I’m a senior and I have been accepted to these schools and I’m torn of where to go. I’m not sure 100% what I want to study, but I know it’s between statistics, marketing, business, or computer science. I’m OOS, from New Jersey, so the cost without scholarships will be about the same. Which do you think would be the best one fo me to go to and what are the pros and cons of them?? And also, would employers give priority to someone who went to one of these colleges than the others?
The costs of each would be, with tuition, fees, and room and board
Ohio State - $24,000/year ($14,000/year scholarship)
Wisconsin - $35,000/year
Indiana - $41,000/year ($2,000/year scholarship)
Illinois - $41,000/year
If by employers you mean national ones then I would expect that the 4 universities would be treated as equals. What would matter are your courses, your GPA, any honors, and your intern positions/summer. Regional employers may give a preference to graduates from the more local university.
IMO they are roughly equivalent (Big 10 large flagships). And cost without scholarship doesn’t really mean anything if you do have some merit aid coming (and it looks like you do). Look at the out of pocket costs for your family.
I guess I am confused because Wisconsin is 41k for OOS, so I don’t know what costs you are including or if you are comparing apples to apples here. http://finaid.wisc.edu/undergraduate-cost.htm
I don’t see what the costs without scholarship has to do with anything since you are saying you got scholarships to some. That makes OSU a very significant savings. So you have to see if your family has the luxury to allow you to pick. I’m guessing that Madison is the nicest place to live, but it is the only one I have visited and it is a great place. Also has great CS and a good business school. UIUC is especially prominent for CS. Kelly is especially prominent for business. But I agree they are more alike than different and all strong colleges.
You might consider which dept you got accepted and the ease or difficulty of getting into another dept. This can mean that some of these majors are virtually inaccessible to you. I know that at Wisc you can get into the CS dept by taking and doing well in some basic math and cs prerequisites.
OP. That is a difficult decision indeed. And your indecision as to what you really want to major in also contributes to that.
If you are really uncertain about what you want to be or study in the future…I would recommend going to the cheapest with good “fit” of the bunch. On the other hand…if you want to study computer science/engineering I would recommend Illinois because it is well represented in Silicon Valley and throughout the country…
OP said he was just comparing tuition+fees + R&B.Not all costs which can vary more.
Also Madison is the only city of that group with some major local tech firms that hire lots of UW grads. Many prefer that to moving to CA with the high COL. etc.
UIUC hasn’t released any decisions yet (they come out Friday) and admits by major. If you don’t get in to a major and are dumped in to DGS, tranferring in to the b-school is tough and transferring in to CS in Engineering is extremely difficult.
If you are not a direct admit to Kelley, tranferring in as an internal transfer at IU isn’t a piece of cake either.
So come back when you have specifics on where you got admitted in to.
For those price differences, I would not even consider IU-Bloomington nor UIUC (and I am an IU-B alum). Even Wisconsin is going to cost you over $40,000 more than OSU. Unless, there is some compelling reason for Wisconsin, I have to recommend OSU.
Each university is going to have a different mix of employers recruiting on campus. Not better or worse employers, just different. Plus, the employers care more about you than your school. After all, you are the person they might hire. Unless you are targeting a specific employer or industry, you can ignore that factor. Work hard, make good grades and enjoy your college years… the rest will take care of itself.
@NROTCgrad, different, yes, and I would say some may be better or worse (depending on what opportunities you desire). Also, b-school students generally are looking to get hired but CS students also found startups. Higher probability of teaming up to do that at the top CS schools.
However, the OP has to give details of where, exactly, he got in to for us to give adequate advice.
Sorry to be dense about UIUC, but did that change? When my now college junior applied in fall '11, UIUC had two notification dates, one in Nov or Dec and one in Feb. My bad.
if you are planning on going to graduate school, pick the school where you feel you will probably get the highest GPA (in order to stand out among the other applicants from your school); this can be determined by asking a student or tour guide the right/certain questions while on a campus visit. whether you do/dont plan on going to graduate school, i’d highly suggest going on campus visits to decide which school has the best fit (no description, you just know) and find which has the strongest marketing/business program.
If you come to a stale-mate after looking at the academics, try looking at the non-academic stuff. I know UWisc has the coldest winters out of all of them; OSU has the biggest campus; UIUC is ranked the #5 top party school (2015 stats) by Princeton Review (all are actually really big party schools tbh); OSU and IU-B both have the most ethnic diversity. there’s a bunch of other stuff to consider.
I also am a senior and applied to those schools, too! i got accepted by IU-B and UIUC; im on OSU, UMich, and UWisc. Even if you don’t end up choosing the right one, you could always transfer after sophomore year. Good luck, fellow senior!
I’m in a very similar situation actually(I got 12k/year from Ohio State) and received acceptances from Purdue, Penn State, and Stony Brook at full cost. I have ultimately chosen to put Ohio State at the top of my list and am now waiting on the UC(University of California) schools.
@BrownParent I believe he is looking at costs using the Cappex college website which uses estimates for 2011-12. That may be what is making it inaccurate.