<p>I am an International and accepted in GTECH,UIUC and USC (Dean scholarship). I am interested in CS/CSE as major. Please guide me about pros and cons about each one.</p>
<p>Sigtus,</p>
<pre><code>Could you tell us a little about yourself in a general way? Are finances a factor? Is the climate important to you? Do you prefer an urban or more rural environment? Do you want small classes? Do you want a cultural mix in the student body? Does your home country have an alumni group from any of these universities? Do you have family or friends near any of these choices? Since you are interested in CS, have you considered the games option? Have you had the opportunity to visit any of these three universities?
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<p>I think we could be of greater help if we knew more about your preferences.</p>
<p>I am an international and had no chance of visiting any one of these universities. Finances is not an issue but climate is. </p>
<p>What is gaming option under CS? </p>
<p>I want exciting college life experience and explore studying in exciting environment.</p>
<p>@sigtus I live in Atlanta, so I could probably give you insight on GaTech (I have a few friends that go there) any specific questions?</p>
<p>The climate in LA is much better than Atlanta in my opinion. LA is practically perfect all the time, where as ATL is either really hot (we have super hot summers) or cold, without much in between. It doesn’t however get much colder than 30 in the winter (maybe colder at night) so it’s nothing bad like the north. I was more drawn to the LA weather while visiting schools.</p>
<p>My idea of going to US for study is better exposure in college life and superior research opportunities as UG. The city I live in is also having extreme weather. Pl guide me from these perspectives.</p>
<p>Sigtus,</p>
<p>Perhaps you have posted questions on the sites of your other two choices. Here are some features of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering:</p>
<p>Location:</p>
<p>Los Angeles is a major center for aerospace, entertainment, fashion, technology, biomedicine and trade. These centers offer opportunities for internships and service learning. The city is cosmopolitan and has a sophisticated arts scene, sports, music, museums, parks, galleries and countless outdoor activities. The USC campus has two Metro stations and is three miles from the civic center, Disney Concert Hall, major theatres, art galleries, bookstores and upscale restaurants. </p>
<p>It is possible to enjoy the beach and explore part of the desert in one day. Outdoor activities are possible all year.</p>
<p>The Campus</p>
<p>The USC campus is centrally located and offers concerts, cinema events, plays, lectures, exhibits, Visions and Voices, Los Angeles Festival of Books, D1 sports and 56 club sports. There are 600+ organizations, including 80 religious, political and cultural groups. The campus itself is known for the striking fountains, flowering trees and landscaped courtyards.
Photos of the campus can be found on the first page of the SC website: [University</a> of Southern California](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu%5DUniversity”>http://www.usc.edu) .</p>
<p>Viterbi School of Engineering</p>
<p>At SC the student faculty ratio is 9/1. As a private university it offers an extensive alumni network, undergraduate research opportunities, large choice of majors within Viterbi and interdisciplinary educational options. The school is known for the diversity of the students and support for the large number of women engineering majors. Roughly 13% of Viterbi’s students are international.</p>
<p>The Engineering Quad is the site of many engineering activities. The Viterbi School is spread among various buildings and is home to some of the most advanced facilities in the nation. It has 30 research centers, labs and libraries dedicated to engineering studies. Donations from Andrew Viterbi, Ming Hsieh and others have provided state of the art technology, new classrooms, research facilities and faculty who are members of national academies and other select honoraries. USC is one of only four universities with two National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers. It is also the home of the first university center of excellence funded by the US Dept of Homeland Security, Center for Research and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events.</p>
<p>The computer science major has unique options. A student can take a dual major in CS and Business Administration, Physics/CS and the exciting Computer Science/Games. The games major along with SCA interactive entertainment has been ranked #1 by the Princeton Review. This major offers top notch technical and creative training to prepare students to enter the video game and interactive entertainment industry.</p>
<p>Coming to the campus is the multimillion dollar new Molecular Science and Engineering Research building. It will be a center for interdisciplinary research. </p>
<p>Visit the Vitebi website. On the site there are student comments, photos of faculty and students, lists of faculty honors and awards, YouTube videos and features on important alumni. These will give you much more visual information since you are unable to visit the campus.</p>
<p>As someone from Illinois who has been to UIUC…</p>
<p>USC’s location is unbeatable - and you have San Francisco, San Diego, Mexico, Las Vegas, and other interesting places nearby (it’s easy to rent cars, or you could take the AmTrak train!), plus LAX is about 15-20 minutes by car (along with several other airports), if you’re into travel. Champaign is really not a great city unless all you want to do is go to parties, and it’s fairly difficult to travel because there’s not a whole lot to see in Illinois other than the fabulous city of Chicago and the closest airport is not a major one (which would probably make your flight costs add up as an international student). I’ve done extensive traveling in both the Midwest and West and I would definitely recommend USC. Plus LA is such a huge, diverse city (and our public transit has gotten a bit better in recent years)! Champaign is fairly boring and is pretty much just a college town. Los Angeles is incredible diverse in landscape - you have mountains, an ocean, forests… the reason Hollywood developed here is because you have every type of terrain imaginable to film on!</p>
<p>Champaign also gets a LOT of snow in the winter, meanwhile it’s 75 and sunny year-round in LA. Can’t speak for ATL (though I’m sure it’s a great place to travel from as well!).</p>
<p>If you are remotely interested in working in the entertainment industry (you mentioned gaming), then definitely choose USC. We have the top entertainment arts program in the world and there are great videogame design/industry minors through both Viterbi and the School of Cinematic Arts. USC actually just finished building the new SCI complex which will be dedicated to interactive entertainment and the facilities are incredible here!</p>
<p>Thanks for useful information. I think USC should be a good for me for a better college life experience.</p>