<p>I have been admitted into the following colleges (undergrad):
-University of Washington at Seattle [computer science]
-University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) [computer science in the Engineering College]
-University of California Irvine [computer engineering]
-UCSC [computer science]
-San Jose State [computer engineering]
-Cal Poly SLO [computer science]
-still waiting on UC Berkeley and USC (not hoping for much)
I've narrowed down my list to UIUC, UCI, and SLO</p>
<p>UIUC is ranked in the top five for computer science, but it is relatively expensive for an out of state student (47k, which i'm not sure i'm prepared to pay for undergrad). I've heard that, like any other large public school, it is difficult to pass classes with a good GPA (i'm also not sure how easy it is to graduate in four years). Since it has above a 60% acceptance rate, i'm not sure how the crowd there will be. </p>
<p>Cal Poly is my second choice, but i've heard that it has a great reputation for engineering. My biggest worry would be to pay 5x extra to go to UIUC and compete with cal poly grads for the same jobs. </p>
<p>Irvine is my best ranked UC I've gotten so far. However, it's engineering department is not as well known as Urbana's or Cal Poly's. I have heard people saying that any UC is better than Cal Poly, which is a state. As an employer which college would appeal to you the most?</p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>I can’t speak to the other schools, or to whether UIUC is worth the price, but I’ve known a number of recent CS grads from there who speak extremely highly of their college experience, and are working in very exciting jobs. They were very much helped along by U of I’s well-connected alumni in the tech field.</p>
<p>Do you want to ultimately work in California or the midwest? The CA schools, by virtue of location, would give you the easiest chance of finding local jobs. </p>
<p>Look into who recruits at UIUC, and where the internships and jobs come from. There are probably many California companies who recruit there, if ending up back in CA is your goal.</p>
<p>A large software company that I know of in the Bay Area recruits heavily at two schools: Cal Poly SLO and Wisconsin (!)</p>
<p>What is your ultimate educational goal? Do you want to continue on to grad school? In that case a UC might be better as you will have a good grounding in the theory that will help you in grad school. Do you want to work right after your undergrad degree? In that case, employers love Cal Poly grads who can dive right into jobs.</p>
<p>How important is the cost? Paying $47K/year would be a non-starter for many families.</p>
<p>Have you toured all of your top schools?</p>
<p>CalPoly SLO and UCI have very good CS programs which are highly ranked and I wouldn’t pay OOS tuition to UIUC over these. To me it’s a no brainer and I wouldn’t give it a second thought. This isn’t a knock on UIUC -if you were an Illinois resident I’d say the same thing in reverse (i.e. UIUC over the calif colleges). All of these schools are very good and the job prospects in CS/CE from these schools is very good.</p>
<p>In response to vballmom, my ultimate goal is to work in California. I do plan on pursuing a Master’s degree, but in Business. I also got into Davis, and I’m not sure how their CS program ranks with UIUC and UC Irvine. Of course if possible, I would like to avoid paying the 47k, but I’m looking to go to the “best school possible” (rank wise). Is cost the only reason I shouldn’t go there, I applied for a full ride scholarship (assuming I get it), would you suggest I go there over everything else? Suppose I go to UC Irvine with the intention of transferring to a higher tier UC, how easy would it be for me to do this?</p>
<p>The reasons not to go to UIUC are -
- Cost
- It’s in Illinois vs. California
— If you plan to work in Calif when done keep in mind there’ll generally be better recruitment from California firms in California rather than Illinois. There are exceptions where some of the larger Calif firms likely recruit at UIUC and other than recruitment and convenience, the UIUC grad could likely still get a job in Calif anyway - they just might not have the convenience of on campus recruiting.
— Have you been to Illinois in the winter?
- The difference of a few spots (or 20 or so) on the USNWR ranking for UG CS isn’t going to make a huge difference when it comes to emplyment IMO but that’ll vary somewhat with the firm.</p>
<p>The reasons to choose UIUC -
- You got a full ride and want to go there
- You want to go there and don’t care about the cost
- You’re obsessed with USNWR rankings and it’s worth the cost to you to be able to say you went to a higher ranked school
- It’s in Illinois vs California
— and you’ve always wanted to live in the midwest for a while</p>
<p>What’s your reason for being willing to spend a lot more to attend UIUC vs your other options? Is it because you think you’ll get a better job afterwards? If so, why do you think that - have you checked objectively?</p>
<p>Regarding the full ride scholarship - it makes sense that it should be a factor in your decision unless cost is irrelevant to you. </p>
<p>On the transfer - I’ve heard that transferring UC to UC, or CSU to UC, can be difficult. I know it can be done but you shouldn’t count on it. </p>
<p>If you truly plan on getting an MBA then you might want to consider the cost of an MBA degree from a top college along with the loss of income if you do it full time and how a heavier UG debt can add to your overall debt. Also keep in mind that every other CS student has in mind to get an MBA yet many of them end up not pursuing it since many end up doing fine and are content with where they are after their BSCS. In some cases a company will pay for you to get an MBA but there are usually caveats associated with it. </p>
<p>Note - I’m not knocking UIUC at all and would say the converse to a person from Illinois contemplating the other direction.</p>
<p>Maybe you’re a little too obsessed with USNWR rankings?</p>
<p>Note - My post is just my opinion - hopefully you’ll get the opinions of other posters. Also take a look at who recruits on-campus at any of the schools you’re looking at - it’s usually available on their websites. Some schools also provide data on the placement of their CS grads which can be useful info to see which companies employ those grads.</p>
<p>In terms of being recruited for computer industry jobs, UCB, SJSU, UCSC, and maybe UCD would be considered to be within convenient driving distance from “Silicon Valley” computer companies. Being conveniently local gives a recruiting boost in the school’s career center. The other California schools would be a day trip by air. UIUC would be a longer trip by air; it is well known enough to be worth it for many companies to visit the career center, but smaller companies may be less likely to deal with the inconvenience.</p>
