USC or WashU for Computer Engineering?

Parents Forum
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<p>^^ Yes - St. Louis is definitely a good sized city with all of the features large cities have plus the arch of course (which I’ve gone up to the top of). I only mentioned the difference in areas because I think the OP’s S initially expressed an interest in particular area attributes like warm weather, etc.</p>

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<p>Don’t know about Wash U. for Comp Engineering, but here is some info. about USC Viterbi Engineering for your son: Can do Computer Engineering, Computer Engineering/CS, CS/Business, EE and other majors within Engineering if your son decides to change majors.
Superb Exchange Student program available by application (usually junior year) this year (may change locations from year to year) to Singapore, Hong Kong or Israel. Summer study was available for Viterbi Engineering students to France this summer.</p>

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<p>Thank you folks!!</p>

<p>WashU is beautiful, no doubt. We got lost getting there and entered through the forest park, lovely winding road and it was just amazing!! Kids were jogging on the path. We loved St Louis too as we stayed right opposite the Arch.</p>

<p>I personally loved USC too!! It was what I always imagined it to be, lovely college campus, bright skies, kids looked chirpy and happy many were on the bike some on skateboard. A group of 5-6 students were practicing their dance steps, lots of tours crisscrossing. The info tour was very professionally done, then later breaking the group into smaller major focussed mini-groups led by students and then a final talk by the Engineering dept. Could not find any fault from the looks of it. Did not get a chance to eat there. So not sure about the food.</p>

<p>UT Austin is back on the radar now with invitation that landed in son’s mailbox for Honors at Cockrell. My main issue there was the housing/class size, which seems to be taken care of by this Honors Program? Need to do some research.</p>

<p>Each of the above 3 colleges have their pros and cons, no place is perfect!! I wish I could put UT’s Computer Dept into WashU and move it to LA!!! Joking!! ;)</p>

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<p>Being at UT honors he can live in the honors quad which I’ve heard has a great sense of community. Just extrapolating from what I learned about from other honors programs at UT the honors classes are small and being in these programs makes you part of a smaller community but the general classes will still be with the general UT community and many of the basic classes outside of the honors program will be large. I’ve heard great things from students in engineering but these are still factors of UT. If you can handle the weather Wash U seems like a great community with great access to public transportation and as you saw a beautiful park surrounding it. We also visited S. Cal schools, the great weather and beautiful vistas made it seem a lot like camp. All 3 seem like really happy campuses. (Well, I’ve never seen USC but in the S.Cal environment it would have to be happy.) It comes down to what makes him happy!..Now if food is important to him and he will be eating the dorm food Wash U beats UT hands down!..UT is however in Austin and there are lots of great eating options in the city.</p>

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<p>For computer engineering the two best universities on your S list are USC and UT Austin. Major engineering firms recruit aggressively at these two campuses. That most IT recruiting is local (stated in one of the replies) is true insofar as the positions that local companies recruit for are usually routine. For more strategic and R&D computer science positions recruiting is international, and corporations often focus on a handful of universities – so certainly MIT, UC Berkeley, and Stanford. But also UT Austin and USC.</p>

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<p>i’m a huge fan of WashU. But St. Louis is the worst city in the country, worst weather, worst food, and the weight problem in this country starts in St. Louis. There is no comparison between LA and St. Louis, and Watts is 40 blocks south of USC. USC is on the edge of downtown Los Angeles, a far cry from the hood.</p>

<p>If WashU wasn’t in St Louis it would be part of HYPSWu:)</p>

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<p>Pacheight, I really thought St Louis was OK.</p>

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<p>Pixel…I’m SOOOOO disappointed that SCU didn’t make the cut!!!</p>

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<p>Pacheight, have you ever even been to St. Louis??? You should have been here now - gorgeous spring weather in the 70-'s - 80’s with all the flowers and trees budding. </p>

<p>And, um, how exactly did you come up with the idea that the weight problem in this country starts in St. Louis?</p>

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<p>^^well, it does sound a little mean. But St’ Louis does have the worst weather, Houston is probably second in bad weather. You freeze in the winter and boil in humidity in the summer.</p>

<p>Other downers about St. Louis, it’s one of the few american cities that’s dying, most other US cities are experiencing growth and investment. Purina left, Edward’s left recently, and the Bush family attempt to rejuvenate downtown with a new stadium has failed so far.</p>

<p>Let’s see what else, you have to get on an airplane to see the mountains or the ocean. I’ve been to many of the “best” restaurants in St. Louis, I’d rate them as equal to an average restaurant in LA, NY, or SF. Oh, and the fat thing, you’re right I shouldn’t just pick on St. Louis, the entire midwest needs to go on a diet:)</p>

<p>Good things about St. Louis:</p>

<p>WashU
The Arch
A couple of the rhythm and blues clubs near Bush Stadium
The Airport, amazing architecture</p>

<p>I can’t think of anything else…</p>

<p>great cities attract new business and young talent, then the restaurants, housing, and clubs follow, then the families and community follow. Business and talent is not going to St. Louis</p>

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<p>^^^ I probably should not respond to pacheight’s latest diatribe – I’ll ingnore the gross generalizations for the moment and respond to the some of the factual mistakes above. Purina was bought by Nestle, but Purina’s headquarters is still in St. Louis. The Edwards you are referring to is I assume AG Edwards, which was bought out by Wachovia which is now Wells Fargo. But it still has a a large office in downtown St. Louis. It is Busch Stadium (not Bush) and the family did not have anything to do with building the new stadium or the surrounding development. In fact the Busch Family has not owned the team for some time.</p>

