Hi,
first time in this bewildering world of college admission as a parent.My son has gotten into University of maryland honors program in computer science with full ride scholraship.He is also got into Harvard school in computer science. Any thought on is it worth spending full cost for Harvard brand name even though computer science program is midtier.He also got into UPenn and Duke.any input will be welcome.
Ouch. No financial aid from Harvard? What about UPenn and Duke?
Harvard certainly has benefits and will open doors. The ROI calculation is very tough.
What can you folks afford?
How much will each school (Harvard, Duke, Upenn) cost and how much can you afford?
UMD hands down is the better option! The CS industry is not one that is prestige driven, rather competition is based on your skills. UMD is, however, often considered one of the top 20 program for CS, and is a really top notch program. A lot of government agencies and defense contractors (Northrop Grumman, etc) recruit out of the school, as well as a lot of tech companies. They have a strong job placement history. No school is worth paying full price over a full ride at UMD in CS (not even CMU).
I say go to UMD. Generally agree with guineagirl96. “CS industry is not one that is prestige driven”. I agree. But if your kid wants to go to Harvard CS, that’s that. I say this even though my own kid will go to Stanford non-STEM major (at full pay) over an Honors College which offered a near full ride merit scholarship.
If it is affordable to you, I’d probably pick Harvard just for the alumni network. He may also change his mind in the future.
UMD hands down.
Thanks for your valuable input.We do have resources to pay for it without any loans.I don’t have any information about any tuition aid from Harvard as yet.He is in waiting list for Carnegie Mellon and MIT.It is indeed a difficult decision.
If you can afford Harvard, consider it seriously.
(run the NPC just in case)
Your son should go to admitted student days at Harvard and UMD.
At Upenn did he get into a special program?
Computer science program
I do not like to participate in other families financial discussions, since I find that so personal and know it needs to be the top consideration. So please view my comment with the assumption both choices are affordable.
Many technical professionals burn out or hit a ceiling midway through their career and move into management positions. I believe in this case a Harvard diploma may provide an advantage at that stage.
Some here will respond that undergrad degrees don’t matter after your first job. I disagree. Just look at any tech company’s website and check the sr. management bios, where they are all listed.
Congrats on having a choice where you really can’t lose!
I agree these are two great choices, but very different.
Again ignoring finances (which only you can judge), there are many things to consider:
Cambridge, MA is a wonderful place to spend 4 years of your life.
You are surrounded by bright kids of every major, not just in your own major or honors college.
Kids often change their mind about major or career after school, reputation and connections would be
more important in many other fields, and at top level jobs. I work for a firm, in IT, where our CTO is a
Harvard grad. Our President graduated another ivy. I studied CS many years ago and we used software
in my college developed by the Harvard CS dept. They have been at this many years, not really a mediocre
choice for CS at all, as implied above.
That said, UMD can take you anywhere. Have niece who studied Chem there, got offer for PhD at Yale and
another top school when she graduated. No limit where UMD can take you.
Very good choices…I would visit and consider culture, location, and other factors that might make your kid
happier and motivated. Would they thrive in the larger classes of a major state U ? Campus aestetics
are different. Culture of students are very different.
As far as finances, if you decide Harvard is preferable, you can call fin aid office and make an appt to
meet and see if they can consider more aid. I know a family told another Ivy that the money was a deciding
factor, and they came through with more finaid.
Well, H would have large classes as well, but if I was in your shoes and H would not cause financial insecurity or distress, I’d choose Harvard, hands-down, and it would not be a hard decision. H opens up so many more doors.
Thanks for your valuable suggestions.We are leaning toward Harvard.It is just very hard to say no to Harvard.
Sergey Brin went to UMD. I don’t think it hurt his career any.
Bill Gates went to Harvard and didn’t graduate. Apparently you only need a semester
or two at Harvard to succeed 
@blevine: Zuckerberg too.