<p>Note that the type of students at each school may differ. Based on choice of majors (more heavily engineering and business, less humanities and social studies), Cal Poly students are probably more career oriented than those at UCs, which may affect student life (e.g. amount and nature of political activity on campus; the difference may be desirable for some, undesirable for others). Cal Poly also has an unusual ethnic mix for an engineering-heavy school in California.</p>
<p>Cal Poly has a high job placement rate after graduation, according to its [career</a> survey](<a href=“http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/gradsurvey/]career”>http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/gradsurvey/). UCB also has a [career</a> survey](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm]career”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm).</p>
<p>Have you figured out the net cost after non-loan financial aid at each school? If the difference is significant, that can be a bigger factor than a few USNWR ranking spots.</p>
<p>Thank you for your answers ucbalumnus and ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad. ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad especially, the pro/con list was really helpful; i’m reconsidering my reasons to go to UIUC, and i guess i was too obsessed with the USNWR because I assumed it would get me a decent job. The survey gave me a better idea of what to look for when choosing the college. Let me look into the job opportunities a little more. I was hoping for a transfer, but obviously should not consider going to a lower tier UC because I am guaranteed one (basically assume I will graduate from where I go). So unless I get my scholarship for UIUC, the choice comes down to UCI/UCD and Cal Poly SLO; I do plan on pursuing a master’s degree and it would become too expensive if i planned on getting a Bachelor’s from UIUC. I don’t want to mention USNWR again, but Davis (engineering) is ranked higher than UCI (I got Comp Engineering for both colleges), so do you think Davis is a better choice than Irvine? </p>
<p>To answer your question about touring the campuses, I have not had a chance to tour the campuses for the simple reason that I do not feel like the campus itself would determine if I go there or not. I’m not too affected by weather or location, but cost matters. Would you suggest touring the campus when deciding where to go?</p>
<p>Wherever you go you need to think about the fact that you’ll live there for at least 4 years. For most people, this has some level of importance. You won’t be doing strictly school for the entire time - you’ll want to sometimes do other things you might enjoy doing so consider that. You’re thinking idealistically right now but once you’re living there the practical aspects will be important to you. </p>
<p>You should definitely check out the campuses you think might be the final contenders. There’s a difference between all of these campuses (although I haven’t been to UCD). Go check out not only the campus but also the immediate surrounding area, apartments you might live in while no longer in dorms, nearby restaurants, movie theaters, shopping, the beach, whatever else you’re interested in. It shouldn’t be too big of a deal to visit these campuses - you could do it on a couple of weekends (or a single weekend if you try hard enough), or on spring break - ideally if it’s not the same time the colleges are on spring break.</p>
<p>On the ranking - how far apart among the hundreds and hundreds of colleges are UCI and UCD? I don’t know the exact answer but I’ll bet they’re very close to each other on the ranking - so close as to be irrelevant (consider it within the ‘margin of error’ IMO). Between these two you should probably pick based on the campus vibe you feel, what you think of their CSE department, the location, the surrounding area, and what you think it’d be like to be there for at least 4 years. If you manage to get a Regents scholarship or something at one of them, you can use that as the deciding factor.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can go wrong with any of your top choices. These are all great schools. Cal Poly (and SJSU if it’s still on the list) will be heavier on labs than the UCs. Is that a positive or a negative for you? Take a look at the CS/CPE curriculum for each college and try to imagine yourself taking all of the required courses. Which set of courses inspires you most? Do you have programming experience already? </p>
<p>I agree with the ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad about the importance of visiting the campuses. You’re going to get a gut feel for each one, and it’s possible that a clear favorite will emerge based on that. Cal Poly and UCD are similar in some ways (small residential college towns) while UCI has more of an urban commuter vibe. Try to imagine yourself in each place for 4 years. </p>
<p>And I wouldn’t recommend starting out at one college with the intention to transfer somewhere else. There’s no easy path to transfer from UC->UC or CSU->UC. There’s a reason for that; community colleges have very specific articulation agreements to allow transfers after 2 years at a CC directly to a UC. Trying to transfer outside of the usual path is very difficult.</p>
<p>Great choices…
Know the UCD mascot is the Aggies…need I say more? Plus side-Davis is a true college town and has easy access to sac airport, Tahoe and San Francisco to add a bit of spice. Cal Poly SLO, huge school pride, career oriented, extremely hard to switch majors, and in the middle of nowhere, but has the beach. 4+ hour drive North or South to get to airports or any major metro area. Have heard many Grads say they felt very isolated the last 2-3 years. Student life revolves around campus.</p>
<p>Your last option should be to go to UCI and transfer to a “higher ranked” UC. Probably not going to happen especially with the specific pre-rec’s for CS major. Go to UCI only if you will be happy graduating from there.</p>
<p>At the level (Very selective) of your acceptances, rank does not really come into play. Every California employer knows it takes near and over a 4.0 to get into the Mid UC’s… Therefore are they Mid-UC’s anymore? No, very out dated notion. UCB and UCLA are now considered “lottery” schools for all except URM and low soci- economic students. Get yourself up to date on the current stat’s of those so called lower ranked UC’s. You may be surprised. </p>
<p>Also, if you are planning on working in CA- think of local internships vs Illinois - and after making all of your college friends, just up and leave? What about the value of networking.
Time to burn the ranking books!</p>