I am an international student looking to pursue computer science. I have been accepted to 5 universities until now and I am awaiting decision from 2 colleges.
Universities that have accepted me:-
UNL (They’ve offered a CSE Honors course, but I am not sure whether a normal CS program or an Honors program will be better for me)
UMass Amherst
Virginia Tech
Ohio State University
Penn State University
Before making my decision, I want to weigh the pros and cons of each university and then make an educated decision. Stuff I want to know more about is how good is the college’s CS program, how affordable it is for an international student, and so on.
I am still waiting to hear from UC Berkeley and UC San Diego.
Affordability is always the first question: it doesn’t matter which is “best” if you can’t afford that one.
The fees should be laid out in your offer letters. Whether you can afford the fees is not something we can possibly know.
It would be passing rare for an international student to get any form of financial aid from either UCB or UCSD, so figure $70K/year. is that affordable?
When you ask which is the best program, it might help if you start with the criteria that will make it best for you: Ranking? Class size? Research opportunities? Access to internships/ co-ops? Without knowing what is important to you, or why you chose to apply to these schools, it leaves too much for interpretation.
The above might also be influenced by a lot of other questions such what type of weather you prefer, urban versus suburban etc.
Had no idea what “UNL” meant; thank you for the clarification.
Nebraska is a great option & a great opportunity as a lot of California high tech folks who can work remotely have relocated to the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. Others creating start-up companies.
If accepted to Berkeley, then the decision would be clear as UC-B is head & shoulders above your other listed schools. Berkeley is in the same league as Stanford, Univ. of Washington, and Carnegie Mellon University for CS.
@Publisher, however, if the applicant isn’t accepted to EECS, admission to L&S CS is competitive and not guaranteed. In fact, now that Cal has to give undergrad TAs tuition remission, they may cut sharply the number of undergrad TAs they employ and thus the number of sections of CS classes which would mean raising up the criteria needed to get in to the L&S CS major (from a 3.3 GPA needed in intro CS classes to a 3.7 GPA).
In any case, I agree with others: what does the OP mean by “best CS program”?
You are international. So you need to know whether employers in your own country will care which place you attend. After you finish your degree, and any possible employment here with OPT permission, you will need to go home. There is no guarantee whatsoever that you will find permanent employment in the US.
You also need to know whether or not the university is successful at placing their international CS students in internships and/or jobs during the OPT period. So contact the international students office and career center at each of these universities, and ask them about that.
I do not completely agree with the comment about UC Berkeley. I agree that it is a great university with a very strong CS program. It has one of the strongest CS programs in the world and for CS is on the same level as Stanford. It is close to Silicon Valley and a lot of CS jobs. However, it is large, academically demanding, and you would be full pay as an out-of-state student (of course you are quite far out of state). It is a great university, but your other choices are also very good.
I have worked with many CS graduates from U.Mass Amherst. It is very good for CS. I do not know the other schools on your list quite as well, but that is probably almost entirely due to geographic proximity based on where I live. Based on reputation, I think that you have been accepted to five universities which are all very good for CS. I think that you can do very well with a degree from any of them. Nebraska is probably not as well know US-wide or worldwide compared to the others.
I would put affordability very high on your list of criteria unless you can afford to attend any of these schools without taking on any debt at all and without causing financial hardship for your family.
Be aware that Nebraska has “real winters”. The same could be said for U.Mass Amherst, although my family has been getting through worse winters for years with no problems.
Also, congratulations! You have been accepted to five great CS programs. Given how competitive CS is for admissions, to me this suggests that you are a very strong student. Expect to need to work very hard regardless of which of these very good universities you choose to attend.
For PhD candiates, csranking.org ranks (among about 180 universities) as follows:
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
MIT
Illinois
Stanford
UCal-Berkeley
Univ. of Washington
Then the next tier:
Cornell
Michigan
UC-San Diego
Univ. of Maryland
Georgia Tech
Wisconsin
Columbia
Northeastern
UPenn
UCLA
Univ. of Texas at Austin
Purdue
NYU
Princeton
UMass-Amherst
USC
Rutgers
UC-Irvine
Harvard
Penn State
UC-Santa Barbara
Northwestern
Stony Brook
Texas A&M
Duke
Ohio State
UChicago
Univ. of Colorado-Boulder
UNebraska-Lincoln is ranked at #92, but it’s program offerings are interesting.
Anyone asserting that UC-Berkeley is not superior to your other target schools is incorrect unless referring to a very specific area of interest–and, even in that case, probably not correct.
While Berkeley is amazing, OP is in an international student needing aid. If he’s accepted to schools that are unaffordable, it doesn’t matter how high they are ranked.
Cost of living will be much lower in Lincoln Nebraska than in Berkeley/San Diego California. I would advise you check out the cost of housing in all the college towns. You may be in for a shock how much it will cost once you leave your dorm.
As for quality - all the schools you applied to will have good CS programs, though some will be more famous than others.
Take into consideration if/how much prestige of your university is important in your field/your country. In the US, for example, the prestige of your school is less important than what you achieve in the work place.
Most people in the tech industry went to “ordinary” universities and succeed by doing well in the work place and not by where they went to school. For example, San Jose State University does NOT have the fame of Berkeley or Stanford, yet its CS graduates do very, very well in Silicon Valley.
I wouldn’t look at PhD candidates as the lodestar for choosing a college. Especially CS. That’s the not path to for the vast majority of students. And I think it’s a reflection of the students, vis a vis personal goals, personal preferences and family/cultural expectations, the schools attract at the outset.
Berkeley has a global rep that’s seriously tough to beat.
To say it’s “head and shoulders” above Massachusetts in all cs disciplines is a bit antiquated. In terms of what’s being taught and learned in the current classroom. If your focus AI and it probably should be for many, considering the trends, Massachusetts is really considered an equal.
Overall, considering that you will most likely be overseas post grad, Berkeley’s reputation speaks for itself. It’s considered by many to be the best in world outside of the US.
. However it’s a different experience for an undergrad. You may find it a bit more laid back from a lifestyle perspective at the other schools.
It would be UCB or Massachusetts for me.
For an international student. UCB if the vibe and costs line up, for employment opportunities outside of the US over the course of your career it would be very meaningful.
Thanks for all the advice. It would have helped even more if you’ll would have concentrated more on the universities that have accepted me and not on UCB and UCSD.
Also, I still don’t entirely understand ”Honors“ programs. Can anybody help out with that. I also didn’t see any remarks on Virginia Tech. So, if anyone knows about the college in detail, please post and let me know.
Honors typically means that you are in the higher-achieving students, and there are usually some specific benefits. At UNe-L that seems to mean that you get some smaller classes, covering more advanced material.
Your accepted schools are all good ones and 2-5 are all broadly comparable (I don’t know anything about UNe-L), but there is no point in me saying ‘I think that this is the best one’ if you can’t afford it. If you can afford all 5 of the ones you listed, then we will start weighing in on the pros / cons, asking about what other elements are important to you, etc.