Penn State vs Pitt for Computer Science

Axonalt · November 22, 2014, 10:52pm

Hey guys,

I've been accepted to both Penn State and Pitt for CS and I am having trouble deciding which one I should go to. While I haven't gotten my financial aid offer yet obviously, judging by the calculator they should both be about $20,000 a year, so price difference is negligible. I understand both programs are pretty good but Penn State's is ranked higher than Pitt's is. I think that objectively, Penn State will grant me better career opportunities, but I don't know by how much.

The problem I run into is that I enjoyed Pitt and the city more than Penn State. I love the fact that if I go to Pitt, I get to live in Pittsburgh which I loved when I visited, and I am right across the street (and can cross-register courses) from Carnegie Mellon. I don't dislike Penn State, I enjoyed my visit there, but the rural surroundings disappointed me a little compared to the city atmosphere of Pitt. I guess my worry is that if I decide to go to Pitt, I might regret it later on if it really is a class below Penn State in terms of CS.

I probably want to work for a big tech company like Google/Facebook/Microsoft to start off my career, and then I'll figure it out from there. I'm not going to make any predictions on what specific field I'll be interested in since I don't know enough about CS to make that claim, so I guess a general company like Google is a good benchmark. I know Google has an office in Pittsburgh so that eases my fear a little.

If anyone has experienced with the two programs or has gone through this decision before, advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

cptofthehouse · November 22, 2014, 11:04pm

I would go to the school preferred. Life is not all school work. I don’ t believe the CS program is sooo much better at PSU that the opportunities will be that much better. But you have to live a lot of days in the environment. My kids who looked at the schools as their new homes did much better in terms of school experiences.

My one son did not even major in CS, but took some courses, went to a LAC not known for it at all, and has been heavily recruited based on the work he did there and the knowledge gained. He was up with a lot of heavy hitter CS school grads, and felt a bit intimidated, but the bottom line is they wanted to know what he could do. Pitt, PSU would be regarded equally in terms of schools.

simba9 · November 23, 2014, 1:20am

Unless a hiring manager went to either Penn State or Pitt, it won’t matter which school you go to for CS. If you like Pitt better, go there.

MYOS1634 · November 23, 2014, 1:27am

Go to Pitt. There’s no meaningful difference between them and “fit” is ultimately more important to ensure your success since a happier student is a more hard-working student who is a higher-achieving student. ;)