I am wondering which one is better with all aspects in mind (academics, clubs, events, etc.). I am in-state at UMD. Which is better for Computer Science? And which is more worth it regarding price? UMD is 23k, GA tech is 44k with probably some financial aid. However, I love GT’s prestige and how its job prospects are better.
Who said the job prospects are better, please point to a source.
Are your parents happy to pay 44k instead of 23k? I wouldn’t be, that is 80k premium.
Is your question which school is better for CS? I think both are very good. Your personal prospects will depend on how much you seek out opportunities.
@BrownParent But would you say going to GT is worth the money for the prestige? For the highly respected degree? its one of the highest ranked overall
No, unless that amount of money isn’t meaningful to you because you have that sitting around earmarked for college. If it is debt then no way. And if not you could use it for grad school and have a MS from GT or elsewhere for that. Or buy a place or otherwise invest that money.
You likely have an inflated view of what prestige means to employers. If national recruiters recruit at both schools, like Google, then you won’t get paid any more for the same position because you went to GT. There will be some recruiters who prefer GT and local recruiters may be more familiar with GT grads in some locations and the UMD grads will have more interest from local recruiters. So the issue is if you could possibly snag a job where the employers prefer GT and yes that could be for some but not for the majority of jobs. Employers are familiar with these colleges, they aren’t like high school kids who are more impressed by the harder to get into school. Well maybe a few are. Now grad schools won’t care at all. They will care about the research and projects you did.
I personally don’t think so. Because after all it is just undergraduate degree. You will study mostly the same thing at each. GT might have better access to research for undergrads but UMD should have it available. Both should have good intern opportunities. UMD is very strong overall and in CS and also has a very strong grad program where a lot of research is going on. For grad school, which is not exactly a direct reflection of undergrad, for grad school GT is ranked 9 and UMD 15, so they are both up there. There is no meaningful differences in these ranking for your purposes.
Now if your parents have the budget for that, then sure, it would be nice, if you like the program and environment of a tech school better. GT is smaller, but I don’t know about comparable dept size and 2/3rd male. Look at the requirements for the major in each and compare. Look at the list of electives, they should be wide and deep at both campuses.
Is this a real situation with acceptances yet?
I don’t get the sense that many outside the southeastern US consider Georgia Tech to be prestigious. Here in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area, I’d suspect most employers and programmers would consider Maryland and Georgia Tech to be basically on the same tier.
I may be downplaying GT a bit but I think OP is underestimating UMD-CP a lot. My point is that the potential is there in either place, it is up to you.
@BrownParent @simba9 thanks so much for the feedback! I just feel for some reason that I’m inclined to GT . idk why haha. Your point is true that i could go to masters but i am most likely only doing bachelors. And if GT has better research opportunities as you said, it might be worth it? idk ill still consider your points
Well worth it is relative. Do you have the money or is it debt?
@BrownParent idk my parents said it would be 22k loans, and 22k they will pay each year. Idk if thats appropriate.
Definitely not worth the loans (and I’m a GT alum). I loved GT - I went there for graduate school - I enjoyed my time there much more than my undergrad school. Likewise, I liked Atlanta - it was a great place for twentysomethings. But it is not worth the premium in loans.
If your parents were well able to afford GT without any loans on their part or yours, then I would have said go for it. However,is GT worth $90K or more (costs will only increase in subsequent years) in loans? No.
If you are a CS major with no intention of going to grad school, research opportunities aren’t very meaningful. Get out and get some good internships (which you can do from either school), and you will do fine in the CS workplace. Not worth going to GT for the extra cost in this case. I expect the job prospects might be better in the southeast, but doubt there is an edge elsewhere in the country.
Agree with the other posters here: If money is no object, go where you like. But the additional prestige you associate with GT isn’t significant compared to the debt you would be taking on. Think of all the things you could do with the money you save!
Neighbors son graduated in comp sci from UMD two years ago with multiple job offers in hand in the DC metro area where he wanted to live, so clearly he wasn’t hurting as a result of perceived lower prestige. And his employer is paying for him to get his masters degree at night.
No, GT is not worth 22k in debt every year. Your debt should be limited to 27K for ALL FOUR years (ie., the federal loan limit) and even if as a CS major you can get a bit above that, not to the point of reaching 90k in debt for an undergrad degree.
Did you get into other schools?
What’s the net cost for each?
(Net cost = (tuition, fees, room&board) - (scholarships, grants))
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parents said it would be 22k loans, and 22k they will pay each year. Idk if thats appropriate.
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That is crazy…absolutely crazy. No company will pay the GT grad more money. Your parents will be furious when they’re stuck paying all that debt back and they find out that your fellow new-hires from UM-CP, NCSU, UA, Auburn, VT, UAH, and everywhere else…are being paid the same as you…without the big debt. And if YOU are paying back some/all of that debt, then YOU will be furious when YOU are making those nasty payments while your coworkers are using THEIR paychecks to buy new homes, new cars, etc.
Absolutely not worth it. Besides, you mention elsewhere that your felt very lucky to get into GT because of your stats. That itself is a red flag that you shouldn’t go there. Your grades will not likely be as high if you went there. No company is going to pick the FT grad with the lower grades over another student with higher grades from elsewhere.
Not worth it…at all.
Listen to the band…conceptions of prestige don’t carry much weight with potential employers when comes to engineering universities. If they were were concerned about prestige, they would concentrate their hiring efforts at Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia or Cornell. With the exception of Cornell, none of those are thought to be on par with engineering at U Maryland or Georgia Tech and other public engineering universities.