What were your DC’s top schools they were deciding between and where are they committing?
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Anonymous
| Notre Dame and Georgetown, choosing Notre Dame |
Anonymous
But Notre Dame is located in the cold rest belt of the Midwest! Nobody wants to live there! 🙄 |
Anonymous
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UVA, Ohio State (with merit), Case Western, Clemson, UW Madison, All OOS. Undecided major. Chose Ohio State
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Anonymous
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UVA, Rose-Hulman, W&M
Chose W&M |
Anonymous
As a CS academic for the past three decades, I am intrigued by whether these choices are made with good information. Needless to say, a CS from anywhere is just fine for employability. And both UMD and NEU are good programs. But, UMD is actually a blue-chip CS department that is constantly knocking on the top-10 door for the past three decades. NEU is relatively unknown in CS. It has recently made some advances in publication-oriented rankings (CS rankings). But, reputationally for high-end employers and grad schools it won't hold a candle to UMD. |
Anonymous
What is your student planning to major in? |
Anonymous
This is a good discussion. I think decisions are often made based on a school's overall Princeton/US News/Forbes ranking (and I hate all that stuff, by the way), when it should really come down to the specific area of academic interest and most importantly (IMO) where DC will be most likely to thrive as a well-rounded person. Oftentimes, teenagers (and parents) get confused here, which is also why it's so common for kids to transfer after their first year. |
Anonymous
For the record, I am also an academically inclined CS person, albeit in govt research. I know several faculty at UMd from grad school, and a good friend did a sabbatical at NEU and her friend is faculty there. Obviously UMd is ranked higher as far as academic research goes. But as an undergraduate teaching institution I wasn't convinced. So I contacted a prof I know over there. He was on my dissertation committee. And he was like, I don't know anything about undergraduate teaching. I have a lab of 20 PhD students, I can't really help you. It's a big school with 4000 CS undergrads. Ok. Thanks. My friend who spent a year at NEU highly recommended it. Said the undergraduate experience is much better. Small classes. The administration seems very invested and interested in teaching and the undergraduate experience. She recommended NEU over UMd for my son. She might be biased because she used to be faculty at UMBC. NEU really emphasizes their coop program. All students do 2 coops to graduate, and it's a well run, well organized program. The school is very focused on preparing students to enter the workforce. You can argue whether or not an academic institution should be doing that, but my son seemed to really like it. My experience at an elite CS program years ago wasn't ideal. I got a great education, but it was a tough, grinding experience. Big department. Nobody gave a crap about undergrads. And I didn't think my son would enjoy that. Anyways it seems that these days anybody with a CS degree can get a good job. |
Anonymous
We were also down to Brown and Northwestern (and Johns Hopkins as well, but that quickly fell out of the running). Went with Northwestern and couldn't be happier! |
Anonymous
What were the pros and cons you saw of each of the three and for which major. |
Anonymous
PP here. That's great! I am having a poke bowl in Evanston right now! Right now, we are struggling with trying to access music classes if not a major. The school of music does not make it easy as most classes are restricted to majors. What did your kid study? Love the quality of life-- dorms/food and coast, but worried about not being able to take music classes. |
Anonymous
Interesting, yes, I do know that typically it's pretty easy to take classes across schools with the one exception of Bienen, the music school because they require certain prerequisites and such. That said, I'm not sure if it would be impossible? I'd definitely try reaching out to the admissions office and/or a Bienen advisor to see what the feasibility there is. DC didn't study music so we're unfortunately not of much help there. DC went in undecided but knew they likely would study something closer to the humanities or social sciences. Ended up majoring in art history, minor in computer science, and a certificate in integrated marketing. The quarter system really ended up being a huge boon here since they were able to dabble in so many different fields and then sort of tailor their academic experience based on what made the most sense to them across their interests and potential career paths. It can be intense, but DC loved how never a moment felt dull. Loved the campus, extracurricular culture, town (though I heard downtown Evanston was hit quite bad by Covid, but hoping it'll bounce back shortly), and proximity to Chicago, a truly excellent city. Cohort were all very smart and hardworking but seemed more well-adjusted than at other campuses. DC spent one summer quarter in Evanston and LOVED it. Overall great experience, though Covid did put a damper on things the tail end. Brown was also of course a fantastic option, but DC was a bit turned off by the drug culture (not passing judgment, just wasn't super appealing). Providence is a beautiful little town, but felt sleepy compared to being in the Chicago area. Student interests/potential career interests comparatively also didn't seem to align as well as it did at Northwestern. Open curriculum seems like a dreeeeeam when you're a high school student, but we decided a bit more structure would be beneficial, which it ended up being. If your kid feels its suuuper important to have the Ivy label, I suppose Brown gets an edge here. Overall, both options are great and you can't go wrong! |
Anonymous
| UVA vs UW Seattle. We are not from either but decided last night to go with UVA after seeing offer! |
Anonymous
Why? |
Anonymous
Rose-Hulman would suggest tech or science, so it would be interesting to know the decision process. |