<p>I got into these three schools. In what order would you rank their CS programs in order of quality of education, prestige, grad school oppurtunities etc.? Does anyone know how much collaboration there actually is between Pittsburgh and CMU (I got waitlisted to CMU)? I have heard of Rose Hulman as an engineering college, is their CS program as good? I have also heard that Illinois has a top-notch CS program and is quite prestigious, where does this reputation come from?</p>
<p>All of these are fine schools and won’t hold you back. Go to the one where you will graduate with the least debt, unless they’re all about the same. If you can go to one for nearly free it beats graduating with six figure debt from Rose Hulman, despite the fact that it is supposed to be an excellent school. Thinking back to when I was 18, debt was just a number but the eventual reality of it can hit hard when you have to make monthly payments towards your student loans instead of a house or car.</p>
<p>UIUC is good</p>
<p>How about the other two? Are they as good or close? How much does it matter?</p>
<p>Here’s what I have gathered. I live in Illinois and know quite a bit about U of I. Also, I have researched A LOT into Rose-Hulman since it was my first choice. I do not know about Pittsburgh however. Anyway, I was accepted into both UIUC and RHIT but ultimately have chosen Illinois Institute of Technology. Here is why: I would have been in a nice bit of debt from the other two schools, end of story. UIUC hardly gives anything and RHIT is so expensive that even with their scholarships you are still in the hole a good deal of money. IIT gave me a full tuition scholarship plus some random housing scholarship, how could I turn that down. What you have to understand is typically your Undergraduate degree school does not matter. Like most other people, I was caught up in the rankings and saw that RHIT was supposed to be so great, so naturally I tended towards that school. UIUC was not the environment I liked and so I didn’t even really consider it with both IIT and RHIT. My sister is going to UIUC right now. Moral of the story: go to the school where you will end in the least debt. That is the best gift you could give yourself after you graduate. Because in reality, no matter what people tell you, most undergraduate CS programs are extremely comparable and it’s what you make of it, not the school. Sure, some schools could have a name that may help you land a job quicker, but really that lack of debt is much nicer considering you will be able to find a job either way.</p>