Small Privates vs Arizona schools in Engineering/CS

I would like to get CC’s input in helping my son make a decision about the schools that he was accepted into. He of course has the final decision and he thinks all his remaining choices are OK and has no clear favorite really. He was accepted into Arizona and ASU and LMU and Pepperdine and was rejected at UCSB(first choice),UCLA,UCD AND UCSD. I have looked into the RANKINGS of each school of course but i wanted to get input from different perspectives. He has visited each and likes them all but I think he likes Arizona and LMU the best so far. Any thought?

What does he think of religious denomination and level of religious influence on campus, as at Pepperdine and LMU?

Cost difference?

@ucbalumnus He does go to church but the religious aspect on campus is not that important to him. The financial package for the private schools are roughly the same so it will cost about 30K a year for each school(I think ASU maybe a little cheaper)

Pepperdine has the heaviest religious influence (Churches of Christ), has CS only in combination with math or philosophy, and does not have native engineering (it has it as the “3” school of 3+2 programs). Religious requirements are described at https://seaver.pepperdine.edu/student-life/spiritual/convocation/ .

LMU is a Catholic school (Jesuit and other religious orders) and has CS, civil engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.

Obviously, UA and ASU have CS and various engineering majors.

Go into the departmental pages at his top schools that remains in contention.

Check the course curriculum and what’s required for graduation in his projected major.
As he looks at the courses on offer, particularly electives, have hm ask himself, “Are these classes I’d like to take?”
Check the faculty pages and see how many are on staff who are teaching classes in his areas of interest.
In other words, how deep is the faculty bench in the academic area’s he’s considering?
If he’s going into engineering, is the program ABET?

In addition to general advising, check out the departmental advising at each school, as well as their career center.
Do the departmental pages tout student/faculty research? Alumni news? A list where their student are doing internships? What about guest lectures or special events? What academic opportunities is he hoping for?

There’s much information to be had and now is a good time to delve deeper.

LMU and Pepperdine are way smaller than the Arizona schools. What size does he want? He will be successful at any of the schools if he takes advantage of the opportunities he will have.

If he wants a smaller, tight knit community, LMU may be the one. If he wants diversity, sports teams, and a larger student body, Arizona may be the one. He needs to choose the school that feels most like home and where he thinks he will succeed the most academically.

Best of luck!

@NosyCaliparent, Did your son make any final decision on this yet, My son is still struggling to make his final choice, we visited both LMU and ASU Barrett. Personally, I liked ASU since it feels like a college but I think he will succeed at LMU because of class size/individual attention. He is still waiting for his first choice Cal Poly but needs to move on with LMU or ASU. His choice of major is Mechanical engineering.

I can’t address the CS particulars, but I really enjoyed my time as an undergrad at Arizona. The Honors program there is exceptional and it was my experience that a motivated student could really thrive there. I won a Truman Scholarship and went on to law school at UVA. A close friend placed quite high in a national economics competition in a joint project with a professor and he went on to get his JD/PhD at Stanford. Currently, two of my friends (we’re on the East Coast) have freshmen there and they are having a great experience. Just my random two cents.