Actually Stanford MIGHT be disappointing.
xD maybe but its worth any debt , plus they give financial aid based on financial condition 
Where are you going to borrow the money to pay for Stanford?
“It’s worth any debt…”
I totally get the temptation to buy into this but be extraordinarily careful because it isn’t so. Even modest amounts of debt may not be worth the prestige.
Suppose you graduate from Prestige U and somehow persuade someone to loan you 30k a year (15 for room, board, books, and fees, and another 15 because the grant/scholarship only covered 30000 of the 45000 annual tuition. At graduation you have 120k in debt … Most, not all but definitely most, of the H1b engineers I’ve known have graduate degrees. It is difficult, not impossible, but difficult enough to wreck your planning, to get an H1b job in the US with a BS, so back to school, and maybe that’s funded or maybe another 10k in debt comes with that. In today’s money, you’re looking at 130000 or 140000 in debt - close to two years salary? Yes, some places pay more, but typically those places will have high costs of living - 2k a month for rent or something absurd like that.
Compare with plan B. Undergrad overseas, graduate school in the US. End up with the same job, same pay, but less than a third the debt.
Or plan C. Alabama is kind of the gold standard for merit, so finish an undergrad in 4 years at a net cost of about 60k plus travel and insurance.
Any debt that exceeds a years worth of average graduates’ salary is really really hard to justify mathematically. It’s basically a luxury good. Fine if you can cover it with cash - a real and lasting burden, maybe even a ticket to poverty if you have to load up with debt to acquire it.
Lol I’m really stunned after seeing your answer @50N40W . And I will consult their financial aid office to confirm that I don’t get more than 10k debt every year (I think this much is fine right) As per their site they see financial conditions of family , for my family with an annual salary of maximum 20000$ , I don’t think they will expect any large amounts from me , however I will confirm.
About Plan C I’m really not sure about Alabama university’s CS department.
About Plan B that’s the last option left , do domestic undergraduation painfully another 4 years and finally apply to the land of opportunities USA.
[QUOTE=""]
I’m really not sure about Alabama university’s CS department.
[/QUOTE]
I am.
I work or have worked with engineers and CS grads from MIT, New Mexico State, RIT, U Cincinnati, NC A&T, Penn, Purdue, uMich, USC, Kent State, various service academies, UIUC, Minnesota Duluth, North Dakota, Ole Miss, Alabama Huntsville, Dayton, Case, Colorado State, U Washington, WVU, Wisconsin Madison, and on and on and on. Oh, and one really really good (and advancing) example from Oglethorpe, a liberal arts college (with a MS from a well known University).
Here’s the difference I’ve noticed in them five years after graduation: some of them have little banners on their desks, or sometimes wear a logo polo shirt, or occasionally wear a class ring. That’s about it.
I’ve seen both very good and mediocre come from both MIT and NC A&T. Soooo much depends on the student, the students goals and attitude, that the differences between ABET schools are small by comparison.
My own D will enroll somewhere in the fall. I can just about guarantee it will be a school of modest name, but genuine quality.
@50N40W Sounds really relaxing when you said it all depends on the student , I guess its really true that in the end it all depends on us , although one thing I need to mention is that I hate my country’s education system its worse than UK all you should have is A grades everywhere by memorizing hundreds of formula-_- and especially outdated CS courses ,I really need a balanced life with EAs and to the point education like US , otherwise I have to study for another 4 years here (college life - rekt) .
In US my main priority is financial aid and as you said genuine quality of CS course ( which I can only judge on ranks as an International Applicant 
)
Cornell announced today that they are switching to need-aware admissions for international students in order to avoid situations in which the students were admitted but could not afford to attend. The good news is that Cornell will provide full need financial aid to the international students they do admit – the money’s not limitless (which is why they got rid of need-blind), but there does appear to be a fair amount available. You should check their website; I just read about it in the Chronicle of Higher Education, so I don’t know all the details.
There were only six schools that meet full need and we’re need blind for admissions for international students last year…and Cornell wasn’t one of them. Dartmouth changed its policy a round ago, and went need aware. The other five are:
Amherst College
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
Yale University
Cornell wasn’t on this list last year either.
^^^
I think what’s being reported is that Cornell switched from need blind/doesn’t meet full need for internationals to need aware/meets full need for internationals.
Precisely. Someone else put up a separate thread that has a link to the article. I presume that this policy will start with the next admission cycle in fall 2016. In general, I’m not sure it’s the best plan to skip every need-aware school; it might lessen your chances of admission, but it might correlate with institutions that might provide at least some aid if you are accepted.
I really have a problem with the idea that only a handful of universities are deemed “good enough”.
I also have some extra questions for the OP :
1- In another thread, you said that you have never coded. Since you are basing your entire search on CS departments, I wonder if you have had enough exposure to CS to decide so early. Are you set on CS?
2- what path do you intend to take after college? Grad school? Game design? Software programming? Hardware architecture?
3- Why don’t you consider STEM oriented LACs like Mudd? Those do not appear on QS, which is a GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING. Mudd has an excellent reputation for CS.
Hey @Soheils good to see you back
1)Computers have been my interest since a long time , I know coding is totally different includes maths but I would love to devlop a software.
- I would do graduation in business management , because I want to be the Product Manager or a Game Producer.
