I’ve been directly admitted into University of Washington’s CSE program, and also chosen as a Presidential Scholar for USC’s Viterbi Engineering school. At this point, cost of attendance for either school does not matter. I am a Seattle native so part of me is excited to have a change of environment if I do end up going to USC, but it’s not a big deal if I end up staying in Seattle. I’ll be going to the visit day at UW on 4/17 to learn more about the program.
Below are pros and cons of each school.
USC
Pros:
- Staying in a dorm exclusively for scholars
- Scholarship recipients get access to some events/internships (not sure specifically what though)
- Offered a spot in their undergraduate engineering honors program (access to a few networking events and some seminars)
- I’d be part of the Quest Scholars network for QuestBridge (get access to some other networking opps and pretty much mentor incoming QB applicants)
- I can easily switch between different engineering majors (though I’m likely going to stay with CS)
- Strong alumni network (“Trojan Family”)
- Flexibility of curriculum
- Smaller classes
- School spirit
- Decent career fairs. I doubt recruitment here is as rigorous than at Stanford/UW but at least a dozen engineering students have been offered summer internships their freshman year
- It supposedly has a good entrepreneurial vibe
- Really beautiful campus
- It’s in Los Angeles!
- The weather!
Cons:
- Their computer science program isn’t better than UW’s
- Farther from family
UW
Pros:
- Much better CS program with a better name
- Access to career fairs and connections
- Great location in terms of tech companies
- I live pretty close to the school campus
- Close to family
- The link extension at UW will open in 2016 (convenient transportation!)
Cons:
- Weather sucks
- A lot bigger classes
- Probably more competitive
If I had not gotten DA at UW, I would have gone to USC (UW was risky without DA). However right now, I feel like UW will give me more career opportunities while USC may give me a better college experience. It also feels a little silly to pass up the direct admit offer at UW when it’s so hard to get.
Which would you choose and why?
I think you need to ask yourself a few questions. How much do each of the things(pros and cons) you listed matter to you? What do you plan to do after graduation? How can each of these schools help you achieve your goals? What are you willing to give up or pass on? I think that it becomes a little more clear once you’ve answered all of those questions. Personally I would choose UW, because the CSE department seems to open up a lot of doors, and the degree itself has a lot of versatility(looked highly upon by graduate schools and industry). I can’t speak on behalf of either college, but from what I’ve heard and read about UW, the class sizes get smaller once you enter majors only courses and the curve becomes less of a problem(the average grade becomes around a 3.5). Don’t worry too much you can’t really make a wrong decision, your problem is a great one to have!
Hi! I’m a fellow direct admit student for UW. I’ve been talking to a LOT of people about the CSE department at UW so maybe I can offer some of the things that were important to me to help you make your decision.
(Also, I love Seattle weather, but I guess you don’t. Haha and UW’s campus is beautiful!)
Classes are definitely very big at UW. But I think intro classes are probably going to be pretty big at USC too. There are weekly quiz sections you have with your TA that are much smaller (~20 students). And the classes will gradually get stronger as you move up in levels.
UW CSE is very competitive, but I think a lot of the competitive nature comes from students wanting to be accepted into the major. As a DA, you will not have to worry about that at all. You’ll have immediately access to the building, faculty, etc. (Apparently only CS majors have access to the computer labs in the CS building and the balcony and all that.) You also have access to the career fairs they have.
I heard the CSE family is also very close and collaborative. The professors are great, and everyone in the major is great. Some of the current students I talked to mentioned that some of their closest friends have become their CS friends.
Lastly, you didn’t mention this, but if you’re interested in doing undergrad research (for grad school or just to better your knowledge), then there are plenty of opportunities for that at research. This was a really important factor for me too.
Make sure you visit and see for yourself though! Good luck! I am sure you’ll succeed no matter where you are.
Also, fun fact: apparently the acceptance rate for direct admit this year was 3.7%. So you should feel pretty proud of yourself!
@student197 HOLY cow! How do you know the DA acceptance rate was 3.7% this year?
@zgamergirl I’m also making the decision between USC and UW for CS!
@zgamergirl Apparently it was said at the CSE Info session on April 9th. I did not end attend, but a friend who was there said that is what was said.