total cost. Northeastern, even though a 5-year program, is only 4 years of paying tuition.
It sounds like the additional loans would be a stretch, the cost would be a lot more, and Northeastern is a great fit for you. Go with it!
I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but here are the stats from the CMU 2016-2017 Common Data Set:
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 3,809
Number of wait-listed students who accepted a place on the list: 1,942
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 7
NU has a great program and if you’ve been offered a $20K scholarship, I’d say put CMU behind you and go to NU.
NU costs ~$66k/year doesn’t it? The net cost after your $20k scholarship would be ~$46k. The FAFSA only determines if you’re eligible for a Pell grant of up to ~$5800, and filing it allows you to borrow the ~$5500/year federal student loan. If you got full Pell, that and the federal student loan give you ~$11k, making your net cost ~$35k.
If your parents’ FAFSA EFC is 0, and all you got from NU is a $20k/year grant, it’s not affordable. You can only borrow ~$5500/year ($27k total) on your own. Where’s the other $140k coming from?
PengsPhil totally agree. Thank you for your thoughts.
MotherOfDragons Dude, seriously. Won’t happen (unless both of my parents get laid off/fired, which is very unlikely to happen…)
PickPocket jrm815 I spoke with the admissions counselor in person today. He said I actually have a solid chance of getting in; as long as I sign up for priority waitlist and follow through with the instructions, I have a solid chance of getting in. CMU automatically waitlists people, so those numbers aren’t 100% accurate.
Empower If I do get into Tepper, I probably wouldn’t transfer out
austinmshauri According to their website, NU costs ~ $60k/year. After Dean’s Scholarship, $40k. After scholarship and FAFSA grants, I’ll have a little over $30k/year, and I’m waiting on a few scholarships with my parents’ jobs/unions. This could end up bringing the cost down below $30k/year. I’m not sure exactly how much my parents will be able to pay out of pocket, but anything the loans for anything they can’t afford will probably be split between them and myself.
