Carnegie Mellon or Virginia Tech?

[Anonymous]

Do they all end up working for the war effort, or it that just Virginia Tech?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, maybe the question isn't VT v CMU if the $200k gives you pause.

My kid didn't want to attend a weed-out school in Appalachia.

So he applied to a number of good schools and got some serious merit aid. The program isn't ranked quite as highly as VT in his field, but they run their school differently so he isn't as likely to be thrown out.

Who cares about the ranking if you don't end up being an engineer?

The difference in price isn't any $200k, but a manageable $40k over the 4 years.

Which schools are these?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CMU CompScien students are in great demand. Friend's son graduated from CMU and went to one of the FLAGs two years ago. Starting salary was $150K plus $40K bonus.

It is very hard to get into the program. DS's friend won a DOD Hackathon and did not make it into CMU.

What are the "FLAGs" you referred to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, my kid's CS teacher said to him when my kid was evaluating engineering schools:

* which one would you rather be at if your major doesn't work out for you?

this is good advice

DC is an athlete weighing an offer from an Ivy and Public Flagship that is ranked top 20 in DC's sport (Academically the flagship is v good but not tippy top on US News). $$ is not an issue bc our financial aid situation will make the Ivy affordable and so will the scholarship the flagship offered.

I am trying to provide advice to DC while giving enough space to make the decision. I changed this sentence above to "which one would you rather be at if your sport doesnt work out."

If this is a real scenario, then Ivy all the way, assuming finances are equal. Especially if it's a big enough Ivy that dropping sport and changing majors are both valid options.

[Anonymous]

Generally, the kids I know from TJ who are at CMU are getting better internships/jobs than the kids I know from TJ who go to Tech. Certainly if your kid is interested in robotics, then CMU would be the choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generally, the kids I know from TJ who are at CMU are getting better internships/jobs than the kids I know from TJ who go to Tech. Certainly if your kid is interested in robotics, then CMU would be the choice.

Does better internship/jobs equal better pay to recoup the 200k difference between CMU and Tech?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, the kids I know from TJ who are at CMU are getting better internships/jobs than the kids I know from TJ who go to Tech. Certainly if your kid is interested in robotics, then CMU would be the choice.

Does better internship/jobs equal better pay to recoup the 200k difference between CMU and Tech?

What does your kid want to do and where does he want to work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, we drove to Pittsburgh to tour Pitt but got there and thought...well...may as well do CMU too since we’re here- we were not impressed.

Haha, we did the opposite. Drove to see CMU, weren't impressed. Decided to see if we could jump in on a tour at Pitt and DD is applying for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For someone who will major Computer Science undergraduate program, I am trying to justify the cost of 72k at CMU versus 22.5k at Virginia Tech. That 200k more over four years at CMU. I graduated from Virginia Tech in CS and where I work, there are about five colleagues that graduated from CMU in CS and all of us make the same salary. I am trying to convince my child to save money by going to Virginia Tech. Any suggestions?

Yes, be the parent and say "We will give you XX amount of dollars each year for college. The rest will be loans that you take out and will have to pay back on your own."

It really isn't that hard. We aren't talking Fairfax community college here. It is VT. Does't your son know the CMU motto anyway? Where Fun Goes to Die!

You say potato, I say po-tah-to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, the kids I know from TJ who are at CMU are getting better internships/jobs than the kids I know from TJ who go to Tech. Certainly if your kid is interested in robotics, then CMU would be the choice.

Does better internship/jobs equal better pay to recoup the 200k difference between CMU and Tech?

It saddens me that parents thrive as much as the kids on name and immediate pay out of college, not even opening their eyes to how financially stupid it is. So what if the kids gets a better internship or $5,000, heck even $10,000 more than a Tech kid. The Tech kid still comes out ahead. And he probably had a happier overall experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, the kids I know from TJ who are at CMU are getting better internships/jobs than the kids I know from TJ who go to Tech. Certainly if your kid is interested in robotics, then CMU would be the choice.

Does better internship/jobs equal better pay to recoup the 200k difference between CMU and Tech?

It saddens me that parents thrive as much as the kids on name and immediate pay out of college, not even opening their eyes to how financially stupid it is. So what if the kids gets a better internship or $5,000, heck even $10,000 more than a Tech kid. The Tech kid still comes out ahead. And he probably had a happier overall experience.

Why happier overall?

My kid didn't apply to tech because it is in the middle of nowhere in a part of the country he doesn't want to live. He is attending a state flagship in a part of the country he actually does want to live in, and the school is in a major metropolitan area.

$200k is a lot of money. Enough to take seriously, but none of us really know if a) that $200k represents the only real options or b) what it means for any particular family to spend it. Some of us can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, the kids I know from TJ who are at CMU are getting better internships/jobs than the kids I know from TJ who go to Tech. Certainly if your kid is interested in robotics, then CMU would be the choice.

Does better internship/jobs equal better pay to recoup the 200k difference between CMU and Tech?

It saddens me that parents thrive as much as the kids on name and immediate pay out of college, not even opening their eyes to how financially stupid it is. So what if the kids gets a better internship or $5,000, heck even $10,000 more than a Tech kid. The Tech kid still comes out ahead. And he probably had a happier overall experience.

Why happier overall?

My kid didn't apply to tech because it is in the middle of nowhere in a part of the country he doesn't want to live. He is attending a state flagship in a part of the country he actually does want to live in, and the school is in a major metropolitan area.

$200k is a lot of money. Enough to take seriously, but none of us really know if a) that $200k represents the only real options or b) what it means for any particular family to spend it. Some of us can.

^^ notice I said nothing negative about VT. Different people have different preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, the kids I know from TJ who are at CMU are getting better internships/jobs than the kids I know from TJ who go to Tech. Certainly if your kid is interested in robotics, then CMU would be the choice.

Does better internship/jobs equal better pay to recoup the 200k difference between CMU and Tech?

It saddens me that parents thrive as much as the kids on name and immediate pay out of college, not even opening their eyes to how financially stupid it is. So what if the kids gets a better internship or $5,000, heck even $10,000 more than a Tech kid. The Tech kid still comes out ahead. And he probably had a happier overall experience.

Yeah, I really don’t get this. I will preface this by saying it’s just *my* experience, but since we’re all talking in anecdotes anyway I’ll share. I went to Tech, graduated with a plain old liberal arts degree, and have the same government consulting-type job as people from lots of other schools. Ivies, fancy privates, etc. I make well over 100k, and I’m 8 years out. Everyone else I know is doing great, especially the CS and engineering grads. I also have no debt.

I just can’t imagine that paying back those loans is worth it when there’s such a affordable highly-ranked program in our own backyard. Luckily, my parents were very practical and helped me to see this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CMU CompScien students are in great demand. Friend's son graduated from CMU and went to one of the FLAGs two years ago. Starting salary was $150K plus $40K bonus.

It is very hard to get into the program. DS's friend won a DOD Hackathon and did not make it into CMU.

What are the "FLAGs" you referred to?

Facebook, linkedin, apple, google.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Would you start that CMU graduate $10K higher than say a VT graduate? How about $20K higher than another employee. Because I can not for the life of me even think about how spending $200K more (plus potential loan interests) would make it worth it for anyone.

It isn't like there are CS graduates out there that can't find a job.

The students are not applying for the same jobs. The starting salary could be 50K difference.

BTW, nothing is wrong with VT. One of the best programmers/DevOps on my team was from VT. Personally I think he is MIT material but his parents did not pay nor care for his college. He worked a restaurant job for 6 years getting his BS and MS in VT.