I’ve seen Goldy in a video where he jumps out from hiding and scares UMinn students. Hilarious. I wish I had YouTube when I was searching for schools.
I think the OP has been scared away by some of this irrelevant squabbling. Main criteria should be:
Cost (and that includes travel costs)
Strength of Academic program
GPA required to keep scholarship and feasibility of this
Internship, research, career fairs, alumni network
Less salient criteria:
Campus environment - (city, rural, small town)
Extracurriculars
Geography
Both are large universities so if the OP wishes to change majors that would be an option in either place.
One other note about UMN - it seems that 80% (approx) of students like to live off campus after the first year. I don’t know how the housing portion of the scholarship works - does it need to be used for university residence housing only. There is an arrangement with some nearby apartments that may also work with the scholarship arrangement…
My S really enjoys a city environment so after academics, that was the next criteria for him (other two major factors I listed at the top were not an issue for us). The train line runs right through the middle of campus so it’s very easy to get around. With the abundant transportation and tunnel system, it’s not hard to get out of the cold. The campus is beautiful - have you had a chance to visit?
OP, I think an important question is how well do you know yourself? Some of my children know themselves very well. They knew from a young age exactly what they wanted to pursue as adults, and they have, never looking back, never quedtioning their gosls. However, I have an adult daughter who constantly changed her mind about what she wanted to do. Choosing a career path took a lot of effort and soul searching. She is incredibly happy with her choice, but was not an easy decision.
Do you think there is any chance that you might change your mind about wanting to pursue a degree in the College of Science and Engineering? Will there be any possibility that you might feel trapped by your scholarship?
If you are confident in your path, the finances seem very similar. You really just need to think through what you want.
^^^ Very good point.
The rate of job creation in Alabama and the south is higher than the rate of job creation in Minnesota and the midwest. If you look 4+ years down the road when the OP will graduate the unemployment numbers may well be reversed. Alabama and Minnesota places lots of graduates outside of their states as well, ND is suffering from the oil price collapse, MN is doing fine, Wisconsin is troubled and Illinois is a mess. If you look at the states surrounding Alabama - Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee etc. you’ll see a higher long term growth trend. It depends where the OP sees him/herself in a few years. @Singersmom07 , I agree with you, but college networking is certainly a factor.
Minneapolis is a wonderful city and a major research center so many corporate internships are likely to be available for the OP. I don’t think the same level of non-college opportunities are likely to be available in Tuscaloosa.
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It’s called a FREE EDUCATION. I’d say that is a pretty compelling reason and why it’s painfully obvious that these types of students are attending Bama. Honestly, how many high stat students do you think would be going to UA from out of state without the freebies? The answer is, of course, very few.
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Yes, this is probably true. BUT…it’s also true for many pricey schools. There are many high stats students who wouldn’t be going to lots of schools if those pricey schools also weren’t known to hand out a bunch of need based aid. Sure, schools like HYPSM could fill up with full pay students, but there’s a whole bunch of students who’d never go there if the aid wasn’t also there. Same with many OOS publics. The ones that are giving out merit for high stats likely get more OOS apps.
If the UCs follow thru with their new policy of no aid to OOS students, we’ll probably see a drop there as well. But UCB, UCLA and UCSD will still probably have enough intls and wealthy OOS who will pay the $50k+ to go there.
Bama offers a lot of merit because its goal to be a bigger flagship with a bigger College of Eng’g requires that more high stats students be on campus. The state has a low population, so not enough high stats students to fill the seats. That said, I think @rjkofnovi would be surprised how many OOS students are full or near full pay at Bama. I think that he thinks most of the OOS students are getting free tuition. Not so.
I think the OP has left.
I’m still here. I just didn’t check the topic yesterday. To clear up a few more things, since I had no idea this topic was gonna be so popular or in depth:
I see myself moving west after college. I might be interested in settling around the Twin Cities, but I definitely can’t see myself settling near Alabama and I really don’t have plans to stay near either college. I was thinking maybe Northern California or Washington. So, I may be wrong on this, but I don’t think either college can offer me much to help me get out there easier.
I’m fairly confident that CS is the major I want to be in. I’ve decided I want to minor, or possibly double major in something in the realm of business, probably either economics or business management. While I’m fairly confident now about being a CS student, I will admit that I’ve never been totally sure about who I want to be as an adult in the working world, though I’ve felt better and a lot more confident about CS than I have about any other options be considered before (including aerospace, architecture, law). Even if I decided CS and even all of engineering wasn’t for me at Minnesota tho, I could pursue a double major in something outside the CSE and keep my scholarship. It would just be a pretty big pain, of course.
I never thought about writing Alabama to see if they’ll match the scholarship before. That’s a good idea.
I like the environment of the Twin Cities a lot more than I like Tuscaloosa. I’ve visited both campuses once and I’ve visited the Twin Cities with family several times. The only thing I’m worried about at Minn is that I’ll start to miss nature, since while I like big cities, I also definitely like the outdoors.
As of right now, I’m leaning toward Minnesota. I know they can offer me a much better CS program, and a slightly better scholarship deal. Oh, and for the record, I’m already admitted into honors at both, and I’ve actually already applied for honors housing at both. The matter now, is deciding which one to decline, really.
Based on #67, it looks like:
- You see Minnesota as having a better program in your major than Alabama.
- Minnesota is less expensive for you than Alabama after scholarships (where both schools' scholarships need a 3.0 college GPA to renew).
- You like Minneapolis / Saint Paul better than Tuscaloosa.
