Penn State vs CU Boulder vs UCSC for CS

But nearly all will have access. They just need to ask or answer the many emails that are sent to all students. My engineering son gets a lot and his gf did research all four years including her first three summers.

But agreed most are not interested.

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CU has two CS degrees, one in engineering (BS) and one in Arts and Sciences (BA). They have different core requirements.

Iā€™d say the airport is about 40 miles from the campus.

Included as part of the student fees. Nothing is free.

Schools that are bigger have more students trying to get into a class, but have more professors and more sections offered.

Iā€™d pick CU (oh wait, I DID!) because it is near a big airport, a big(ish) city, is beautiful. UCSC would be the second choice because it is by the ocean and beautiful. Penn State is the most rural and the hardest to get to. It will have the cheapest rents if the student wants to (needs to) live off campus.

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Yesā€¦students can do research if they are motivated to do so. Iā€™m wondering why this is an important metric for this poster.

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Thank you all for your inputs and perspectives, this is very very helpful!

Thank you so much for such a detailed response.

One follow up question: What about internship opportunities at CU Boulder?

There are plenty of internship opportunities at most US colleges if you mean working for a professor, doing an ā€˜internshipā€™ as a class and getting credit. To get paid, your (foreign) student would have to have the right kind of visa and may be limited in the number of hours he can work.

My daughter went to a STEM school and there were a lot of internships and co-ops available, but some were limited to US citizens because they were with the defense dept or another government agency that required some extra paperwork, and sometimes a security clearance.

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Kids find internships. With indeed and linkedin, kids can easily place nationwide. Yes companies come to schools virtually or in person too.

The issue from coming abroad is finding sponsorship. Not sure if itā€™s needed for interning but for full time itā€™s a huge hurdle.

You should come for the education, not for a US career.

But a U.S. student would be fine at all of the three schools

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Yes, I know itā€™s included in fees. Thereā€™s no extra costs aside from that though. Iā€™m an alum too and loved having the BuffOne pass. Thx.

Also, donā€™t see where OP asked how far away the airport is from CU. If thatā€™s the question, then 40 miles sounds right.

My comment about CU being 25 miles from Denver was in response to the poster who said it ā€œwas 40 miles from a major city.ā€ Thatā€™s not true.

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I was referencing the airport. Itā€™s 38 or 40 to Boulder downtown. Depend on to where it Denver itā€™s 27-35 miles. Excuse my being off by a few. I used the airport as reference. Nonetheless the point was itā€™s not far from a major city.

Itā€™s similar in distance as UCSC is to San Jose airport but Denver is larger and will have more international access depending on from where.

PSU is hours from Philly and Pittsburgh although has a small airport in town.

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I think it is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 for the five courses at UCSC. Not a minimum of B in each course.

https://ucsc.smartcatalogiq.com/current/General-Catalog/Academic-Units/Baskin-Engineering/Computer-Science-and-Engineering/Computer-Science-BS

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I do not know about the opportunities at CU Boulder - comb through the Career center website and ask the International student office to see how they handle international studentsā€™ internships. (This applies to all 3 universities).
Internationals canā€™t rely on LinkedIn etc, except with alumni.
F1 students are allowed to work/intern on campus during the year and to have internships during the summer.

Sorry for the confusion about UCSC - the 3.0 is in the 5 core courses together.
ā€œThe combined GPA in the five courses above must be at least a 3.0.ā€

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