Ive been admitted to both UMD Honors CS and OSU Honors CS & Engineering. So CS is in Arts & sciences at UMD but in the college of engineering at OSU.
The prices end up being 19k for UMD and 17.5k for OSU (about 6k student loans for each).
Which is the better choice? Which has more job prospects?
I visited both and liked OSU’s campus better. However, UMD seems to have a better rep.
bump!
bump?
Go for OSU.
@TheDidactic Really? even though UMD is 15th in the us for CS? just wanna know why u say OSU bc most people I’ve talked to said UMD
UMD is great for CS and I agree that it is a wonderful school. However, OSU is a good school as well. I said OSU because firstly, it’s slightly cheaper for you; secondly, you are in the College of Engineering at OSU, and thirdly, you said you visited both and like OSU’s campus better. Being at OSU over UMD will not hurt you when it comes to CS. Is UMD better for that field? Yes, but all the signs point towards you going to OSU.
@TheDidactic Oh alright, and whats the benefit of CS being in college of engineering at OSU? also, are there any internship/career opportunity differences?
I don’t know directly any differences. You could go to the OSU forum and the UMD forum to compare and ask potential/current students. However, I personally feel that being in the College of Engineering at OSU would provide a more detailed education than just being in the general college for UMD (not the engineering school). Here’s a link: (https://engineering.osu.edu/) It looks like there are plenty of research/internship/career/outreach opportunities!
Run the numbers again in more detail. The difference may be bigger than you think. Don’t forget to use your own best estimates for travel expenses between your home and the university two or three times each year. http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletteradvanced.phtml
If any of the aid you have been offered is scholarships, find out what grades you need to get in order to keep those scholarships for all four years.
@TheDidactic thanks so much! Yea I’ve heard that UMD is just a little more better in terms of recruiters but since both schools are similar, i think OSU would be the better choice. I also have Georgia Tech as a choice (25k). Would u say GT? or OSU? GT’s campus was dull but education is nice.
You’re welcome! Cut out GT, it’s not worth the extra money IMO. OSU is a fine education. UMD has Baltimore so it seems like there are more opportunities there at a glance, but Columbus is no rural town. You will have plenty of opportunities and companies there too.
As far as I know, there’s no outcome difference between CS in COE and CS in A&S, it’s just the classification chosen b the university; in terms of requirements, it means more technical requirements for tOSu, more gen eds (that you can bypass with AP) and more electives at UMD.
For such a small difference in cost, I’d pick UMD. Its CS program is superb, but the college is also very well-located, just a metro ride to DC. With the recent terrorist attack on TV5Monde, cybersecurity is sure to become a huge priority for homeland security (and thus contracts and thus jobs), and UMD is had to beat for that. http://cyber.umd.edu/education
It doesn’t matter at all if the CS dept is in engineers or A&S. Different colleges simply structure the dept differently. Some grew out of the EE dept in the early days and others grew out of the math dept. Colleges that offer it in both schools, like Cornell for instance, report that one does not give an advantage over the other for jobs or grad school. Often the only difference is the electives you can/must take.
I think UMD is likely stronger, but the rankings you mention would be for the PhD program where research and PHD reputation are the key factors. That doesn’t apply to your undergrad program where the factors would be undergraduate teaching quality, access to undergraduate research, and class size. Usually the CS programs with good grad reputations have very strong undergrad programs. But uni’s without the top grad rankings can also have very good undergrad programs. It is just hard to quantify. I would pick UMD. But it isn’t enough of a difference to override personal preference. Also although in theory you can get a job anywhere, in practice it will likely be easier in your region and companies that are local will recruit at the local school more. So where do you want to live? Not that you can’t target another area and job hunt there.
GT would be an excellent choice if you have the money and it isn’t debt.