I’m an international student and I am deciding between these three schools. Cost is not a major factor.
For UMich, I’ve been admitted into the College of Engineering and I intend on studying CS.
For UWaterloo, I’ve been admitted into the honors Software Engineering program w/ the presidential scholarship of distinction
For Scripps, I intend on studying CS (taking all my CS classes at Mudd if possible)
Points to consider:
-I’m largely involved in orchestra and I would like to continue.
-I would like to attend a school w/ good working connections w/ the tech industry
-lots of advising for career (like good career services)
-not as much partying but still some social interactions
-lots of interesting classes (HCI, AI stuff interests me)
-I haven’t decided, but I might want to minor/double major in business as well
Please help me by providing insight! I can’t visit these schools and the May 1st deadline is REALLY soon
Waterloo has an amazing track record in STEM companies, and you’re in the honors program for your major, so that seems like the best from a future-career standpoint.
Alas, I know nothing about orchestra opportunities at any of them. You should contact the music departments right away.
I’m a Scripps parent and would absolutely vote for Scripps for the right person, but I don’t feel like you’re that person. It’s true that you can major in CS through Mudd, but it’s not the same experience as being a Mudd student. You’ll be required to spend a lot of time on the Scripps humanities core and other liberal arts GE requirements. You likely wouldn’t get started in CS at all until spring of your first year, whereas your other two schools sound like places where you will hit the ground running in your major. From the way you portray yourself, I feel as if you would feel frustrated rather than enriched by the Scripps curriculum, and would just be champing at the bit to get on with your Mudd coursework. (Business offerings are also minimal.) Probably not the best setup. Orchestra-wise, there are certainly opportunities for both ensemble work and private lessons in the Joint Music Program (5C’s-minus-Pomona, which has its own separate music program… though I believe you can also audition for their groups), but I suspect the opportunities would be richer at UMichigan. (I know absolutely zip about Waterloo.) Here’s the recordings page for the Joint Music Program Orchestra, FWIW: http://www.jointmusicprogram.org/orchestra/recent-recordings
Thank you for your insight! Hmm…yeah the reason I decided not to go to another school (Yale-NUS) was also because of their hardcore (haha get it) core modeled after UChicago and Columbia (it took up about 33% of all the academics I’d take at the school. Do you maybe have an estimate of what percentage of my college classes would be the core?).
The big reason why I applied to Scripps in the first place was because of the Claremont consortium, HMC, and the small school feel/area that I preferred (weather-wise at least). Given what you’ve elaborated about the core, I think that knocks Scripps down a bit. I will be doing a bit more research on this and try to contact a current student! Other than that, I really appreciate the comment!
If you need additional peace of mind about simplifying your decision to Michigan vs. Waterloo, here are a couple of recent articles about the supply vs. demand problems with CS classes at Mudd and Pomona. Once a Scripps student declares a Mudd CS major, she does get the same priority for course registration as Mudd CS students do. But as you can see, this applies only until requirements are met; you are not guaranteed extra classes, beyond your major requirements, in areas of interest.
Overall, you seem to be on a very focused major/career path, so I think the two excellent CS programs from which you have direct offers are clearly your best bet, vs. attending a liberal arts college with access to CS via cross-registration. I can definitely extol the virtues of Scripps when it seems like a fit - even for aspiring CS majors who also have a genuine desire for the small LAC experience - but for you it seems clear that your other two choices fit your goals much better.
I hope you get some helpful feedback from people who have insight into the relative strengths of Waterloo vs. Michigan. You might try posting in those school’s forums, to capture the attention of more people who can help with that. Good luck with your decision!
(edit: wrote the above before seeing your response… will comment on those questions in a sec)
I haven’t thought about it as a percentage before, but leaving out the foreign language requirement (assuming you could probably test out of that if you wanted to) and math (which you’d need for your major anyway), there are 10 requirements to meet. Some classes can meet two requirements at once (i.e. one class might meet both Social Science + Race/Ethnic Studies). But I would say at the bare minimum you’re looking at 8 required core classes outside your major, so 25% of your program. (For a student who starts a new foreign language to meet that requirement, those three additional classes would bump the percentage up to 33%, just like Yale et. al.) Hope that helps!
I’ve heard that Canadian universities typically have more focus on the major and fewer GE’s than US universities, but of course you’re down to specifics now, so you can compare the actual programs you’re considering and see if that bears out.
