Hey guys,
I an international who was accepted to the above schools for electrical engineering, computer engineering and computer engineering respectively. In Northeastern I’m designated an “International Scholar”, and I’m getting 15k/yr scholarship. I’m also a part of the honors program in Northeastern. In UT Austin and UCSD I’m a regular admit.
The factors that I will make a decision upon is:
- Strength of the program
- Reputation in the US (Don’t care about international reputation and rankings)
- Location
- Cost of Education
Strength of Program:
Honestly, I find this very hard to evaluate. There are large discrepancies even in US-based computer engineering rankings. In some UCSD and Northeastern are ranked quite high whereas in others they are not.
Reputation in the US:
Again this is a metric I find hard to evaluate due to the discrepancies in rankings. Coupled with the fact that I’m an international, I have no idea how these colleges will be viewed by employers or grad schools.
Location:
California is known for all things technology, so I’m reasonably sure that there would be a large number of opportunities in UCSD for a computer engineering graduate such as myself. I’m not too sure how the tech scene is in Boston and Austin
Cost of Education:
UCSD and UT Austin cost the same. Northeastern will cost me 10k/yr lesser.
There are considerable knowledge gaps in the metrics I’ve decided to make a college decision upon. I would be grateful if somebody could shed some light into this.
Any guidance is greatly appreicated!
Hi! My name is Emily and I have the same concerns as you do.
I am an international student from Beijing, China and I am studying in CT, USA.I am accepted to Fordham, Franklin&Marshall, UCSD, and Northeastern. I am currently choosing between UCSD and Northeastern. I would like to share some of my knowledge of both schools with you and hopefully get some help from others as well.
Personal Info:
UCSD: Sixth College International studies-lit
NU: Nu.in Programm, Economics major
Some Facts about Northeastern:
- Nu.in is a first semester off-campus study opportunity. Students get accepted into Nuin can go to one of the 5 countries Northeastern has connections with: Canada, England, Greece, Irland, and Australia. Northeastern was my “safe school” because I heard it was a party school. But after I was offered this program and did more research on the school I realized it is not a party school at all.
- Co-op. This is another thing that I discovered recently which makes me really excited about Northeastern. Co-op is a off-campus internship experience each Northeastern student has to accomplish (at least 12 months of intern which is 2 co-ops). You can choose either a 4 year program with 2 co-op or a 5 year program with 3 co-ops. When you are doing the internship, you don’t have to pay tuition and can earn your own money which I think is AWESOME!
- Because the train runs through the campus and the university itself is really close to down town Boston, I don’t see the need of buying a car if I go there.
- Northeastern is a REALLY RICH school. The facilities are the best (According to my friend who studies there right now)
Some Facts about UCSD:
- The perfect environment! Only 15 minutes away from the beach.
- Nice campus.
- Their BA/Master program (4+1): I don’t know about your department’s situation on the 4+1 program so I will just use my major, international studies, as the example. For international studies major student, when you are a junior in UCSD and has completed the basic requirment of this program you can apply for it. And after you got in the 4+1 program you are going to spend the summer of your junior year doing an internship so as your senior year’s summer. And your fifth year you will do a research and by the end of it you will graduate with a master degree in International Affiar (UCSD international Affiar master ranks #13?#18 on usnews)
4.Not-required internship experience. Although the internship is not required at UCSD they do have some sick programs, especially when you are going into enginerring and stuff. But the only problem is you have to sacrifice your summer time.
All these above are the things I learn through my researches. Hope they help you a little bit.
And Anyone can give me some suggestions? I am more leaning toward Northeastern just because it is closer to my host family who I lived with for 2 years and developed a really good relationship with them. Most of my stuff will remain at my host family’s house so I don’t have to bring all the shit back to China and then bring it back to America. However, the 4+1 program at UCSD really speaks to me. Nowadays, a BA degree is not enough and it is great if i can get a master degree + BA in just 5 years. But the problem is that I don’t know what I am going to do for my life yet I just feel like it is too early to decide my master degree.
I spent a few years in San Diego and adore UCSD, which I toured a few times a few years ago. One of the coolest libraries on the face of this planet IMO.
My input is that I believe that UCSD has a more beautiful environment and is better suited academically for certain libral arts studies, pre-law, and aerospace/aeronautical engineering (because northeastern isn’t great at liberal arts, UCSD is close to big aerospace companies/military, and San Diego has a huge and active legal system).
I personally would choose northeastern for computer engineering because 1. It’s cheaper 2. After talking with some NEU students, I learned that co-op is actually crazy helpful for job placement/experience 3. Boston has more academic opportunities than San Diego/La Jolla, generally speaking.
Hope that helps. Good luck!
N with the I am currently a freshman Electrical/Computer Engineering major at UT Austin. Personally, I am from Hawaii, so your whole international student situation is sort ofsimilar to mine. I was also accepted to UCSD computer/electrical engineering, but I chose UT Austin. 1st of all, strength of the program was my deciding factor. UT Austin’s electrical/computer engineering program is ranked 8 in the US, but rankings should not be the only concern. At UT, getting accepted to engineering school does not surmount you on cruise ship to success. There are no handouts, and the academic rigor is intense (3.1 avg GPA for EE majors). I personally hate Texas as a location, and they charge you an arm and a leg to go there. As for California being “known for all things technology,” Austin can be considered the place for technology that comes right after silicon valley. I could ramble all day about this stuff, but I won’t because I am typing this from my phone. Anyways, if you want to run with the bulls, definitely pick UT. They city of Austin sucks unless you are into bars, so you will be extra motivated to buckle down and study. By your junior year, you focus up and pick 2 techcores from comm nets, electmagnetics and field theory, computer arch, software devel and eng, power and energy sys, integrated circuits, embedded systems, and nano technology. Also, we have over 60k people at it and about 39k are undergrads. Wherever you end up, the amount of work you are willing to put in will ultimately define your success anyway.
I spend about 72 hrs a week studying or in class to maintain my 4.0 hehe.