<p>I have shortlisted my choices for the following</p>
<p>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
UC - San Diego
UC - Los Angeles</p>
<p>The cost is about the same for all three and my aid package is also about the same. Hence, the fees are not much of an issue. Neither is location, weather etc </p>
<p>It would be a great help if the great people of this forum could give me their opinions as to what should be my order of choice, especially academically, with regard to my chosen major (compute science).</p>
<p>Firstly, have you visited all three of these schools? A visit would give you good insight into what the schools are really like. Since I am more of a liberal arts oriented person I am not very knowledgeable about computer science, but I do know about the school's rankings and general reputation. I personally have visited all three of these schools, as I had considered them for college. Truly I loved UCLA-it is a gorgeous campus right in the middle of LA (I'm a native Californian). If I were you UCLA would be at the top of my list, but I'll see if I can find some info on Computer Science majors and I'll post again.</p>
<p>Illinois is probably the best school academically in the area you are looking at-UIUC is known for its engineering and computer offerings. It's a Big Ten campus with a lot of things to do, very much a college bubble type feeling on campus. I went there (and loved it) in the dark ages, and my niece and nephew are there now and having a great time while getting a good education.</p>
<p>jbug - thank you for your time and interest</p>
<p>boysx3 - Firstly, thank you for the tip. My family immigrated from India (in the second semester of my junior year) for the sake of my education and academic excellence is the primary decision maker/breaker.</p>
<p>The problem I am facing now is that my parents know a graduate admissions officer for Caltech. He recommended that it is better to be at a university that is rising in the ranks that at an established best. I personally am leaning towards UIUC.</p>
<p>Now, I applied to the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation Scholarships, and might get an "in-state tuition" voucher for the UC schools, which means that I I would end up paying about $18K per annum for UCSD (instead of about $44K)compared to $44K for UIUC. boysx3, in you r opinion, what should I do in case I get this voucher?</p>
<p>The reason I am pre-thinking each scenario is that my family is in financial strain and college visits aren't that cheap. If I can make a decision, or at least eliminate a college from my list, without visiting that college, then all the better.</p>