I live in MD, and I got an $8000/year scholarship and $1000 book stipend at UMD.
Two Questions. Which school should I go to if money is not a consideration? Which school should I go to if money is a consideration (bang for your buck)?
I don’t know exactly what kind of CS I want to study… Probably databases/data analytics and maybe something to do with distributed/parallel systems.
I like the idea of a school in the middle of a city and warm places. I don’t really care about sports or food. Internships/job opportunities, on the other hand, mean a lot more to me. I want to be able to get a job while I’m in college and after I graduate.
Run all of your numbers here: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/ Then talk the results over with whoever it is who will be helping you pay for your education. Can you afford UMD with that scholarship? What kind of GPA do you need to maintain in order to keep your scholarship each year?
Cost of attendance:
MD instate 24 (-9k scholarship) = 15
GT OOS 44 … 30 more per year
UCLA OOS 64… 50 more per year
Return on investment CS ranking without scholarship:
12 GT OOS
16 MD instate
112 UCLA OOS
ROI ranking after correcting for scholarship:
11 MD instate
12 GT OOS (9k difference w/ MD)
112 UCLA OOS
Best Academics:
GT, UCLA, MD
Public college rankings
UCLA, GT, MD
CS rankings
GT, UCLA, MD
MD is the cost effective choice.
UCLA and MD have 40k+ students (30 undergrad)
GT has 21k students (15 undergrad) 80% stem
Mascots: turtle, bee, drunken bear
1 out of 4 students regret their college choice.
Kiddo, UMD is really hard to beat when it comes to CompSci. Really, really hard to beat. You will be fielding several job offers when you graduate. They’re ranked in the top 20 NATIONWIDE.
Georgia Tech and UCLA are great choices…but value for dollar I think UMD is hard to beat.
Anecdote: I had a client turn down Yale (too expensive) to attend UMD for Comp Sci. He had an internship at Google, and then got a job with them 1/2 way through senior year. He is living it up.
Good luck!