USC vs Hamilton vs Colby vs Boston College

Hi! I’m an international student and I’m planning on studying econ+math at USC, cs + econ at Hamilton College, Colby, and Boston College. I’m really lucky that cost of attendance will not impact my decision here.
Can anyone share some insights? I know lacs have closer communities but USC and BC have more career opportunities?

These analyses will offer you perspective on these schools’ economics departments:

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html

Sites such as those from WalletHub and Forbes consider financial aspects related to career opportunities:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliesportelli/2017/04/26/10-expensive-colleges-worth-every-penny-2017/amp/

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If you’re majoring in CS, career opportunities are great anywhere.

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hey i’m majoring in econ+math for usc and econ+cs for the lacs. my main concern is companies don’t really “like” lac cs graduates?

Nonsense! Companies like kids who can do the work.

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Agreed that companies focus on who can do the work. Most hiring processes for CS are skills based — if you have the skills, you can get hired.

Now, it may be fair to ask if the CS departments at smallest schools will give you the breadth you have at a bigger school. If you know what aspects of CS you are looking for (data, visual, software engineering, hardware, etc), you can look at the courses offered at different schools.

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No. That is false. I’d love to know what is behind that thinking. There are plenty of Hamilton and Colby grads with high flying careers.

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Is your interest more in CS or in Econ with CS to support it?

In looking at your list, being in Boston or LA is going to have a lot more opportunities near school, and with larger networks. I don’t quite follow the econ+math at USC vs. CS+econ at BC? Does that mean you won’t study CS at USC?

S20 is a Colby CS major with Math and Econ minors. He seems to know a lot of people working at some of the big names in tech. One advantage of the small tight knit community fostered at LAC’s is that these kids were all quick to return S20’s calls when he reached out with questions during his own job search.

For each job he applied to, once his resume was reviewed, the next step was a technical interview (basically an on-line test).

He has accepted a position with a well known game development company.

While you definitely need to make sure a smaller school offers the course work that you are looking for in CS, you can get a the job you desire with a liberal arts CS degree if you demonstrate the skills necessary to succeed.

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However, the student is an international student. Being able to work in the US isn’t guaranteed.

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Irrespective of the accuracy of this, the perception may indicate where a student might fit in best. As an honest recommendation, for this and other reasons, I think you should choose either USC or BC.

I answered the question asked. If they didn’t assume some sort of work, they wouldn’t have mentioned careers.

Hamilton devotes such substantial resources to its computer science department that I highly doubt its location away from major cities would limit the opportunities of its graduates. This article includes discussion of a career fair, with recruiters present from prominent companies, that took place on campus, for example:

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So much recruiting is being conducted via Zoom these days, it hardly matters where your campus is located.

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yes this is a great question. my interest is more in econ with cs to support it

I’m curious . . . Why do you care about economics?

what do u mean?

I mean why are you interested in that field? What draws you to it?

committed to hamilton college! over the past 2 weeks i’ve been debating between usc, colby, hamilton, middlebury, bc, colgate, and smith.

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