Help DC decide for CS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For CS, Stanford or Harvard? Tough choice? Which would you and why?

It's a tough choice. Stanford CS is stronger for sure, but Harvard offers a better liberal arts education in addition to your core CS.

You will be learning in a brand new 500,000 square-foot science complex at Harvard. Personally I will pick Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have tread the whole thread but before you do anything contact the admissions contact at all the full pay schools and ask them whether they can provide a tuition discount in view of the full ride ptoviddd by Wisconsin. Do this tomorrow.

This is a worthwhile idea. Don't threaten them though. Just say that your kid is so torn, he loves CMU but feels a bit guilty turning down a full pay offer. Can they do anything to tip the scale? (Only do this if CMU does appeal strongly to your child.)

This works only for peer institutions. Are Wisconsin and Carnegie peers?

Wisconsin has an outstanding program. But nothing is CMU in this space.

+1 which is why Wisconsin offered the full ride -- its the only way to get your kid to pick them over the others. I turned down CMU many moons ago due to the cost (we just could not afford it, took the scholarship to a much lesser known school), and it still stings sometimes.

[Anonymous]

CMU for sure even if it means you take out loans. It's hard to quantify the doors it opens.
Overall, I'd rank CMU CS only behind MIT.

[Anonymous]

CMU CS is like the LV bags. It's valued largely because the limitation of the supply, each year they admit fewer than 200 students and largely make transfer (internal and external) almost impossible.

On the other hand, Berkeley churn out about 1k students in a year, some of them transferred from CC.

But I doubt there is much difference between Berkeley CS and CMU students qualities.

[Anonymous]

One thing OP's kid might want to consider is the social feel of the rest of the campus.

CM may be the best, but does OP's kid want to hang out with the types of kids who go to CM (intense?).

Would OP's kid prefer a more collegial-friendly-college-fun vibe for 4 yrs? That might be found at Wisc. or other schools.

Some people are super smart, but don't want to be surrounded by the intensity of only super smart, driven people. Maybe OP's kid feels more comfortable being in a less intense community. Just something for OP's kid to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CMU CS is like the LV bags. It's valued largely because the limitation of the supply, each year they admit fewer than 200 students and largely make transfer (internal and external) almost impossible.

On the other hand, Berkeley churn out about 1k students in a year, some of them transferred from CC.

But I doubt there is much difference between Berkeley CS and CMU students qualities.

The Berkeley analog to CMU SCS is Berkeley EECS. They admit roughly 300+ students so similar to SCS.
Acceptance rate is around 5% so equally as hard to get into as SCS.

The 1000s you reference are CS in Berkeley’s Letters and Science, not Engineering. CMU has also larger numbers outside SCS majoring in some form of IS/IT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would narrow it down to CMU for prestige and Wisconsin for value.

Agreed. CMU really is one of the best programs around, but Wisconsin is also excellent. If money isn’t an issue and they really love CS, I’d probably go CMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For CS, Stanford or Harvard? Tough choice? Which would you and why?

It's a tough choice. Stanford CS is stronger for sure, but Harvard offers a better liberal arts education in addition to your core CS.

You will be learning in a brand new 500,000 square-foot science complex at Harvard. Personally I will pick Harvard.

Thanks. Didn't want to derail the conversation from CMU but at the same time, I saw the opportunity to tap into a rich, deep vein of CS experts posting here.
I grew up and attended university in Eastern Europe so I don't know colleges here very well. From some of previous posts, Stanford appears to be world class for CS and a happy place. Harvard, on the other hand, is Harvard.
Both, as I understand it, are equally strong in liberal arts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have tread the whole thread but before you do anything contact the admissions contact at all the full pay schools and ask them whether they can provide a tuition discount in view of the full ride ptoviddd by Wisconsin. Do this tomorrow.

This is a worthwhile idea. Don't threaten them though. Just say that your kid is so torn, he loves CMU but feels a bit guilty turning down a full pay offer. Can they do anything to tip the scale? (Only do this if CMU does appeal strongly to your child.)

This works only for peer institutions. Are Wisconsin and Carnegie peers?

Wisconsin has an outstanding program. But nothing is CMU in this space.

