I was recently accepted into UIUC for computer science major in Grainger Engineering College and CMU’s School of Computer Science.
I can’t seem to decide between the two.
Things to consider:
Differences in cost of education:
UIUC will cost me $28,000 ($40,000 out-of-state tuition + $13,000 room/board - $25,000 scholarship) per year all inclusive, while CMU will charge $78,000 ($57,000 tuition + $21,000 room/board/fees) all inclusive per year.
CMU will not give me any need-based federal aid and thus, will cost me $50,000 more per year.
Now, my parents can pay the extra money for CMU but then they won’t be able to buy a house (which they have wanted to do for a while). So, the question is should we pay that much more for CMU? Will the experience at CMU will be worth the extra $50,000 per year?
I have done some research and it has led me to believe that CMU and UIUC students are both heavily recruited when it comes to internships and first jobs.
However, will a company be willing to pay more for a CMU undergrad than a UIUC one? If so, how much more will a company pay?
FYI: For comparison, according to UIUC statistics, their undergrads have an average salary of $90,000: Annual Reports | Illini Success - Illinois.
I know both colleges have excellent CS programs, but I am wondering if one is more rigorous than the other?
Does anyone know the balance between studying and socializing (through clubs/projects) at each of the schools?
I prefer a school where I will have to study hard but still have time to work on personal projects without unhealthy levels of stress.
What is culture of each school like? Is one overly competitive? Does the student body like collaboration or is everything a competition?
Anything you can tell me about the student body and/or the school’s culture will be helpful.
I would probably be a little more impressed with a CMU degree than a UIUC degree for CS, but if I was an employer, I’d interview them both. Unless there’s something in particular you see in the CMU program that you really must take advantage of, go to Illinois.
No brainer - UIUC is a top CS school. Yes, you’ll always impress people if you went to CMU, but you would be throwing that $200K in a lake, lost forever, for no reason whatsoever. You quoted $90K - that’s impressive.
You also have to look at where schools place people. NYU, for example places in NYC whereas - a Pitt - would be in Pittsburgh - which is cheaper, etc.
Anyway, there’s no debate here. You are not comparing CMU vs. Murray State. Your are rating a top school vs. a top school. There’s justification to spend $78K ever - and btw, all schools “underestimate” their cost - you always spend more than their COA.
Getting a job after the undergraduate degree is mostly up to you. Let’s say you are applying for a job in Silicon Valley, most of the companies have pretty hard coding challenge test, rigorous technical interview - let me explain with an example - let us say they ask to write code to solve a problem, you write it in your preferred programming language and it works… all good… now they will ask you to make your code at least 0.001 seconds faster and explain what you are with order of algorithmic complexity…
Also, getting an internship is not guaranteed to transfer to a job offer…
Both UIUC & CMU CS students will get the opportunity to appear in the test for Google, Apple, Facebook… etc. companies job test…
CMU CS is justifiably famous, but that difference in cost ($200K total) is far too much to justify on any economic or rational grounds especially since UIUC is also a top CS school that places in to top software companies as well as CMU and can get you just as far.
CMU is in what ai consider a clear “top four” set of schools, but UIUC is in a group right behind - one of the top 10-20 CS schools in the country.
In-state tuition vs. CMU tuition is a large difference. That’s very hard to ignore.
Ultimately, an investment decision comes down to an individual/family’s preference, needs, alternatives. UIUC seems to offer a clear value advantage, and the alternative seems to come at a substantial cost.
Both are Top 5 CS programs. Considering what the cost will be to your parents and I don’t just mean financial, it seems like a no brainer to pick UIUC. You won’t make more money because you graduate from CMU and the jobs will be there from UIUC. I could never take money my parents needed to buy a house for college especially with such a cost differential. I think you know the right answer here and the right thing to do.
Higher percentage of CMU SCS grads head /hired to the Big 4/(higher cost) coasts.
I don’t think anyone will try to assert that the UIUC CS student body (while good) is, on average, at the level of the SCS student body. And a greater percentage of SCS grads head to the (high pay/high cost) coasts while a significant percentage of UIUC grads stay in the (lower pay/lower cost) Midwest.
But paying $200K more for a slightly better cohort of peers seems pretty insane when both schools send a ton of grads to the top software companies.
At the same company, the developers will make the same.
The same job at a given company may have the same range of base pay, bonus, and stock, but are not guaranteed equal pay. Also, many new grads don’t even negotiate their offers. They should!
The main determinant of salary will depend on what region of the country you get a job in. You need to compare where CMU grads go vs. UIUC grads. Lots of CMU grads head out to the coasts, where pay is higher than in the Midwest. CMU also has a branch campus in Silicon Valley that offers graduate degrees in computer-related fields, so they’re already in an area with high salaries.
I grew up in Ohio. I think people who go to Big 10 schools are more rooted in that part of the country, while people who go to CMU are from all over and don’t have any particular attachment to Pennsylvania.
Because a big chunk of UIUC’s student body are IL natives with ties to IL and can’t or don’t want to go far away. It is the IL flagship, after all.
Also, outside of the national tier of software companies, a lot of hiring is local. UIUC is right in the middle of the (lower cost/lower pay) Midwest while CMU is by the (high cost/high pay) East Coast.
I believe UIUC has more Internationals than CMU (state schools these days need that OOS/International tuition revenue) and those folks may have to go back to (much lower paying) jobs back home or settle for whomever is willing to sponsor them.