<p>I’m now quite torn between the options…My friends and parents say that Cambridge is more prestigious and cheaper, but the general engi course won’t specialize until two years into it and it seems that if I take CMU double major ECE and CS I can learn so much more.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Northwestern is said to be more balanced.</p>
<p>Is there anyone who’s familiar with any course above and can give me some advice? Thanks…</p>
<p>Cambridge is certainly much more prestigious than CMU or Northwestern, but cheaper? For UK and EU citizens, surely, but for US citizens…? (It could be a bit cheaper, thought, but from next year, the fees in every UK university will see a significant increase - and it is fairly obvious that Cambridge and Oxford -along with a few other universities- will ask for as much as they can. Strictly speaking, this may be the last year to go to Oxbridge without spending more money than their US counterparts ask for.)</p>
<p>Most BA (Bsc) courses take 3 years in Cambridge, but as far as I know, the engineering is actually 4 (might be wrong), so there’s no difference between Cam and the others in this matter. I have an insufficient familiarity with engineering, but even I know that CMU have an excellent reputation. Just checked, USNews ranks CMU as high as 6, while Northwestern is 20th. Significant difference, even if Northwestern is a better school in overall; but not for engineering. Engineering in Cambridge is in pair with MIT, Stanford and Berkeley, probably with different straights, thought. </p>
<p>The question may be asked that whether where do you want to go? Evanston is a solid place, Chicago is about half an hour away, but it could be damm cold. Pittsburgh is…well…not the safest city in the world, but you can say that for most US cities, especially major ones. Cambridge is a wonderful place, really safe even compared with the UK standards, and contrary to popular belief, the weather is great. One of the best in the UK, with a kind of microclimate, which means there’s not much rain. But it’s a just town with a population of 120.000 people, but it’s much more diverse than average UK cities. At least I found it surprisingly diverse. (Good or bad, it’s up to you, but again, the crime rates are very low, and compared with US towns with the same size, Cam is extremely safe.) London is about 40 minutes by train. Of course I’m biased towards Cambridge, have to admit, but it have a better engineering program that either CMU or Northwestern, and the brand name is also far stronger. On the back side, you will be pretty far from your family most of the time.</p>
<p>(Which Cam college, btw? College membership don’t have any impact on your education, I’m just curious.)</p>
<p>I was told the system of independent colleges within a university makes UK schools very short of resources and the kind of multi-disciplinary collaboration needed for serious engineering research, at least compared to the schools in the US.</p>
<p>I’d pick CMU for CS/ECE. CMU is incredible in CS and rivals MIT in the field. I don’t see how computer science at Cambridge could be on par with the best in the US; after all, what has come out of the UK when yahoo, google, ipad… were all born in the US? I am from Hong Kong and most of my former schoolmates chose US schools for engineering.</p>
<p>“The system of independent colleges within a university makes UK schools very short of resources” </p>
<p>Ammm…what UK schools are we talking about? Only Cambridge and Oxford are collegiate universities, so saying “UK universities” is a bit of exaggeration, isn’t it? The colleges are integral parts of the university, and despite all of their independence, they are not separate from the university, and not independent institutions. Also, there is only one engineering faculty in Cambridge, and college membership not affect education of all; but it’s great for socialization, housing, etc. About resources…the endowment of Cambridge is $6.412 billion (it depends heavily on the current exchange rate, what is a way low in these days), compared to the $ 6.3 billion of Northwestern, and $754 million of CMU. Can’t see that Cambridge lacks of resources.</p>
<p>That’s great that Ipad bon in the US, as Apple being a US company, LOL. That’s nothing have to do with the Cambridge education but the difference between the corporate culture of Europe and the US. But if that obsessed with Silicon Valley then go to Stanford ;)</p>
<p>Thanks Gerald and Sam Lee! My college in Cambridge is Queens’, and I guess after all it still boils down to personal preference…Yes Cambridge is unbelievable, but the engi program in CMU might be better :P…I shall discuss it with my parents</p>
<p>Where do you expect to work, and which of these is more likely to get you a job there after graduation? Each country has different licensing regulations and examinations for engineers. Be sure that you can meet the standards for the country where you will be working.</p>
<p>Queens! Contrary to what Sam Lee think, it means that the college is quite close to the Engineering Department. Next in importance is the fact that’s it’s one of the colleges next to the river Cam. Hardly any of this would effect your studies, but worth mentioning 
But CMU is an amazing school, you cant go wrong choosing either.</p>
<p>At Cambridge you won’t take any courses outside your major; is that the case at CMU? If not, I have to say I don’t see how CMU would give you a more specialized education. Also, getting a solid grounding in general engineering theory sounds like a good thing to me.</p>
<p>Also, Cambridge is one of the most productive universities worldwide in terms of research output, as its ARWU standing would suggest.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, looking at the ARWU website, it is true that in engineering and computer science CMU seems to be more productive. Hmmm.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.arwu.org/FieldENG2010.jsp[/url]”>http://www.arwu.org/FieldENG2010.jsp</a></p>
<p>Personally, I’d choose Cambridge for the experience of living in a different country and the unique historic atmosphere. However, your priorities seem to be different from mine, so I don’t know what advice to give you, except: Research all your options thoroughly because they all offer different things.</p>
<p>GeraldM,</p>
<p>Despite Northwestern’s much larger endowment, Northwestern can’t compare to CMU in computer science. (FYI, I went to Northwestern, not CMU). In fact, CMU has a whole school devoted to computer science. That shows endowment is a very poor measure when we are talking about a specific field. In case you don’t know, you can’t spend endowment like some unrestricted cash and to the extent that Cambridge uses its allocable resources, how much of that go into their computer science department? How well-known is Cambridge’s computer science anyway even within UK? I just have no idea and never heard much of it. </p>
<p>Here in the US, CMU’s computer science is VERY well-known within the industry. You mentioned Silicon Valley and guess what, CMU is so into computer science that it actually set up a campus there! You also mentioned Stanford and guess what? CMU is on par with Stanford when it comes to computer science. But let me reiterate (lol): computer science is a serious business at CMU! It’s a top target school for all the major technology firms. Having grown up in Hong Kong, I understand this may be difficult to grasp since most Brits probably never heard of CMU. But if you have no problem in grasping the idea that Stanford >>> Cambridge in computer science, you should have no problem accepting that CMU is also >>> Cambridge in computer science. </p>
<p><a href=“CMU Silicon Valley”>CMU Silicon Valley;
<p>[Carnegie</a> Mellon School of Computer Science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Mellon_School_of_Computer_Science]Carnegie”>Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science - Wikipedia)</p>