3)Mudd sounds interesting but I really dont know , you said its for graduation , I want to do a bachelor degree in CS.
Although some days before I came to know about Worcester Polytechnic Institute that it provides really good
aid to intl students and ranks on QS in 300-400 seems like the perfect safety school , Also RIT .
@Aaryaman123 Mudd is for undergraduate only. QS is a graduate program ranking, so it is not very useful for you. To be honest, you should try to gather more information about the programs instead of relying on rankings whose priorities are not necessarily similar to you.
In any event , focus on writing excellent and memorable essays, and read more English books if you are not satisfied with your writing. If you want, I can also read and critique your common app and supplemental essays, especially for Harvard. Try to have a couple of more experienced readers review it as well.
Two small suggestions:
1- Take Harvard’s CS50 through EDx. You need to learn more about the programming side.
2- learn coding with codecademy. Preferably Python, or a markup language like HTML if you have the diligence to continue with PHP, JS and CSS later.
@Soheils I will definately do both courses till June or July (Can I also put this in extracuricular activities)
And yeah the Essay part ,I have read its really necessary , I would love to have you as a critic for the essays as soon as I write them somewhere in rough I will send you.
I will research about Mudd a bit more , I need to know about its financial aid .Although California is perfect for me as I cant resist cold weathers lol
Sorry for the length, but I am entering the conversation a bit late:
When you say you want to eventually become a “Game Producer” do you first want to attend an undergraduate school to become a game designer? My daughter attends RIT, and their Game Design program was recently listed as #6 in the WORLD. https://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=51548
(See far below for full list.) While they may not be overall ranked as a “top school” they have some top rated programs/schools within the university.
They are also a Co-op school, (with lots of connections) you would have experience and better employability when graduating since you would be required to have a co-op - it was also voted “Geekiest Campus” in the nation last year. A friend of my daughter’s is from Brazil, and one of the reasons he chose RIT is because of its “Geek” reputation.
I thought you might find the following helpful:
https://www.rit.edu/emcs/ptgrad/international/international_financial.php
Undergraduate Scholarships and Financial Aid
International Scholarships will be awarded to highly qualified freshman and transfer applicants. All international undergraduate applicants are considered for merit scholarships, which typically range from $6,000 to $15,000 per academic year and are renewable with a 2.5 or higher RIT grade point average. Scholarships awards are only offered upon admission to RIT.
International Student Financial Aid:
RIT offers limited need-based scholarships for international undergraduate students. To apply, students must demonstrate financial resources of at least $30,000 USD and complete the College Board International Student Financial Aid Application.
For more information visit http://www.rit.edu/emcs/admissions/international#5
Campus Employment
International students may work on-campus up to 20 hours per week. RIT offers a variety of jobs, and the hourly rate of pay begins at $8.75 per hour and is dependent upon the skill or experience required for the job.
I also agree that it is NOT “worth any debt” (I love what 50N40W wrote above) - there are ways to get where you want to go and have a great life and a great job without the “prestige” - especially since you said that you want to “do graduation” (you mean obtain a graduate degree? That is additional $$$). And are you talking about the prestige of a “known” university, or the prestige of having a degree from a top rated program from where graduates are highly desired for their skills? After your first job, no one cares where you went to school - especially in a tech field - they want you for your skills and effort. I know someone who was recruited out of their undergrad program, worked as an engineer for a while, then was hired by Google - without a degree.
Last, you might find this interesting - https://www.rit.edu/emcs/oce/alumni/salary it is a chart from RIT showing what $ you could make with different majors 1) in a co-op placement; and 2) as a full-time entry level employee. If you are still thinking of other careers in computing, this might be helpful. I have read elsewhere that some of the numbers may be low, as a portion of the graduates choose to stay near Rochester, where the Cost of Living/salaries, are quite a bit lower.
If you care about the program “ranking”
The Princeton Review’s “Top 25 Undergraduate Schools to Study
Game Design for 2015” are:
- University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
- University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
- DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA)
- Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)
- The Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, British Columbia)
- Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
- Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI)
- Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, OH)
- Becker College (Worcester, MA)
- Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY)
- Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA)
- Bradley University (Peoria, IL)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
- Champlain College (Burlington, VT)
- Ferris State University (Grand Rapids, MI)
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA)
- The University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson, TX)
- Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA)
- New York University (Brooklyn, NY)
- Abertay University (Dundee, Scotland)
- Northeastern University (Boston, MA)
- Lawrence Technological University (Southfield, MI)
- Full Sail University (Winter Park, FL)
- DePaul University (Chicago, IL)
@MazeArtCrew Thank you so much ,That was actually really helpful Infact I heard about WPI and RIT some days ago and was looking forward to them ,
The problem with RIT seems this- To apply, students must demonstrate financial resources of at least $30,000 USD and complete the College Board International Student Financial Aid Application. Maximum I can afford to provide is $15000 USD unfortunately , also I have not really decided to work in a game devloping company I would also love to work in a tech giant like Google or a startup. The only Game devloping company I like to be in is Rockstar Games.
My main priority would just be settlement employment assurity and financial aid or loan help.
From the Harvey Mudd website:
@Aaryaman123 Rockstar Games? Really?
I doubt that you can ever be sure of finding employment in the US as an int’l, let alone staying indefinitely.
@thumper1 Still, this means that he has a low yet existing chance of receiving aid from them.