<p>St. Louis has its problems, as do many major cities. But for you to say it has the worst weather of any city and to say it is one of the few american cities that’s dying is pretty ridiculous. But since we are in the midwest, I guess we don’t know anything. Maybe it is because we are all so fat. ;)</p>

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<p>I think WUSTL college brochures look beautiful. May be STL has better air quality. But I don’t like foods in STL airport: not much choice, only pop corn and pork BBQ. Foods in LA airport are not good either.</p>

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<p>WUSTL is an amazing school in many of the sciences, but it isn’t nearly as recognized in computer engineering. USC and UT Austin are both a lot stronger in computer engineering. Either one should provide bountiful post-college career opportunities, though I would expect that UT would offer a lot of Texas jobs as well as jobs in other parts of the country, and USC would offer a lot of California jobs, as well as jobs in other parts of the country. If your son was of the “I definitely don’t want to live in Texas (or California) after college” then it might be something to consider.</p>

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<p>I found the food at Austin Airport was very good. Salt lick!!!</p>

<p>Thumper1, its a agonizing process…son is finding it very very difficult to choose one college even after the visits. In fact he asked ‘Can I attend all these colleges one semester at a time?’ </p>

<p>WashU is having an information night in our city tomorrow night, held by an Alumni. Hoping to meet some other parents. Will report back on it.</p>

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<p>You may want to look at a recent 60 Min program about St Louis. It did highlight how much the city is suffering financially, in great part because of the steep drop in population out of the city, and lack of new industry. It was an eye opener for me. Made me glad son is at USC, which is in a much more vibrant and economically healthy city, compared to SL.</p>

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<p>^^^@menoloparkmom – I searched the 60 minutes site and could not find a story on St. Louis. Maybe I missed it . . . do you know when it aired? Living in St. Louis, I guessed I would have heard about it, but perhaps not.</p>

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<p>^^i understand defending your home, your city. but St. Louis has been in decline for years. and I’m not surprised 60 minutes did a piece on it. I’ve been going to St. Louis off and on for biz for years and as far as US cities go it’s at the bottom. who would you put below St. Louis? San Francisco? Seattle? Los Angeles? Chicago? Detroit? NYC? Dallas? San Diego? For a major US city St. Louis has big problems.</p>

<p>for weather, the business community, the employment base, the entertainment, downtown housing, etc, compared to almost anywhere else in the country St. Louis is at the bottom.</p>

<p>you’ll need robust business (hiring) to bring St. Louis back. And I just don’t see any reason for businesses to go there, and except for WashU grads who are from St. Louis I don’t see much innovation and biz creation coming from home grown sources.</p>

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<p>Apologies to the OP for being OT. . . ^^^^ Yes, I live in the St. Louis area now, but have lived elsewhere too, including Chicago which I love also. Obvously, Pacheight, you hate St. Louis. But I do think it is ridiculous to say it is the worst city in every category you list of all cities in the US. You say it has the worst weather, for instance. Just going from my expericence where I have actually lived, I much prefer the weather in St. Louis to Chicago. But I am not going to argue any more about this. I think there are strengths and weaknesses in all the cities you mentioned. And if anyone can give me a link to the 60 miniutes piece, please post it, becuase I could not find it.</p>

<p>Back to the OP, I know nothing about the CS dept at Wash U, but want you to know there are a lot of friendly people in St. Louis and Wash U that love it :)</p>

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<p>I think both city’s have their pluses and minuses, but I loved living in the LA area for a few years. The idea that St. Louis is the center of the obesity epidemic is just plain wrong. Here’s the CDC map: [Google</a> Image Result for <a href=“http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/images/cdc_obesity.jpg[/url]”>http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/images/cdc_obesity.jpg](<a href=“http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/images/cdc_obesity.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/2009/11/&usg=__IRIlgqhaayUYn_rZu-icAmup0Vc=&h=240&w=336&sz=31&hl=en&start=13&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=jhtASDi3nvdpEM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=119&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dobesity%2Bmap%2Bmissouri%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1]Google”>http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/images/cdc_obesity.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/2009/11/&usg=__IRIlgqhaayUYn_rZu-icAmup0Vc=&h=240&w=336&sz=31&hl=en&start=13&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=jhtASDi3nvdpEM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=119&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dobesity%2Bmap%2Bmissouri%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1)</a></p>

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<p>I think the quality of an area, including weather, is on point for the OP choosing between St. Louis and Los Angeles.</p>

<p>I don’t subscribe to the pluses and minuses view, which sounds like the I’m OK you’re OK type views, I believe some places are better than others, just like some colleges are better than others, or say some cars are better than others:) there is such a thing as “better”…and if the OP has never spent time in St. Louis it’s a LOT different than LA. And that difference can directly influence a kids experience and quality of education.</p>

<p>the obesity map confirms that the midwest (and I forgot a big chunk of the south) is where the weight problem is in this country. And look at Los Angeles on the map, no weight problem.</p>

<p>So it’s true that St. Louis has a lot of fat people and the weather is bad. And it’s true that Los Angeles has a lot of thin people and the weather is good. Is one better than the other? Everything else equal which area would you choose to go to school?</p>