hi!! i’m a current high school senior trying to decide what college to commit to for class of 2023, and i’ve been stuck in a three way tie for weeks!! any advice is greatly appreciated
some background for me:
i’ve lives in berkeley, ca my whole life and really wanted to get out of california and live somewhere new for college
i plan to major in computer science, and possibly minor in psychology
my stats were pretty high (36 ACT, 3.97 uw gpa), but i didn’t get into my top choices (columbia rejected and barnard deferred); decision season sucked, and now i’m choosing between some of my safety/match schools, but i still really love all three schools
the biggest factors in my college decision were location (i’m definitely a city person!!), vibe (studying>parties), and academics (computer science as well as general rankings)
ucla: (CS major in samueli school of engineering, in-state 35k/year)
pros:
most academically rigorous
most prestigious, most career opportunities for cs
surrounded by a friendly community of academic, hardworking students
cons:
i really want to get out of california lol
i don’t know if i fit in with the LA vibe, and i don’t really like hot weather
harder to study abroad, esp in engineering
biggest class sizes and it can be hard to get into classes you want
nyu: (CS major in college of arts and sciences)
pros:
living in NYC is kind of my dream
strong global programs and study abroad
well known and pretty prestigious
cons:
i’ve heard it can be harder to make friends and find your community
most expensive
potentially not as academically rigorous as ucla (though i don’t really know)
northeastern: (CS+psych combined major in khoury college of computer science, honors program and 35k/year scholarship)
pros:
it’s in downtown boston! not quite as good as nyc but still exciting
smallest class sizes (honors guarantees <20 student classes)
lots of global and career opportunities (co-ops!!)
cons:
least prestigious and least well known
highest admit rate/lowest ranked, potentially less academically rigorous or less academically focused students?
i also have options at UCSD, UC Davis (regents), and Smith (stride merit scholarship), but i think these three are the ones i’m leaning most towards. any help is greatly appreciated as i don’t know how im going to make this decision by may 1st!!
Maybe Northeastern is less well known in CA, but it’s very well known on the East Coast and is increasingly hard to get in. I know several very strong students rejected this admissions cycle. I wouldn’t worry about less academically focused students at any of these. Boston is a fantastic city (personally I prefer it to NYC).
As a city lover and Northeastern CS student that has co-op’d in LA and NYC, hopefully, I can be helpful here
Going through some of your pros/cons:
While all of the traits are true of UCLA, I don’t think that NYU and Northeastern lack any of these. It’s also worth noting that CS opportunities between these will be quite similar and will keep basically every door open. I wouldn’t really count the rigor/prestige any different between these three.
To give you an idea of where these schools stand in the CS world, check out the rankings below that focus on research output. While very much orthogonal to the undergrad experience, it does tend to correlate to CS “prestige”:
As you can see there, all three do well. Northeastern comes in at 15, UCLA at 17, and NYU at 22 over the past 10 years in the US. Splitting hairs to say that one is better than another here for CS IMO isn’t a good place to focus. On the general rankings side, again these are all within about 25 places of each other. While it’s great to value academics, you’ve got 3 choices here on very good footing in that department.
Admit rate shouldn’t really come into play for choosing a college as its affected by way too many factors outside of academic strength. Even if it mattered, all of these have under 20%.
In terms of academic focus, Northeastern certainly is known more for its practical approach and that is very much tied to co-op. It’s absolutely an environmental difference on the whole, but there will be strong academically focused students there as well as those focused on both industry and academia.
Both NYU and Northeastern will have aspects of this for various reasons, but they also both offer incredible city resources that students use frequently, which as a city lover I have loved in both places. While it’s good to be aware of, I wouldn’t be too concerned. Being outgoing and putting yourself out there the first semester at any college will be good and give you options to pare down and develop closer relationships with people.
