Hi,
My son is interested in Computer Science/Engineering and has been admitted to the following schools. All of these are out of state for us.
UIUC - CS
Purdue - CE (First year engineering)
Georgia Tech - Computer Engg.
U. Washington Seattle - Direct CS
He has also received Merit Scholarship covering part of the out of state Tuition from Purdue and UW.
While UIUC and Georgia Tech are ranked higher than Purdue and UW we are debating if they are worth skipping the Scholarship.
Looking forward to inputs regarding the choices.
Thanks in advance.
You can afford to contribute enough at all of them so that there will be no need for parent-cosigned student loans or parent loans?
What are the net prices of each?
If Washington with direct admission to CS is one of the cheaper choices, it is a very attractive choice. The ranking differences between these schools are not significant enough to matter. Probably the biggest difference in recruiting will be seen in terms of smaller companies local to each school which are likely to show up there, but not travel to other schools (or not many other schools).
thanks ucbalumnus , UWfromCA.
The net prices for the colleges are as following
Purdue – about 30 K
UIUC and GT – between 45 to 50 K
Uof W - about 40K
Purdue requires a GPA of 2.75 in major and 2.5 overall to enter the CS major:
https://www.cs.purdue.edu/undergraduate/codo.html
This is not that high a barrier compared to other schools, but a rough first year transition to college could knock a student out of the major.
So, between Purdue and Washington, the trade-off is $10,000 lower per year versus already being assured into the major, as well as being in Seattle, WA versus West Lafayette, IN (both for general environment and employer recruiting).
Ignore absolute rankings and think about general reputation. Few employers think “Hm, well Tech is #16 but UW is #18, so we’ll take someone from Tech.” They think about the general reputation and excellence of a place. All four of these places are well-known for engineering in general and for computer science/engineering specifically.
That said, I think the merit scholarships at Purdue and UW should be taken into significant consideration. I don’t see UIUC or Georgia Tech as that much more worth it to turn down merit money.
I will say that I live in Seattle and it is an excellent place to be as a computer science/engineering major. The opportunities, the companies, the networking potential - it’s just out of this world. Is it worth an extra $10K? I don’t know; it kind of depends on the career support and opportunities that Purdue has to make up for the fact that it’s in West Lafayette. Also, it depends on how much of a burden that extra $40K will be on your family. Seattle’s also more expensive to have fun in, if you will be support your son’s spending money too.
UW CS direct admit is your best bet - the major is very hard to get into, has an excellent reputation, is very well-recruited, and there’s a scholarship so it’s the best “value” of the 4.
I second this ^^^
Providing you can afford it, I think it’s worth the $10K more for direct admit to UW CS program, plus IT opportunities in Seattle.
@ucbalumnus The Purdue link was for kids changing majors–freshmen admitted to CS are direct admit to CS.
OP–congrats to you for having wonderful choices. My S applied to several of those schools, but Purdue was the only one of those that accepted him and gave him $$ as well, so that is where he is going. If money is not tight, you have fabulous options and I think it comes down to college environment.
For instance, my S applied to GT because of its ranking but ideally didn’t want to go further south, being somewhat heat-averse. He loved UIUC as his first choice, although he was so-so about the campus (and didn’t get in anyway). We visited Purdue and he really liked the campus. I think UW would be a great environment for a CS major. Have you been to any of the schools yet? Is distance from home or climate something to be considered? Is your S in an honors program? Brand-new honors dorm at Purdue helped sell it to my S over his other choices.
Good luck in your decision–you really can’t go wrong here.
OP stated that the student is admitted to Purdue First Year Engineering (intended computer engineering). This is not direct admission to the major (either computer engineering or computer science).
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE//Academics/FirstYear
UIUC or UW. As of right now UW.
Did you apply to any in state publics or private schools in general? You NEED GOOD safeties. Publics usually don’t give out a lot of money & OOS is is usually expensive.
For safeties make sure it’s easy/reasonable to get into,affordable, & likeable.
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Few employers think “Hm, well Tech is #16 but UW is #18, so we’ll take someone from Tech.” They think about the general reputation and excellence of a place. All four of these places are well-known for engineering in general and for computer science/engineering specifically.
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this is soooooo true. In fact, most hiring managers have NO IDEA that GT is ranked X, and UW is ranked Y. They don’t know and DON’T CARE. Don’t know and DON’T CARE. Rinse and Repeat.
<<< The net prices for the colleges are as following
Purdue – about 30 K
UIUC and GT – between 45 to 50 K
Uof W - about 40K
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Employers do not pay eng’g/CS graduates more money based on where they went to school.
Fast Forward 4 years…how would you feel if paid $50k-80k more only to find that your son’s fellow new hires are being paid the exact same and they went to Purdue, SLO, CSUF, UCI, Iowa St, or some place else? I’m asking you because that would likely happen.
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Employers do not pay eng’g/CS graduates more money based on where they went to school.
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That’s true. But some Uni’s have better connections with certain industries than others which are valuable for internships, coops and getting hired out of college. UW-S has close connections with IT industry (thanks mostly to MSFT).
^Yes, but that’s not an issue in this case - all four of these universities are excellent and have the connections and reputation in the engineering and CS world. UW may have a slight edge because of geographic location, but Microsoft (and other Seattle tech companies) has connections and relationships with many universities across the country.
Thank you everyone for your inputs.
Another thing that I want to ask is how rigorous is the CS program at UW? I heard that at UIUC CS is very rigorous and drop out rate is alomost 30%
@s16s18s21s25 he did visit UIUC, Purdue and GT last week . He liked all campuses but overall presentation at Purdue was best as other schools had spring break that week. He is not very picky about weather . All are far from home. he has to take flight to come home. I think he is invited to join honors program at Purdue.
@ASJackson923 he did get into our state school(ASU in AZ) with presidential scholarship.
Net price at ASU? Admission to the major at ASU?
ASU will be about 15K with major in Computer eng and in Barrett honors program
UW for CS, hard to beat if you can afford it.
if you’re talking prices, ASU Barrett with Presidential.