I am an undergraduate international student, definitely going to pursue CS.
My options are:
- University Of Washinton Seattle
- Penn state
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Vtech
I want your views over which university is best for me. I want the best education and a rigorous curriculum along with the best college life I can have. I want to select a place that has a good reputation among people as well as among companies.
And also, I want to the best internship experiences I can have.
So folks, what should be my choice according to you. !
Thank you in advance for helping me out.!
Did you get “direct admit” to CS at all of them?
In my opinion, IF AND ONLY IF you got direct admit, the order would have to be
- UWashington-Seattle
- U Wisconsin
- either PSU or VTech
If you didn’t get direct admit, UWIsconsin becomes the top choice because there are fewer barriers there to get into CS internally.
All have good education, good experience, good reputation.
@MYOS1634 :
I didn’t get a direct admit in any of those, but I have a lot of programming skills and global certifications. I think I won’t have any problem to get CS internally in any of those, so now, should I go with your first List?
Also, Seattle attracts me more because of the huge numbers of companies there and the city like atmosphere. Also, it is comparatively less cold in winters when compared to other places ( Madison, Penn, Blacksburg).
You’ll need to get high grades in ALL your classes (ie., Freshman English, HUmanities 101, Social Science 101, Foreign Language-unless that’s waived since your native language isn’t English, Calculus1&2 or just 2 depending on background, in addition to being in the top 20% of your CS classes), etc. And it’s a competition, that is, all students who enter have the same goal, so it’s not like you’ll be working your butt off while everyone else is coasting and partying. At the end, the departments choose between the best students, so that not only do you have to meet a grade threshold but it may not suffice. Not being direct admit for CS is a problem at UW because it’s so competitive. If you feel your stats make you a good contender and you’re confident the risk isn’t so great, then UW is best, but the fact you didn’t get direct admit means you may be overestimating you general level vs. that of your future competition.
In that case, I’d go with UWisconsin, because the Dept is very well-regarded and recruited, and Madison is consistently rated the top college town in the nation.
VTech only has the edge if you want better weather and Penn State if you prefer a system where all freshmen are in the same boat and all have to meet the same grade thresholds to get into their major, but all who do met their grade objective do get in (like UWisconsin but with less snowy weather. But Wisconsin’s better for CS.)
In terms of college towns, Madison> State College > Blacksburg.
@MYOS1634 It is not that i am underestimating Other competitors and students, But i am pretty good Humanities ans well as complex mathematics! I was the scholl Topper as well as state topper in Maths.! So, I think according to your suggestion, That UW would be best for be.! What’s life without a little risk! And, Thank You very very mucj for such a informative suggestion! I appreciate it a lot!
If you’re that strong in a variety of subjects, then yes UW is your best choice. 
Congratulations!