Some notes on the CS departments:
I picked between NYU and Northeastern myself for CS and picked Northeastern. Part of that was co-op but part of it was also the CS department itself. Northeastern strikes a balanced between theory and practical, while NYU’s department is a bit more theory and math focused. Northeastern also has an amazing teaching program that you can find described in the essay below:
As mentioned before, it’s also got plenty of research going on and is also very well represented in Silicon Valley today as well. UCLA of course is more represented due to geography, but I don’t know any hiring managers that would explicitly filter out grads from one but not the other. There are co-op’s all over the west coast.
Some notes on the cities:
In my experience, LA is just not the same type of city as SF/Berkely, Boston, and NYC. LA is so spread out and car-focused with very long transit times that it’s not the same style of city resources you may be used to. I’d recommend it for a 1 week visit but I would never live there again honestly.
Boston and NYC are both great cities but very different experiences. Boston is a smaller city but is super walkable, clean, has reliable public transit, great neighborhood feels, and a very academic vibe with over 250,000 college students. I personally would vote for it as #1 college city in the US easily.
NYC is also a great city - it’s a 24 hour city (Boston does tend to shut down around 11-1AM) and you can find absolutely everything. Downside is cleanliness and access to nature. While the parks are nice, getting off Manhattan by any means of transport takes time and effort given how sprawling the metropolis it is. That didn’t stop me from loving it on co-op though. I’m actually moving to Brooklyn post-grad in order to get a more neighborhood feel while having the access to Manhattan. NYU’s location is also in the heart of everything young in lower Manhattan.
Personally, I would eliminate UCLA because you want to get out of California, you avoid the larger class sizes, have great alternatives, and lose the less than ideal city.
Between NYU and Northeastern, obviously, I chose Northeastern myself. In your case, you also have a big price difference, but if you’re looking for a stronger academic focus there’s a world where NYU makes sense. That said, I think you can find those very focused academics at Northeastern too. You can also co-op in other cities in the US and worldwide if you like too while you’re there to get a taste of NYC, Seattle, Chicago, DC, etc. Lots of my friends used co-op’s this way
Hope that all helps! Happy to answer any specific questions or elaborate in any area!
What is the Regent’s package from Davis? In other words, what is the COA after any scholarship+research grant?
If I’m interpreting the Regent’s correctly, UCD would be $26k/yr all-in, not counting other Regents perks. NEU is pushing $70k less the $35k scholly, so a net of $35k/yr.
Davis is strong in CompSci, so that’s the most financially prudent deal. That being said, $9k more for an excellent private is a great, if your parents can pay it without hindering their retirement. But, if money is no object, enjoy The Village as it meets all of your personal, non-academic goals.
@PengsPhils thank you for the advice from a northeastern student!! although i really loved northeastern when i visited, and co-ops and global opportunities there definitely excited me, i’m a little hesitant about whether or not i want to go to such a pre-professional school – i’m not positive i want to go right into industry after college, and i’m still considering going to grad school or going into research in CS or a different field, and i don’t know if those options would be as available if i went to northeastern over, say, NYU
@bluebayou the regent’s package from davis is definitely nice ($30k over four years, honors program, etc.), but it doesn’t really meet my other criteria (not urban, way too close to home, etc.), and i would choose the offers i got from northeastern (35k/year + honors) or smith (35k/year + stride research grant) over davis, since they are not much more, and i’m very fortunate in that my parents are willing and able to pay for my college education without financial distress
@oliviamoore01 . . . your cost-benefit would seem to point to NYU according to what you’ve stated from the very beginning, because your parents have taken cost out of the equation. I think you’ll enjoy NYU immensely.
Makes perfect sense - NYU is the alternative if you decide against for sure.
Northeastern’s preprofessional slant comes out in the student body but not in research or grad school admissions. There are tons of CS research opportunities on campus. While a majority of Northeastern students elect not to go to grad school, it’s not for lack of qualification or any admissions trouble. So to answer the concern, there wouldn’t be any difference in research or grad opportunities. It just means that likely fewer of your peers will be going to grad school or doing research than NYU likely, though I think the research numbers may be closer than one would think given how practically slanted CS is nationally regardless of college.
