I am currently trying to decide between CU Boulder and WPI for my undergraduate education. I know for a fact that I want to do CS, and have been accepted into the CS programs at both schools. I have received fairly good scholarships from both schools, bringing them within a similar price range.
What I’m trying to figure out is which school is “right” for me. I have very little gauge on the student body at either school, although I have read some negative things about both schools. WPI apparently has a pretty big greek life/drinking scene in part of the school, something which I am really not a fan of. When I did visit WPI though, we got an incredible informal tour from a student who just happened to be passing by and volunteer, so that’s a point in favor of the student body. Boulder, on the other hand, apparently has a lot of wealthy kids who are just wasting their parents money. I don’t know how accurate either of those statements are, but they are what I have read. I understand that I will be more separated from that group at Boulder due to being in engineering and engineering housing, but it still is somewhat of a concern to me.
The locale is also a big concern for me. I just recently visited Boulder, and absolutely loved the campus and city, it’s really a beautiful place and seems like it would be an amazing place to live. WPI, on the other hand, I know very little about. I visited a year ago, and it was a very spur of the moment, half-day trip, so I didn’t get to see Worcester. Does anyone have a perspective on Worcester as a town to live in?
A third, and certainly not minor, concern of mine is the differences in education and research opportunities. I understand that both Boulder and WPI have highly rated CS departments, and I would assume that there isn’t a great deal of difference between the quality of education. WPI, however, does have a major project focus to their learning (at least that’s what I’ve read and heard) which I find very interesting, as I have done robotics in high school and loved that type of work. I really don’t know where Boulder’s education style falls compared to that. It would be awesome if a Boulder CS student could comment on that. I am very unclear on the research/project opportunities outside of general coursework at both schools. I’d like to do one of those, but it would be helpful if someone could comment on those.
Thank you so much!