DC got into EA schools. Appreciate thoughts on pro/cons of choices.
Major: CS - with a possible double major or minor in Math/Stats
Admitted:
Northeastern - CS - Honors college and merit aid - COA 44k
UMass - CS - merit aid (no honors college) - COA 34K
UMd - CS - Honors (waiting on merit decision) - current COA is 50k but chances of merit, hoping that it may bring down to NEU/Purdue range.
Purdue - Math-CS - no honors and no merit - COA 40k
Waiting on Michigan and a few other reaches - all of them with COA near or above 60k.
Questions/Thoughts:
Advantage of going into honors colleges: NEU and UMd accepted her in honors - on paper they look awesome. Some friends commented that for CS - honors programs are unnecessary extra work - only advantage is separate housing. Is this true? Currently honors programs are making NEU and UMd-CP her top choices (between these two tiebreaker would be the merit from UMd - hoping they will give some).
Student is interested in CS+Math and wants to go for masters in AI or work right after undergrad. What is the best suited program for that end?
We can afford all 4 but obviously would like to keep the costs lower; Geographically all four are same; visited all of them except Purdue.
Umass Honors admittance is super holistic from what I understand, and she could apply for sophomore year if that’s really important to her. Unless she wants Maryland for proximity to DC, the difference in COA (60K+ over 4 years) seems like a lot given the strength of Umass’s program.
But if she really has it down to UMD or Northeastern as top 2 and doesn’t want UMass, I would think it would come down to fit. UMD has a more traditional campus vibe, but still close to a major city. It was my favorite campus of everywhere my ds20 visited. Northeastern is less campus-y, but has the coop program.
Purdue hasn’t released honors college decisions yet. You still have two more weeks or so to wait.
My D is an honors engineering student at Purdue. It has far exceeded all expectations. If you can get there for a visit, I would highly recommend. I would be happen to answer any specific questions you have.
I can't say I know every honors college, but at schools at this level, the differences tend to be minimal. Northeastern is basically a nice housing bump in the first year or two and the scholarships. In fact, for CS honors classes are called "accelerated" and are opt-in for anyone. While some specific programs can bring a ton of value, I wouldn't weigh the honors programs very heavily in this decision.
Co-op is a big part of Northeastern's culture, and a decent part of Purdue's. The preferences towards co-op would be something I would weigh decently in this decision.
Campus environment/fit is also probably a bigger difference than CS/AI here as well. Don't be afraid to heavily weigh this if it's cared about, as the differences between say Purdue and Northeastern's campuses are pretty notable.
Obviously all of these are pretty good making the top 25 for AI research, but depending on how important that is, it could be a worthwhile data point
Given how these are all more or less at a comparable level for CS and not crazy in terms of cost differences, if there's a strong feeling for/against one of these options I would probably recommend trusting it.
Personally, having looked at these schools myself for CS 5 years ago and choosing Northeastern in the end, I love Northeastern’s CS program mainly for it’s teaching philosophy (outlined at the link below). That said, for 40K in savings UMass would be a top contender here especially given it’s also well known for its AI research.
Thanks, didnt realize that honors college decisions are not yet out. We are planning to visit last week of Feb.
Thanks for offering to give more info - really appreciate it.
@PengsPhils - thanks for great info (that link on the philosophy of cs teaching at NEU is awesome).
About the coop’s - not sure if they are advantageous if student wants to go for grad school. we were told that students can use co-op for research positions/projects; have to find out if something like that is doable at NEU/Purdue.
DD liked three campuses (visiting Purdue later this month) - but she does not have a strong feeling about size/location of campus. NEU and UMass are drivable; UMd and Purdue are both well connected and should not be a problem. We are doing one more trip to each before deciding.
You can certainly use co-op for research at Northeastern/Purdue. Northeastern is also co-op optional (research can actually directly replace it for graduation requirements), but over 90-95% of the choose to do at least one, with most doing 2-3. Even if grad school is next, co-op experience IMO can be helpful for work past grad school.
There’s also no guarantee the grad school plan sticks. Generally, AI research is done by doing undergrad to Ph.D, skipping the masters entirely. A Ph.D. is a lot of time/effort, and often people opt for industry instead of that significant time spent in school with much lower pay. But of course that door can be opened/closed way later and isn’t something to lock in now. I think doing a mix of co-op and research could help a lot with that decision as well. Of course, I am very pro co-op so factor that in as you will
