UCSD vs University of Washington (Seattle) vs U Wisconsin Madison

College Search & Selection
1

I am international and all OOS.

UCSD (math & computer science)
Pros:

  • A major that I want
  • California (west coast), close to LA (everyone’s dream to live here no? lol)
  • Fairly good reputation and rank
  • Weather & location (ocean)

Cons:

  • Too expensive (tuition fee and living costs), about $7000 more per year than the other two.
  • San Diego itself is a small city? (have no idea how SD is like)/ boring?
  • My major is not one of the strongest major in this school (subject ranking low, my major quality might be low?)

Costs:

  • $64000+ per year

Any special considerations:

  • not particularly?

U of Washington (Statistics)
pros:

  • Good companies right in the city (amazon, google…etc)
  • Very high CS and Statistic ranking
  • Okay weather

cons:

  • my major… I want to do data science which is (cs+statistics) however, just statistics is weak to get a job. (from what I heard)

Costs:

  • $56000+

Speical considerations:

  • Thinking of minoring in CS

U Wisconsin Madison (College of Science)
pros:

  • Multiple majors possible
  • Great academic school
  • Good statistics rank
  • Heard a lot of good things from the student here (student service)
  • Best school in the State

cons:

  • Rural area
  • Big city is bit far (Chicago)/ have to go there for jobs and internships (moving costs and such)
  • TOO ACADEMIC (hard to graduate?)
  • Cold af

Special considerations:

  • A friend there (3rd year) who can help me a lot.

Costs:

  • $57000+
2

Drop UW - getting CS there is nearly impossible.

Wisconsin and UCSD are both excellent options for CS and Stats.
UCSD - nice and warm
Madison - cold but an awesome college town

Seems weather comes more expensively (cost of paradise ~ 4*7k)

3

Madison is not a huge metropolis but it certainly is not rural either. It is the state capital and there’s much to do in the city of Madison.

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4

wasn’t planning to change to CS major in UW but yea okay.

The weather isn’t a huge factor for me but how is it like to live in San Diego? if you know

5

San Diego is a great town. La Jolla is gorgeous.

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6

UCSD will be $65k per year. It is a VERY COMPETITIVE school. It is on the quarter system. That means 10 weeks to do well in a course.
Living in the La Jolla area is very expensive. Housing is not guaranteed beyond freshman year, and has always been an issue because there isn’t enough real estate for everyone who wants to live near the ocean; the rents are high.

San Diego County has over 4500 square miles in area.
It is larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware.
It’s a little of everything with agriculture (avocado and citrus farms), tech giants, government and biomedical firms (Qualcomm, Salk Institute), big tourism, professional baseball and sports teams, US Marine Corps and Navy have bases here.

There are several universities:
San Diego State University (over 40k students),
UCSD (over 35k students)
California State University-San Marcos (over 14k)
University of San Diego (over 10k students),
Pt. Loma Nazarene University (over 3k students)
(This doesn’t include the huge community colleges like Palomar, Mira Costa. Grossmont, Southwestern, San Diego and Miramar, and Cuyamaca with their thousands of students.)

Do you think it’s small and boring? Did you do any research on the schools that you applied to and where you would be living?

There is lots to do in the county, which makes it a big destination for tourism; a lot of families but it is very expensive. If you plan to do any touring, you will need a car either personal, borrowed, or Uber.

Public transportation is really poor in Southern California. This is why everyone drives their cars. If you plan on going to LA, plan on going by train or car and spending on Uber. SD city crews are working on the UCSD Trolley extension right now, but it still will be limited.

Climate change has adversely affected California. From January through March of this year, overnight temperatures were in the 40’s throughout most of the county with day temperatures not that much higher. Yes, you should always have a sweater because it gets chilly. Ocean temps are high 50’s to high 60’s for most of the year. Definitely not “bath water” warm.

You need to read up on Seattle, which is an awesome city and you may want to check on rainfall totals. Do your own research. Here’s another gem.

You cannot rely on getting a job in the US after graduation. It is expected that you return to your country. The universities will educate you as a guest of the US; they do not promise to immigrate you, nor employ you. You cannot rely on American companies to sponsor you for a work visa. US immigration policies are tough and require that US companies employ US candidates first. Information for Employers and Employees | USCIS

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7

The University of Wisconsin is very good. I agree with another comment that it is not rural. Madison does have 250,000 people. Yes the winters will be cold, but dry. Personally I did not have a problem with this when visiting other places with similar winters.

I do not know how difficult it is to pick up CS as a minor at U.Washington.

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