I narrowed it down to these two. I got into both the schools.
NC State costs 42k
UMass costs 37k ( I got 14k merit. So came down from 51k. )
I wasn’t expecting the merit and was set on NC State. Now I don’t know how to make a decision. I’m an international student and therefore I have no connection with NC or MA.
Also, I’m interested in game development and network security.
NC State offers concentration in game development. And UMass in Cybersecurity.
NC State makes you go to First year engineering and then declare CS later. UMass admitted me directly to CS.
So any advice or suggestion on making this decision? Which school is better for Computer Science?
I’d choose NC State for sure. Much better weather than UMass, better overall school as well. Also their CompSci program is better than that of UMass.
Yes, both are good schools, but NC State is better. And yes, NC State may cost more, but you’d have a better college experience away from all that terrible snow and away from folks who are so thin-skinned that jokes about a dead gorilla are considered “microaggressions”. You’d be able to actually have fun on Halloween at NC State. Not to mention, MUCH better sports and nicer, more down-to-earth people.
It should be an easy decision. From my POV, it’s as simple as you like.
It’s true that weather and sports will be better in NC. It depends how important that is to you. I’m not sure where the previous poster gets his info that NC State is a better school with a better program. I would fact check that before taking his word.
My husbands company loves UMass CS grads but has trouble hiring them because they are in such demand. It has a reputation of being a great program. The fact that you are a direct admit and it’s cheaper should make this the obvious choice.
From what I’ve heard, people speak highly of both the programs. I’ve no idea how to compare.
Also I’m a South Indian who lives in the sun. 100+ degrees is the average temperature I live in. Idk if I’d be alive at UMass
This is simply not true. The user @LBad96 has a very strong bias towards schools in the south and against those in the northeast. When it comes to rankings of any sort, across the board, UMass Amherst is very well ranked in CS, usually significantly higher than NC State. As someone in the CS industry, UMass Amherst has significant name recognition in industry that NC State does not have at all.
This really concerns me. CS is significantly different from engineering, and most schools with modern CS departments understand that. May have their own college for the subject, separate from engineering. While there is value in some concepts in engineering, there is an incredible loss in not starting CS freshman year given the depth of the subject.
All this said, fit and other factors are important. North Carolina get some light snow too. The weather difference isn’t perfect vs terrible, it’s much more nuanced than that. Do think about other preferences when comparing besides the CS quality. In that category though, UMass Amherst is a big winner.
This is very coded language and misrepresentations of the northeast and its people. To be fair, this often happens with southern schools, which I would guess is where some of this comes from. It does not mean making stereotypes the other way is the answer.
@PengsPhils UMass is NOT much better than NC State in any sense of the imagination. Their US News rankings aren’t even THAT different. NC State certainly has name recognition in the CS world. You’re overrating UMass. Yes, NC gets some light snow, but MA gets an Arctic tundra.
@LBad96 The US News rankings have their graduate programs at 25 and 46 respectively. Even more significant, on a 1 to 5 scale, they rate UMass a 3.6 to a 3.0 for NC State. This isn’t a case of a big rank difference but a small actual gap.
If you look at schools by research publications, UMass Amherst is nearly in the top 10 while NC State is 36th. Again, the industry looks fondly at UMass due to its consistent reputation, as backed up by multiple people in this thread.
Do you have any source for this or any source indicating that NC State CS is better than UMass for CS, as you have claimed? Or that it has any name recognition? Having worked in tech in multiple regions of the country, I have never heard of NC State for CS but have very regularly heard of UMass Amherst.
Strictly speaking, CS at mass Amherst is valued and recognized at a national level (not the University as a whole, but CS specifically.)
Ncsu is a stronger school overall but CS at umass is an exception.
@PengsPhils All those ranking are for grad schools, right? Is the undergraduate program just a good and well regarded?
Also, I read on a few threads that UMass CS is more math based and theoretical than practical. Is this true?
I like all the huge variety of CS electives UMass has.
@PengsPhils I thought you were only a year older than me? Already having worked in tech in multiple regions of the country? Very impressive.
I probably stretched it earlier with the CS part, but @MYOS1634 is 100% right about NC State being the stronger overall school. Not to mention that NC State is a school that its in-state students actually look forward to attending, and one that fellow in-state universities do NOT condescend upon with semi-vitriolic disdain: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/05/21/umass-can-win/77Kbhzu1v7wcVcpEOh44dM/story.html
Unfortunately, there are few undergraduate CS rankings - it’s a tough and complex metric to get at, for reasons I won’t go into to save time here. However, as a result, graduate rankings tend to be generally a good reflection. UMass Amherst is not an exception here.
I’m not as familiar with the theoretical vs practical spin of UMass, but I have worked alongside some people from UMass, and we’ve discussed the programs at each of our schools. They didn’t bring anything up on this particular comparison but had generally good reviews of the program. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were a bit more theoretical given their research strength, but CS is very much an applied subject. Even the theoretically slanted departments will cover a good deal of practical stuff. There is such a thing as too far slanted, but given the reputation of graduates in industry, I would not suspect this is a case. Again, a good deal of this is anecdotes and educated guessing, so posting on the UMass Amherst forum would probably be better. Try to ask someone who’s gone through the program.
@LBad96 Unfortunate incidents happen in every school.
I read about that racist group text incident at NC State as well. Not saying anything against any school, just saying that it happens everywhere.
And I never said anything against this. However, being a good public school doesn’t make it a better option versus another. It also doesn’t make it a better fit for someone.
The school is widely known to have amazing food options, which is a big plus to me.
As far as Harambe, Halloween, and controversial speakers, we both know there is a lot more nuance there. However, your original statements are gross exaggerations. Do you really think you can’t have fun on Halloween at UMass? That simply isn’t true. Starting a conversation on being respectful of other races and cultures on Halloween would be a good thing in my book.
One of the speakers you linked to has been banned from twitter for encouraging and driving harassment of others, and has plenty of other issues he has been involved with. His tour was explicitly designed to create friction and to cause reactions, and it did at many universities, in various regions.
I do agree that the Harambe story is just silly for a variety of reasons, but two people complaining with nothing done as a result (as far as I am aware) is not a reason to characterize a school that way.
The immediate surrounding area of NC State probably offers more, but that will probably not be a relevant difference. For CS, most internships will be in bigger cities and will often pay for your housing (or pay enough where you can move there for the summer), so locations can go out the door in some cases. On campus recruiting will be the more important factor for that reason, and UMass Amherst also excels there, again stemming from its reputation. I worked alongside the UMass students in Boston, and the company recruited them on campus and paid for their housing.
Most people don’t plan to stay in the same place they went to college for CS and usually go to a tech hub such as ones in California, Seattle, Austin, Boston, or New York or just generally big cities. So, for job prospects after college, that is why the national name recognition of UMass is valuable. NC State probably carries good weight regionally, so if you were planning to go to a North Carolina city such as Charlotte, it could serve you well.
OK, I believe UMass is the better choice both for finances and the CS department, but if I were you @wolfwing123 I’d choose NCSU because 1. weather; 2. airport is easier to get to; 3. generally cheaper area. Raleigh is awesome and although Amherst is a good college town, there is a lot more to Raleigh than to Amherst. You have to live there after all. I also think you’ll be less homesick in Raleigh. I think you’ll get a decent job out of either school. Good luck.
PS To PengsPhils’ point, a lot of people who go to Raleigh for school end up doing everything they can to stay there. It’s a great place to live and raise a family (although the gubmint of the last few years is nuts).