+1 which is why Wisconsin offered the full ride -- its the only way to get your kid to pick them over the others. I turned down CMU many moons ago due to the cost (we just could not afford it, took the scholarship to a much lesser known school), and it still stings sometimes.

Wisconsin does not know about the OP's daughters other offers. She won an academic scholarship based on her high stats.

[Anonymous]

What would you be saving money for graduate school for? Is she planning on doing an MBA?

Because generally, graduate school in the sciences - both masters and PHD - provide students with free tuition and pay a stipend on top for assistantships.

On top of that, she likely won't need to go to a cash cow graduate school that require students to pay, if she has a BA from CMU.

IMO, from a CS-only perspective, Michigan is not worth $50k when you have the other options.

Wisconsin is the weakest in CS (but not by much compared to Michigan at the undergraduate level) and as a overall university.

Georgia Tech is great, and the price looks good if you can afford it, but its a tech heavy school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys, I didn't mean Harvard was best for CS. I meant CMU for CS has Harvard-level prestige. That seemed pretty clear to me and still does upon re-reading my previous post but if it wasn't clear enough I apologize.

It was intended to be a comparison for someone who clearly didn't know CMU and I presumed might not know MIT or Caltech's significance either.

People have been saying in CS, prestige doesn't matter. A CS degree from a state university is just as good as a CS degree from Harvard. So, I am confused by all the posters who claim a CMU CS degree is worth the cost because it is like getting a Harvard degree in CS. So, what is the difference between a state university CS degree and a CMU CS degree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys, I didn't mean Harvard was best for CS. I meant CMU for CS has Harvard-level prestige. That seemed pretty clear to me and still does upon re-reading my previous post but if it wasn't clear enough I apologize.

It was intended to be a comparison for someone who clearly didn't know CMU and I presumed might not know MIT or Caltech's significance either.

People have been saying in CS, prestige doesn't matter. A CS degree from a state university is just as good as a CS degree from Harvard. So, I am confused by all the posters who claim a CMU CS degree is worth the cost because it is like getting a Harvard degree in CS. So, what is the difference between a state university CS degree and a CMU CS degree?

It's about career/job recruitment first few years out of college. Due to the rep and small class size of CMU a student will probably land interviews easier and end up with more job options to select from. The state university grad will also be employed relatively quickly compared to other fields due to the demand for CS grads but the CMU grads will have more options to pick from, and higher-end software industry ones at that if they want.

[Anonymous]

From this website, one can see the medium CMU CS salary in the last two years is about $118000, largely because they moved to work in HCL areas.

https://www.cmu.edu/career/about-us/salaries-and-destinations/post-grad-dashboard-updated.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys, I didn't mean Harvard was best for CS. I meant CMU for CS has Harvard-level prestige. That seemed pretty clear to me and still does upon re-reading my previous post but if it wasn't clear enough I apologize.

It was intended to be a comparison for someone who clearly didn't know CMU and I presumed might not know MIT or Caltech's significance either.

People have been saying in CS, prestige doesn't matter. A CS degree from a state university is just as good as a CS degree from Harvard. So, I am confused by all the posters who claim a CMU CS degree is worth the cost because it is like getting a Harvard degree in CS. So, what is the difference between a state university CS degree and a CMU CS degree?

It's about career/job recruitment first few years out of college. Due to the rep and small class size of CMU a student will probably land interviews easier and end up with more job options to select from. The state university grad will also be employed relatively quickly compared to other fields due to the demand for CS grads but the CMU grads will have more options to pick from, and higher-end software industry ones at that if they want.

The higher-end software industry, as in FAANG? So, compared to CMU, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, MIT, and CalTech grads who can have their picks from higher-end corporations, state university grads would be somewhat limited at the top firms in terms of callbacks and offers? And for actual offers, do you know if there's a noticeable salary difference for graduates from these two tier schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
From this website, one can see the medium CMU CS salary in the last two years is about $118000, largely because they moved to work in HCL areas.

https://www.cmu.edu/career/about-us/salaries-and-destinations/post-grad-dashboard-updated.html

Can someone provide a ball park comparison between CMU CS salary of approximately $118,000 to Wisconsin CS salary?