<p>Don’t worry about #10 vs. #14 vs. #1, etc… At the macro level, they should all be fine schools for computer science or engineering.</p>
<p>Take a look at the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Check the net cost after non-loan financial aid. Depending on the difference, this may be the biggest factor.</li>
<li>Are you in the major, or will you be able to declare the major easily, or will you need to apply to the major competing against other students due to limited space in the major?</li>
<li>Check the course catalog in CS. Check for the core CS courses (e.g. algorithms, operating systems, networks, compilers, software engineering, databases, security, computer architecture), but also check which elective CS courses they have – some schools may have different concentrations of elective CS courses due to faculty and student interest. Check how quickly the introductory sequence goes – a faster pace may be more suitable for those with programming experience, but may be overwhelming for those with none. Check that CS courses use a variety of programming languages so that your thinking about CS won’t be limited by one programming language.</li>
</ul>