My son has been accepted into the honors college at each of these schools. He’ll be majoring in CS (for now, he’s interested in AI and machine learning) and entering with a ton of CS experience as well as Calc 3, Linear Algebra and Discrete Math. Merit aid is only offered at OSU, making it the cheapest, NEU the most expensive by a lot, and Purdue and UMd are about equal. I’ve done enough research to know they all have strong CS programs, so we’re looking for ways to narrow it down beyond that. Do they each provide the same amount of depth? Is NEU worth the extra $? Are the students overly competitive at any of these? He has visited all but OSU and plans to go to admitted student days at Purdue and UMd (and the others if there is time). I guess we’re looking for nuanced differences. Hopefully, one will just feel right to him and the decision will be easy. But absent that, he has a hard time making tough decisions, so any extra data points will be helpful. TIA!
Purdue would be one of the more competitive environments, one I would advise against for someone looking for more collaborative. I think admitted students day will help determine if that matters.
It sounds like UMD is the best value + fit combination, good CS of course, etc.
I’m a Northeastern CS student so I’m a bit biased, but Northeastern does have a truly unique introductory teaching curriculum. It’s from the ground up, and often even those with lots of experience get a chance to rewire how they think about problem-solving and computer science. I’d recommend reading/passing along this essay:
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/Thoughts/Developing_Developers.html
I actually help to TA that intro course and would be happy to rant about the value of the curriculum difference if desired, lol.
The other big positive Northeastern has would be location, which is amazing and really adds to the experience.
I do highly recommend Northeastern for CS, but these are all great options. Whether those points above make it worth the extra money depends - where does it come from? If any of it is loans or financial hardship, given how good the other options are, it’s absolutely not worth it.
OSU is a great option if even UMD means loans/hardship, but I think UMD, especially when it comes to AI/ML research, merits the extra cost.
Does he have direct admission to CS at each school?
Yes - admitted to CS at each
Thank you for the links PengsPhils. When all is said and done, we’d need to take out loans for NEU, but not for the other schools. So the ROI is something we need to seriously consider.
In that case, my vote goes to UMD due to cost. Congrats on all the great acceptances!