The only real drawback may be that need to meet a college GPA threshold to enter your major at Minnesota (ask the department what the threshold is if you do not meet the 3.2 threshold listed for assured admission). But, other than that, all signs seem to point to Minnesota for you.
http://uanews.ua.edu/2011/08/stem-path-to-mba-offers-top-students-shorter-degree-path/
I was going to mention this yesterday, but wasn’t aware that you were interested in business.
UA has a STEM to MBA program.
The Honors program at UMN-TC is quite selective- I believe 5% or less of the top admitted students so you would definitely have a very good peer group. My only concern is the restrictions of your scholarship. It’s quite easy to combine Economics and CS from the Liberal Arts College (my son’s double major - and he picked UMN-TC because both these majors are very strong there) but not sure of the reverse. You should check to make sure. He did need to get some paperwork signed by the College of Engineering to allow him into their classes - it was not a big deal but he did not know that until after he was registered (in summer) and on campus when classes started. Admissions officers tend to like to tell you most things are feasible - I would definitely contact each school you are interested in to confirm the feasibility of majors and minors.
@michaelb373
I think the focus on employment statistics in Alabama is a red herring for you. You might want to send a PM to kjcphmom whose son attended University of Alabama and recently graduated with a double-major in Computer Science and Math, and a Masters in Computer Science in 3-1/2 years through the University Scholars program. He is now working for Google.
I agree with @ucbalumnus points in #68. UMN seems to fit what you want better than UA.
I know nothing about the program, but based on your description of yourself, I wonder if something like MIS might be of interest?
http://culverhouse.ua.edu/academics/programs/management_information_systems/
MIS is generally a business-based less-technical program aimed at managing computers and their software, rather than designing and developing them as CS is.
OP, I read this thread with alot of interest as my middle son, a CS major, had to choose between the University of Minnesota and the University of Alabama 4 years ago. He was a NMF and with the scholarships offered by both school, his out of pocket costs were going to be basically $3,000 per year for both so basically equal in the money department. We are located near you so my son was use to cold weather, although he likes warmer weather. Both schools’ CS departments are ABET accredited, and both are part of College of Science/Engineering so when he graduated he would have a Bachelors of Science degree (not arts) which was important to him. CSE and honors department are harder to get into at UMN so higher stat students are in the engineering/CS programs. At UA I believe any student can declare a major in engineering/CS, although many students leave or are weeded out as they progress through the program if they find it is not right or they cannot handle the workload. With your statistics, you would probably do fine in both schools.
Other pros and cons: UMN is closer to home so travel expenses are less and you might come home a little more during the school year. If you go to UA, figure at least $1,000 traveling expense (our expense is higher as our UA students fly 3 times a year, and we bring them for move-in and pick them up at the end of the year so transportation to/from airport, gas and hotels are included.) UA is definitely more greek (pro or con depending on your view.) Coffman Union is utilized more by the students than the Ferg is: Coffman has free movies every week, has the bowling alley, the pool room, the Gopher after Dark lounge etc. The food choices in the cafeteria are better at UA, although there is a cafeteria in most all the dorms at UMN. The dorms, especially the many suite style ones, are better at UA.
UMN is urban - it is full of interesting, but non matching, buildings. It does have its green areas, but many buildings are on public streets. The light rail goes through it (again a pro or con) and your classes can be on three different campuses (East, West or St. Paul) so you have to figure traveling time when scheduling classes. UA has a beautiful walkable campus, and everything matches. The strip is nice, but the surrounding area has more of a suburban than city feel to it. Off campus housing is much nicer in Tuscaloosa than at UMN. Both are expensive though. Cheaper housing can be found for both the farther away you get from campus.
My middle son chose UA. The weather, the curriculum and the fact that his older brother went to UMN factored into this decision (loves his brother but wanted his own experience). It was a good decision for him. The CS department is not very big, and he meshed well with the professors. He had the option to get a MBA through the STEM to MBA program, but decided to enter the University Scholars Program where he was able to earn his bachelors and masters concurrently. He liked his classes and professors. Some of his classmates did not, and a few did leave the program to get their MIS degrees instead. He graduated in 3-1/2 years and was able to get an internship last summer at a well-known company in northern CA, and is now working at another CS company there full-time. If he went to UMN he would not have gotten his Masters. I don’t think this would have changed his job offer in CA, but it might have changed his salary a bit as those with Masters are offered a little more.
Basically I don’t think you can go wrong going to either university. You have been to both campuses so you should know which one you feel more “at home” at by now. Good luck. PM me if you have any other questions.
PS - You won’t miss nature if you go to Minnesota - its a bike ride away (after all the Mississippi River runs through the campus!) Nature is abundant at UA too - the Warrior River is behind the campus with a beautiful walking trail.
Seemingly any way you measure it Minnesota is the better school with a better scholarship.
UMN is very well endowed.
And if you plan to work anywhere across the Midwest, the Minnesota alumni network will be stronger.
Congrats!
Minnesota (4.5 stars) is a far better choice than Alabama (3.5 stars) with or without a scholarship. Seems like you’ve already made the right decision. Have a great time as a Golden Gopher.
@LBad96 What is the source of your stars? If it is just something you made up I suggest you note that. I don’t recall seeing other posters making up their own rating systems and then referencing them as if they were relevant.
OP - Assuming the $s are comparable and you seem to prefer Minnesota for a number of reasons that seems like the right choice. Congrats!
@Big10Grad it is made up, but it has its own thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1846271-lbads-college-ratings-2k16.html#latest