UW-Seattle, UIUC, or UC Davis for Computer Science?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I've gotten into all 3 schools and am not sure where to go. I know UIUC is ranked highest, but it's also in the middle of nowhere right? UW is also ranked pretty high, but how does it compare to UIUC and UC Davis for CS? Pretty unsure of where to go right now, and was hoping that you guys could give me some more information on these schools.</p>

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<p>for undergrad by the way</p>

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<p>What are your costs for each school?</p>

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<p><a href=“Redirecting...”>Redirecting...;

<p>I see Illinois and Washington in the above list from Facebook. I would pick those 2 over UCDavis</p>

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<p>That depends on your idea of “the middle of nowhere.” UIUC is not downtown Seattle, but Champaign-Urbana has some 150,000 people in it’s “microurban” environment and just shy of 250,000 in the surrounding area, so it isn’t like it is literally stuck in the middle of a corn field. I never really felt lacking of things to do in my 4 years, plus it is a 3 hour drive to either St. Louis or Chicago or a 2 hour drive to Indianapolis, so you can do that on the weekends if you feel so inclined.</p>

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<p>For the link in my post, please google Facebook career student</p>

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<p>For Washington, are you a direct admit into the CS major? If not, note that getting into the CS major requires a very competitive admission process after getting a very high college GPA.</p>

<p>The other schools may also have competitive admission barriers to the CS major if you are not admitted directly to the major.</p>

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<p>I was not a direct admit for UW, but I’m almost done with the prereqs already because of AP and Community College Credit, and will be able to finish them by first quarter. I looked at most of the courses that I’ll be taking in the near future if I got to Washington and looked at their practice finals and am pretty confident that I will be able to maintain a high GPA while at Washington. I was directly admitted to Computer Science for both UIUC and UC Davis, however.</p>

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<p>Unless you would be satisfied in a backup major that is easy to get into at Washington (beware, many majors have competitive admissions there: <a href=“http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/majors-and-minors/list-of-undergraduate-majors/”>http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/majors-and-minors/list-of-undergraduate-majors/&lt;/a&gt; ), consider that about two thirds of non-direct-admit students applying to CS are rejected.</p>

<p>It would be a safer choice to attend a school where you are in the CS major or can enter the CS major without having to pass a high admission barrier.</p>

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<p>We’re from Oregon and I advised my son not to consider UW. They don’t directly admit to engineering. For the reasons ucbalum alluded to above, I counseled him to avoid ANY school that made him apply to the college of his choice within the university AFTER his freshman year. The risk is too high and unmerited when there are so many other strong alternatives.</p>

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<p>I think Purdue is the same.</p>

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<p>Actually, Washington does admit a small percentage of engineering and CS majors directly as frosh. But most spots in those majors are competitive admission after one enrolls at the school. This creates a situation where the overall stats of the school may imply one level of selectivity, but getting directly admitted to the major of choice means facing a significantly higher level of selectivity.</p>

<p>Purdue has a “first year engineering” program. Students who make a 3.2 GPA in technical courses and overall can choose any engineering major except bioengineering. Students with lower than a 3.2 GPA or are interested in bioengineering face a competitive admission process into an engineering major.</p>

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<p>Here is a database of admission stats for engineering majors (and CS) at UW in previous years: <a href=“http://data.engr.washington.edu/pls/portal30/STUDENT_APPL.RPT_APPLICANT_STATISTICS_YEAR.SHOW_PARMS”>http://data.engr.washington.edu/pls/portal30/STUDENT_APPL.RPT_APPLICANT_STATISTICS_YEAR.SHOW_PARMS&lt;/a&gt;. </p>

<p>Note that a high GPA alone is no guarantee of admission, as the CSE dept also considers such factors as your personal statement, work experience, etc. They have rejected 4.0 (college) GPA applicants in the past. </p>

<p><a href=“https://www.cs.washington.edu/prospective_students/undergrad/app_review_process”>https://www.cs.washington.edu/prospective_students/undergrad/app_review_process&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;