<p>Good evening. I'm applying as an undergraduate international student to these schools with Computer Science as a major, and my question is simple: Which one is a better fit?</p>
<p>Important things to note:
- Although Computer Science is my major, I'm very interested in pursuing a course that blends Computer Science and Fine Arts ala BCSA (Bachelor of Computer Science and Arts) in Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Location matters, but it's not a priority of mine. Basically, location would serve as tie-breaker in case schools end up measuring the same in everything else.</p></li>
<li><p>Research opportunities and interships within the university matter.</p></li>
<li><p>I do not care which one is a better party-school, that's completely irrelevant to me.</p></li>
<li><p>Student body size doesn't matter. What does matter is the student faculty ratio of each university, the lower, the better.</p></li>
<li><p>Although I don't hold this in too much esteem, the prestige and "name" of each university is something to keep in mind.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>That being said, which one do you guys recommend the most, taking into consideration everything I said above?</p>
<p>Berkeley, Urbana-Campaign, Ann Arbor are all nice college towns.
Berkeley and AA are about half an hour away from decently sized cities. But you’ll probably enjoy San Francisco more than Detroit.</p>
<p>Snow will be an important factor to consider since it may affect you more than you think once you’re walking through a foot of snow on campus bundled up at 7:40AM on a Monday. </p>
<p>If you want to live actually live in a big city, go for GeorgiaTech and UT-Austin.</p>
<p>Student:Faculty is slightly better there too than everywhere else.</p>
<p>You’ll probably want Berkeley as your first choice.
Keep in mind that cost-of-living is significantly there than everywhere else. Austin in the cheapest. and I hear that Berkeley is socially crippling.</p>
<p>Really can’t think of a reason to choose Michigan over any of the other places.</p>
<p>“Berkeley, Urbana-Campaign, Ann Arbor are all nice college towns.”
And Austin has all three beat, offering everything these three places offer, but with the addition of having better weather and being in Texas (even though whether Austin is part of Texas is debatable :p).</p>
<p>Atlanta is subjectively better than Austin. And less crime rate.
GeorgiaTech has the worst male:female ratio, but the classroom ratio is still the same across all these universities for CS.</p>
<p>Assuming cost of attendance is the same, I would go to Berkeley or UT. While all these schools get recruited nationally (even globally), Berkeley and UT have the advantage of being close to employers that would hire you. Berkeley, given its proximity to Silicon Valley is self explanatory, and Texas is probably one of the very few states in this country with a red hot thriving economy right now, and the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>“Atlanta is subjectively better than Austin. And less crime rate.”
Are we talking about the same Atlanta and Austin?</p>
<p>Atlanta has 6 times the murder rate, 1.5 times the rape rate, 4 times the robbery rate, 3 times the assault rate, 2 times the burglary rate, equal theft rate, 5 times the auto theft rate and 2 times the arson rate than Austin, for a 2+ times blended overall crime rate over Austin.</p>
<p>The one I showed you was only Computer Science in their Liberal Arts school. The list is more extensive for EECS. And it’s not just engineering, even Berkeley Econ and Business are also well recruited. Berkeley Econ prestige is on another tier Michigan could ever dream of.</p>
<p>That Berkeley Econ placement list is pretty lackluster and unimpressive. Out of 484 graduated you get 3 Bain strat, 1 Blackrock PMG, 1 CS, 1 DB, 1 GS, 1 Jane Street, 1 PIMCO… others are pretty much all throwaways. </p>
<p>That’s about how Michigan Econ fare… not great. </p>
<p>Business school also disappoints me, way too many Big 4 advisory and F500… I bet Ross places better, but just my guess.</p>
<p>That EECS list is real nice, maybe lacking on the lucrative HFT and quant trading side but that’s just a location thing.</p>
<p>So what’s the tally so far? Berkeley 5, and all other schools like 2?</p>
<p>Ha, I’m kidding. But seriously though, I thought UMich was the better all around university from the list provided. From the vibe I’m getting here, it seems Cal has it beat there too…</p>
<p>^^^Don’t go by the vibe on CC. Michigan is very strong in the fine arts too, especially music, theater, and dance. None of the other schools has quite the breadth combined with overall quality.</p>