sorry for the long title, but i’m having some trouble trying to decide between the schools i’ve been accepted to (i’m interested in studying compsci and linguistics)
so here’s a brief summary of the situation:
i’ve been waitlisted at my top choice (uchicago) and some other schools (hoping to get off the waitlist but i know it’s a very long shot).
i’ve been accepted to six great schools!! but i’m unsure which one i’d like to attend. I’ll only be able to visit a few of them (going to open houses/admitted student days for nyu, bu and northeastern (and i’ll be visiting brandeis just not on an official tour/event)) and hopefully my visits will help my decisions.
but in the meantime, i’d like the opinion of some of you all (because right now i can’t even try to rank these schools)
so here’s a rundown of the issue: each school (save bu) has offered me something attractive (honors or merit, basically)
ohio state (i’m in state) has offered me admission to the honors program AND some merit
bu hasn’t offered me anything : // (so that’s why i’m considering it a bit less)
northeastern has offered me a pretty good amount of merit
nyu hasn’t offered me merit but offered me admission into the presidential honors scholars program
umass amherst has admitted me into the compsci major (bs) and has given me quite a chunk of merit
and brandeis has offered me (the most of all schools) merit!
i’m really, really fortunate i can afford the full cost at all of these schools, but i want to be considerate of the price of whichever college i go to (that’s a drawback to nyu–the full price is a lot! especially compared to ohio state). but at the same time, i’m not 100% sure i’d be happy at ohio state, and both my parents and i want to make sure i want to go to a college where i’ll be happy and feel like i fit in.
so basically i’m hoping that some of you guys can give me some insight as to the lingusitics/compsci programs at these schools (i’ve looked on the websites, but i’m not sure what makes a good program a good program and i don’t want to trust the us news and world report rankings completely), the ‘culture’ of the school (i really liked uchicago’s and i’m not a big party person), and just really any other advice you think may help me make a decision (also, can anyone give me some more insight to the nyu honors thing? the website didn’t say much about it).
i’m really sorry this post kinda got outta hand and v long, but hopefully some of you all can help me decide :") thanks in advance !
You should go to zoomass so we can party together plus I’ll need somewhere to crash when I’m too wasted to get back to Smith LMAO (as if I’ve ever gotten wasted before in my life lol)
(To anyone reading this like “wut”, we know each other)
Just try to cross them off one by one I think. You could cross off Ohio State because of “fit”, and then BU and NYU because of money, then you only have 3 schools to contend with. Of course, those are just examples of reasons to cross schools off, and you can find them for any school on your list. I’m also not familiar with any of their linguistics or CS programs so maybe you’re willing to compromise “fit” or cost because the programs are just excellent. Just take it one school at a time.
I would agree with the cross-off strategy. As said, you’ve got a lot of great options. Here’s my thoughts, as a Northeastern CS student who chose between BU/NYU personally, and looked at Brandeis but didn’t apply (visited, left after info session skipping tour due to clear fit reasons).
It sounds like Ohio should be #1 to cross off based on fit. With this many options, if a school doesn't feel right, you have the luxury to forget about it.
I know students at both BU and NEU. The CS program at Northeastern is much better taught, run, and known in industry/academia. Add to that the price and the relative similarity to Northeastern, and I think BU makes sense to cross off.
Brandies stays in if not simply for the money at this point. I can't say I know the school or program well so hopefully others can help. Visiting should help as well. Is there any way you can do an official visit there over one of the other schools if you wanted to? From what I gathered on their CS, it's not really well known, and their BS lacks a lot of classes that other programs have.
UMass Amherst is very strong in CS and offers a different fit environment. Keep it for sure.
NYU is borderline given its price, but it has enough strength in both fields and again, offers enough of a different experience that I would keep it in the mix.
I'm obviously biased to Northeastern, but I could rave about the CS here for days (any questions, ask away). I can't speak to the linguistics much, but the department seems pretty extensive and I know we have some specialties in many tangentially related fields, which would make me expect that the department at least holds its own compared to the others.
In general, honors programs amount to shiny perks and some more focused attention in some cases. I wouldn’t weigh honors too heavily in my opinion. They may be a good tiebreaker, but I would pare down to 2-3 before even considering it personally.
So that would pare it down to those four.
Between them, there’s some obvious fit differences:
Full City vs Campus in City vs Suburban vs College Town
You mentioned not being a big party person, which would be a strike to Amherst a bit, the others would more or less be even.
If you go to Northeastern, you should be excited about co-op. If you are, it's a big plus. If you're not so excited by it, that's a knock against for fit.
Another consideration: do you see it as likely you’d change your major? If so, look for schools with a variety of good programs.
Neither NYU or BU have such an outstanding CS program that it would be worth paying considerably more over some of your other options. I’d go with, in this order:
Brandeis if it offers what you want in terms of linguistics/CS and you want an LAC (personally, I believe LACs provide a superior undergrad experience, but they’re not everyone’s cup of tea),
OSU - since you’re in state, plus have merit, plus honors - it’ll be by far the cheapest, and a strong school with a huge range of courses. And you’ll be in honors which means priority registration, smaller classes, etc. Of course if you don’t like it/want to go there, then scratch it off for that. Otherwise, it seems to have a lot going for it.
UMass - strong CS program, big diverse school, or NEU - also strong in CS, attractive if you want/interested in co-ops. I’d compare the linguistics programs at these 2 universities to see which one offers exactly what you’re looking for in that area.
UMass and Brandeis are the strongest in my opinion for your choice of majors. UMASS Linguistics is one of the top few in the country and their CS program is in the top 20-30. If the school is a good fit for you, I’d choose UMASS. Brandeis CS has many computational linguists, though I’m less aware about how strong the CS department is overall.
ok, so i’m so so sorry you guys for not commenting on this ever again, but i thought i’d let yall know that i eventually decided on nyu. all your advice was very helpful and it was a close decision between northeastern and nyu, but nyu won in the end.
