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?

A great piece of advice a high schooler should follow when choosing colleges. A large percentage of students will change their mind on what to study after getting into college. High schoolers just don't have the maturity to know for sure what they will be really interested in. I agree to the notion - don't consider your 4 year college like vocational training. You can quickly pick up the specific skills for the job quickly after you are on the job (especially CS type job). The money you spend on the 4 year college should buy you more than that. It should be about a broad learning, character building and social networking. With that solidly built, you can do whatever you choose to do in your life (which in itself may have many changes of heart again.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The odds of getting into CMU'S CS program are incredibly low.

They are. Just as an example, we know a computer whiz kid that got into second choice Cal Tech. The admission rate to CMU CS and VA Tech might as well be an ocean apart for boys, not quite as bad for girls.

Virginia Tech has gotten far more difficult to get into than you realize. The entering (not accepted figure, which is higher) class of 2018 had the following GPAs. Top 25% median: 4.25. Median 50% 4.15, bottom 25% 3.88. If you are not an URM, low income, first-generation or other minority type, then you need to be looking at the top 25% figures, especially for engineering. Composite ACT for top 25% entering class is a 31 and 1370 SAT. http://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

$200K difference is a lot OP, your kid didn't get any type of aid or outside scholarships?

If your DC is interested in a cyber focus take a look at https://www.sfs.opm.gov/. Tuition covered for 4 years, summer internships and fulltime employment after graduation. 4 years of education for 4 years of civilian service, then DC is free to leave if they wish.

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

Can you please elaborate that statement? Seems like 200k is an expensive experiment.

PP here

if you exclude CS and Engineering would you rather have a degree from CMU or Tech?

Too many hicks at vtech. Cmu has no rednecks.

Cal Tech over CMU!

Anonymous wrote:The odds of getting into CMU'S CS program are incredibly low.

They are. Just as an example, we know a computer whiz kid that got into second choice Cal Tech. The admission rate to CMU CS and VA Tech might as well be an ocean apart for boys, not quite as bad for girls.

The odds of getting into CMU'S CS program are incredibly low.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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 excellent advice. I wish someone had said that to me when I was in high school. I went to an engineering-specialized school, and then realized I didn't want to do engineering. Ooops!

CMU has so much more than engineering. A great Humanities and Social Sciences school and so much more.

Anyone who goes $200K in debt for a CMU humanities/social sciences is an utter buffoon.

We toured and considered CMU. Any other major other than CS is second tier there. Plus, the kids so stressed there. Terrible dorms. Pitt next door was such a breath of fresh air after the CMU session.

Majors
That’s 100% not true. All the schools/departments are fabulous and many are interdisciplinary. Even the English
majors I know got amazing jobs and make great money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:as a PP noted, VT weeds out engineering kids. They let in the kids that have good stats, but 1-2 courses in they really find out who is not cut out for VT Engineering. I think if your kid gets into CMU (and only then is this whole debate even a consideration), but then you can be pretty confident cMU thinks he needs to be there.

These numbers are the whole school, not just Cs, but can give you an idea.

cMU...freshman retention 96%, 6-year grad 89%
VT - freshman retention 93%, 6-year grad 84%
VT -

Some critical thinking is required here. VT is a public school and hence must accept more in-state kids. There are a lot of families who can’t even pay in-state tuition - sometimes family circumstances force a kid to leave or they lose their scholarship. VT also has the corps program - dropping out means withdrawal from school. CMU is a private school - people who go there already lined up loans etc.

Keep mind that many students wash out of Computer Science and but switch to an easier major. They don't necessarily fail out of school entirely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would have to make about $11K more than others CS graduates from other schools for close to 20 years to make up the 200K difference in tuition you would be getting loans for. And that is being generous that you can afford to pay them back and have a low interest loan.

So is all that debt over your head worth gambling on a possible higher paying position that you will always have and you won't get disabled or lost a job to pay off those loans. What if your son ends up not liking CS and wants to switch majors?

I personally rather have $12K less a year, start with zero debt, and work myself up in a company based on my skills. Not where I graduated from school.

That is probably omitting the time value of money in the calculations, but still informative. Still, you still need to see where CMU would come in after aid is factored in rather than comparing at list. As someone said earlier, CMU is probably a "mothership" school for CS along with (Stanford, MIT, Berkeley) and VT is not, but that would probably factor more at the grad rather than the undergraduate level.

Which is why over 70% of CMU kids families make over $100K a year. Only the rich can afford it. Middle and upper middle class can not and go elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:You would have to make about $11K more than others CS graduates from other schools for close to 20 years to make up the 200K difference in tuition you would be getting loans for. And that is being generous that you can afford to pay them back and have a low interest loan.

So is all that debt over your head worth gambling on a possible higher paying position that you will always have and you won't get disabled or lost a job to pay off those loans. What if your son ends up not liking CS and wants to switch majors?

I personally rather have $12K less a year, start with zero debt, and work myself up in a company based on my skills. Not where I graduated from school.

That is probably omitting the time value of money in the calculations, but still informative. Still, you still need to see where CMU would come in after aid is factored in rather than comparing at list. As someone said earlier, CMU is probably a "mothership" school for CS along with (Stanford, MIT, Berkeley) and VT is not, but that would probably factor more at the grad rather than the undergraduate level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is 100% a real scenario. DC decided last night to go with the flagship. I am trying to process. The things is DC loves and is v. committed to the sport; barring significant injury there is no way DC would drop the sport after admissions at either school.

I have a relative who chose the non-ivy over the ivy in order to continue doing her sport in a place where people cared about his sport. It is a fine choice, and maybe your kid will be better off where the workload is easier? The top kids at a flagship are damned good (I've attended an ivy, and taught at a state flagship).

Congrats to your child

husband went to CMU. I'd say CMU hands down for the research and also job opportunities.
the company he works for now specifically recruits at CMU and a few other top schools. they probably would never hire someone from Tech to be honest.
It's mostly because they heavily recruit at the others. CMU is groundbreaking in their research.
how strong is your child? It can be a bleak place socially, just depends what you are looking for.

Pittsburgh is an amazing city for college students. I'd go to CMU in a heartbeat if accepted.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is 100% a real scenario. DC decided last night to go with the flagship. I am trying to process. The things is DC loves and is v. committed to the sport; barring significant injury there is no way DC would drop the sport after admissions at either school.