For better community input, please provide the below details about your college offers:
Price and tuition cost is not a factor at all, because as an international student the tuition fees for all 3 is relatively same.
Berkeley is EECS + Business (MET Program), CMU & Columbia is CS but i’m open to taking a minor/major in economics/business as well. So basically CS in all 3 unis.
My future goals are uncertain don’t have any specific specialized industry or aspect I have decided, just good career opportunities and maximising my chances.
I don’t have any preferences on campus culture, etc. only focus is education, clubs, research, recruiting, etc.
Congratulations on these acceptances.
IMO it is highly likely you would be returning to your home country after any OPT time you would have post graduation. With that said, you might think about recruiting in your home country and/or other countries you might want to live in after graduation.
If these are all equal to you in terms of the curriculum (did you look at the Columbia core, for example?) and locations, my opinion is that Berkeley MET is a powerful combination and would lean that way. Good luck.
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This seems like an extremely important point to me.
My sense is Cal is an unquestionably top global brand name in tech circles, and of course if you are interested in the right sorts of things, the MET program is as good as it gets. So although I would confirm this with people actually knowledgable about the relevant industries in your home country, that would be a pretty obvious choice.
I might have a different answer (although it would be more of a “tie” sort of situation) if you were a pure CS person, and a US resident, and truly did not care about culture/vibe. But with a cross interest in business? Again, MET seems kinda obvious to me, barring contrary information from your home country.
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Do you like the huge city? NY. Large but smaller and less urban like city of Pittsburgh? Or being in the Bay Area.
Which is easier for you to travel back home to? Things like that could factor. Personally, I think the MET, with its two degrees, would be a great thing to have - from two leading schools.
Best of luck - all are great entrances.
Hi @Mwfan1921 thxx..im from mena so not sure but i think all are equally valued as such over here. In terms of curriculum, not really into the columbia core would probably do cs and econ at columbia. At CMU, I’m not sure but from what I’ve heard maybe their cs curriculum is the best?
I’m only concerned about stem clubs and research opportunities at berkeley…would you know if they are extremely competitive or thats just overexaggerated.
@NiceUnparticularMan I agree it’s important but for me in like uae/india i think all are maybe relatively the same. I was only confused with cmu, cause I’ve heard that at berkeley the clubs for cs and research opportunities are hyper-competitive…maybe this might not be true..not sure
In terms of city it’s just the one with most access to opportunities for me..don’t care about other stuff much could probably handle it for 4 years. For pitsburgh, from what i’ve understand cmu students still end up in sf, nyc eventually
You’re likely going to end up home.
I don’t know about clubs at UCB. @tamagotchi might have insight - but then might they be similar at the others?
Which school were you admitted to at Columbia?
The best for…..? The relevant question is what is best for you, not what is ranked highest. If you want pure CS, it’s easy to make the case for CS. CMU is the smallest school of your choices, and the one that is more of a fit school. Students there tend to be introverted and work hard. I’m not saying there aren’t students like this at all three schools, but at CMU it’s prevalent.
If you want the combo that the MET major provides, then that’s an easy choice.
Have you mapped out and compared courses for the four years at each school? That seems to be a good step to decide which school appeals more to you.
There will be some competitive clubs at all the schools and research is too, I wouldn’t let those concerns be the deciding factors.
Post OPT, that’s likely irrelevant for you. You can look at CMU outcomes to see where students end up and in what types of jobs. If outcomes aren’t on the website, contact the career center.
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columbia was SEAS….btw for cmu is the curriculum and education that much better..like its significantly going to make you beter for ml or swe @Mwfan1921 or berkeley eecs is comparable
ig why is there so much hype then…like alll my friends are like cmu is the best for cs and all @DadOfJerseyGirl
@Mwfan1921 im getting the haas undergrad business degree, do you feel that will be valuable if i end up going in tech/swe roles..or it just takes time away. I might explore like product manager, consulting,…not sure
Do you want to study the combo of engineering and business? It’s normal not to know exactly what career you might be looking at. Do the types of careers that the MET grads go in to appeal to you?
I will say that in the US demand for pure CS majors is softening. For CS career discussion and strength of each school’s curriculum, I defer to the tech people on CC.
Yes, CMU is very good for CS but so is Berkeley, and Columbia is barely a notch behind. You asked a very specific question: whether the curriculum and education at CMU is “that much better” — and looking at it only from that lens, the answer is no. They will all get you wherever you want to go as a CS graduate.
You’re choosing between 3 excellent schools so you need to consider other factors, like location, cost of attendance, student body, core curriculum requirements, etc.
In short, any of these three schools might be “the best” for you, but you’ll need to determine what suits you best.
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That’s right. According to their lastest data, #1 for recent Bachelor’s graduates from the School of Computer Science was SF, #2 NYC, #3 Seattle . . . definitely NOT a program with a limited footprint.
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So CMU does in fact have one of the msot highly regarded research CS departments in the US, and they have a dedicated School of Computer Science, with five primary majors (CS, AI, HCI, Robotics, and Computational Biology), and some 5-year accelerated Masters programs as well. They are also one of the top CS PhD placers per capita.
I’m not an expert on this, but what I have heard is people who are super into CS like the way they do their general education requirements. A lot of their credits are actually in other Science and Engineering fields, and then for their HASS requirements, they can do some of those with business classes (which might be of interest to you, I would think), what they call Strategy and Technology (their spin on political science), and so on.
Finally, I think the branding that CMU can be a bit of a grind (even among its CS peers) is a turnoff for some, but then some employers might see that as a signal you are not afraid of work.
Does that make it the best undergrad CS program? That’s far too subjective of a question. But I do think for the right sort of kid, it could be what they are looking for.
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Just a quick note that OP is international, so his/her post college experience will likely be different than for domestic students.
Yes, the original point stands that the OP needs to be very aware their career may be outside the US.
Note that UCB MET requires higher than typical (15 credit) course loads on average, although advanced placement in math or some other subjects may reduce the course load.