Okay, so I’m stuck here. I got into SUNY Stony Brook for (CSE), UC Davis (CSE) and UCSD (Undeclared).
I’m an international student and 50k / year will be tough for me to pay, I’ll need to take a student loan. Now, my top choice is UCSD, but they didn’t offer me CSE as it was an impacted major. I called up UCSD to talk about this and they said that they can offer me Mathematics + CS, which is 70% math and 30% CS. I asked them about how I can transfer to CSE, they said that there is a process, but it is very tough. They require a good GPA in the intro courses, which I think I can manage…
Now talking about UC Davis, it is a good university but, is taking a loan of 50k/year for Davis worth it? (ps- I can pay 40% of the fees, but I’ll take a loan to pay the rest). I’ve got the major of my choice here.
I also got into SUNY Stony Brook, and I got the major of my choice here as well. It is WAY cheaper compared to the UCs, but is this university good enough for CSE? and how good is SUNY SB in terms of employability?
So fellas, help me out here! Which university should i choose to attend for my undergraduate studies?
A big part of the picture may be location. I live about half an hour from SBU.
Stony Brook is on Long Island, about an hour’s train ride from Manhattan. The weather will most definitely be a factor in your experience-- we’re FINALLY coming out of a winter that included Lots and lots and lots of snow. (Including a good 3-5 inches on Friday.) It’s in a suburb, with a well known teaching hospital on campus. The beach is a short drive away, as are the beaches, bars, and shops of the Hamptons.
Stony Brook is generally considered to be one of the best schools in the SUNY system. However, it’s definitely a commuter school and the students who go there often report how unsatisfied they are with their education. Princeton Review ranks Stony Brook #11 in their “Least Happy Students” category. The professors here are also ranked high on the “Least Accessible Professors” and “Professors Get Low Marks” lists.
If money were not an issue, it would be easy for me to tell you to go to Davis (although Davis also appears on the “Professors Get Low Marks” list as well.) I think it’s safe to say that, unless you’re willing to do the math + CS program instead of CSE, UCSD is out of the running. But you can only afford what you can afford. If money is a big issue for your family, which it appears to be, you may end up at Stony Brook. Even if you have to take out loans to attend, it’s significantly less loans than you would be taking out at Davis, and that’s key. No school is worth taking upon crippling amounts of debt for.
I’d like to end this by saying that your college experience is all what you make it. Even though many students at Stony Brook claim to be unhappy, they only do so because they allow themselves to feel that way. Having a positive attitude and working diligently will help you succeed no matter where you end up. Best wishes.