Hi! I’m a senior in high school choosing between two colleges: Columbia and UMD. I’m just looking for some input for my college planning.
For some context: I’m super interested in computer graphics and I’m hoping to break into some field of that sort. My major at Columbia would just be CS, but at UMD it would be Immersive Media Design: Computing.
While it may seem like an obvious choice on the outside, I was offered a full ride (room, tuition, and board) to UMD and going to Columbia would be ~20-25k per year… (this is assuming my dad won’t get a job, go up to maybe 40k if he does) I’ve applied to many, many scholarships to try to get the price of Columbia down if I do end up attending but winning them is not a guarantee.
Columbia University
Pros:
Ivy League, amazing CS program
New York City, so many opportunities!
computer graphics labs (undergrad research)
University of Maryland
Pros:
Tailored major (though, talked to advisor there and were honest and said they haven’t had a student intern at any game company or similar field)
top 20cs program (not much below columbias)
full ride
If anyone has any insight or input, thanks in advance!
Wow, congratulations!
First, no matter what you choose, there’s no wrong choice.
Second, would attending Columbia require your parents to take on loans for you? Would you take the federal loans (5.5k for your 1st year)?
If the answer to these questions is no, then visit and follow your gut feeling - where do you feel most comfortable? Where do you see yourself?
Do not think of prestige, because both are really prestigious in their own right.
A caveat: are your parents okay with the cost of Columbia now and with it possibly rising if your dad gets a good job?
To me this does not look like an obvious choice. You are comparing two very good universities.
I have worked in high tech for my entire career, and the Ivy League schools in general are not held in as high regard in high tech as they may be in some other fields. UMD is also very good. I have worked with a few software engineers from UMD, but I have not worked with software engineers from Columbia.
I am taking this to imply that you dad does not currently have a job. This to me at least makes it look like the cost of your education is likely to be important.
Wow. I am guessing that you are in-state for UMD. UMD is a very good university, and is specifically very good for computer science. The fact that they have your specific desired major is also very good. Just looking at the academics alone this would not be an easy choice, even if we ignore finances.
With a father who is currently out of work, a full ride to UMD seems almost like a dream come true.
Computer science is an area where prestige really does not matter. What you can do matters. Whether your code is relatively bug free when you check it into the main line matters. Whether you are reasonable to get along with matters.
Rankings do not matter much, but can give a person a quick guide. I just looked up rankings for CS, and there are many very good universities with very good CS programs that are ranked lower than both UMD and Columbia for computer science. I think that from an academic point of view, and from a “help you get to a strong career” point of view, you are looking at two very good programs at two very good universities.
I do not know your family’s finances. However, I would be inclined to go with the more affordable option unless there is something important that I am missing.
And congratulations on having earned these two great opportunities through your own hard work and success throughout high school.
Two great schools although I’m not familiar with the program at UMD.
I’m an affordability guy. If your dad doesn’t work, can he afford Columbia or would he have to borrow? And if he gets a job and now your costs goes up - and you really can’t say to how much because you don’t know his salary - can he afford Columbia?
On the flipside, can you achieve your goals in CS via Columbia? Or will the tailored curriculum at UMD match what you want to study better?
I’m not sure that just because Columbia is Ivy, it’s necessarily better for CS. And one only gets one job and both schools will likely lead to plenty of opportunity.
First to me is affordability. Then is curriculum.
The affordability part of Columbia scares me because it’s unknown (if your dad gets a job) whereas UMD is fixed.
On the flipside, the tailored major at UMD vs. being in CS could be a concern. Why not ask UMD for a career outcomes report of those who have been in the major to make sure they do as well as CS kids? This way you can validate the major is legit.
I don’t think Columbia carries more weight than UMD in the CS world. UMD is a top school. Plus, you have more opportunity there to specialize in the area you’re most excited about, which to me says that you’ll enjoy your education more, even if both schools could get you where you want to go career-wise.
I’d be wary of a situation where the more successful your father is in finding a good job, the more you’ll take a hit on college costs. The delay in applying income to financial aid would work in your favor, but still.
Also, are you sure that outside scholarships would bring your costs down, for Columbia? Outside scholarships have to be reported to your college, and often they result in the institutional aid being adjusted accordingly.
Does your family have savings or cash flow to cover the projected cost of Columbia, or would you have to take loans?
To me, the full ride with the heavy-hitter CS reputation and the better-fit program looks like the winner. Don’t forget that the named scholarship (which I think all full rides to UMD are, right?) will go on your resume, and that’s every bit as prestigious as saying you went to Columbia. Everybody knows that BK recipients (or equivalent, if that’s not the only full ride at UMD) are Ivy-caliber.
Looks like the immersive media design: computing major includes all of the usual lower level CS courses, plus upper level CS courses in programming languages, algorithms, and graphics (total eight). This is in addition to ten art and media courses and two capstone courses.
It says that “The first year of requirements overlap with the computer science major, so students can decide after 30 credits whether to major in IMDM or CMSC.” However, it does not go into detail about whether someone changing to the other major would be subject to the usual limited-enrollment-program (LEP) admission criteria.
Major/Non-Major Permissions | Undergraduate Computer Science at UMD says that IMD-BS (computing) majors may request enrollment in upper level CS courses, but it looks like they have lower priority than CS majors (but most other non-CS majors, including IMD-BA (arts) majors, cannot take upper level CS courses at all).
Requirements to stay in the major listed there do not seem to be difficult, which are C- or higher in various major courses and a 2.0 GPA, with these criteria being checked after earning 45 credits. But students not in the major who want to change into it need at least a B- or higher in the various major courses and a 3.0 GPA at 45 credits.
For the major at UMD, its relatively new–the first graduating class is this year! So I’m unsure if they will have any career outcome reports quite yet.
Look through the courses you can take for each, especially for UMD. One thing to be aware about is that if the major you will study at UMD doesn’t end up being your passion, then you might have to switch majors to CS. Since CS at UMD is popular, that might be difficult (some schools like GT have completely blocked switching to CS; you’ll have to check on UMD’s website/reddit to see how feasible it is). Whereas if you go to Columbia, you won’t be bound down by a single interest. For instance, if AI or computer architecture becomes your passion, you should be able to easily enroll in those classes.
Another thing to note is that computer graphics is a really large field, and what you may want within computer graphics may not be offered via a school that is known to be strong in computer graphics. For instance, when I was cold emailing professors for a position in photorealistic rendering research, I noticed Columbia didn’t have too much to offer in terms of that, but in other areas of computer graphics it had a lot of recent highly-cited papers.
Changing into CS at Maryland appears to require B- or better in several prerequisite courses and a 3.0 or better college GPA by the time one reaches 45 credits in order to “undergo a selective review process for admission to the major”:
Fair enough - but won’t hurt you to ask. It’s April so if kids are graduating in a month, they many should have future homes. Of course, it’s a tailored degree so it might not match your exact needs.
BK is well known to employers in the DelMarVa area. If you plan to stay there it could be a plus.
Things to consider: NYC is very different than College Park. College and class size are very different at Columbia than UMD. Campus feel is different as well. Are you planning on graduate school? If so then maybe free undergrad than Ivy grad. If not maybe go Ivy for the connections and caliber of professors and classmates.
My kid had a very similar decision last year an Ivy vs a prestigious named full ride. It was a very hard to choose. But took not just the school name but environment and opportunities in consideration while making the decision.
Awesome that you got BK and yes, it would add to your resume even out here in far away California. 