Hi all! DS is interested in Comp Sci—-
Results so far:
Accepted:
-Ch Hill (instate)(small subs. loan, work study)
-NC State (Honors, Goodnight Scholar full ride)
-Purdue Honors (no discount)
-U. Of Florida (possible instate rate due to grandparent in state)
-Va Tech (small subs. loan)
Rejected:
-Illinois (Urbana/Champaign)
Waiting on:
-Ga Tech (deferred- 20% chance?)($50K?)- loved Atlanta, great ranked school)
-Columbia, Carnegie Mellon (both longshots and $$$$$) but if he got in, should we consider despite the cost- take a hit on our retirement $, incur debt for him- would it be worth it?
-Top contenders right now are Chapel Hill and NC State. Dad and sister are both Tar Heels, close to home, affordable etc. We don’t qualify for a lot of aid at a private school due to assets, not going to happen.
Another question, how common is it to need a masters in the field of Comp Sci? Trying to figure out what our overall budget needs to be for two kids’ undergrad, and at least our daughter’s graduate school. Not sure if son is going to need grad school.
What would you do?
NC State and no need for grad school.
They might want a Master. But no need. Or they might want another degree years later like an MBA.
It’s CS - the where, short of a few schools, matters little.
NC State is ranked 45 and UNC 74 in the Brown open source rankings so in theory you’d even go if the prices were the same. NC State has 3 sub majors. It looks like UNC is not a direct admit.
In the same ranking, btw, UNC rates 42 vs 48 for NCSU based on placement.
In 2023, a BS at Unc earned $90k median and $96.6 average. I can’t find current NC State but I imagine there is corporate overlap.
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Masters is not needed. If UNC is a better fit then sure can be considered, but is not a direct admit. Purdue should be a serious contender here. With AI impacting CS jobs, it is my opinion that a more rigorous program helps … but still depends more on the student (clubs, networking, projects, leetcode) than the school so NC State is fine as well.
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Thank you so much for weighing in with such a thoughtful and detailed response. I think we are all pulled by the family sentiment and possible greater prestige of the Chapel Hill degree. As well as the pretty campus and his sister being at Chapel Hill. But there seem to be a number of reasons why NC state is a better option in just making a sound decision. I also like that, he would have a smaller, supportive cohort at NC State, probably with better advisement and connections, being in honors and in the scholarship group.
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One other thing to note - Goodnight appears to be full tuition, not full ride.
But comes with enrichment and for kids who love enrichment, that’s an additive vs other schools.
But it includes various development programs and travel opportunities.
Mine is in something similar at Charleston. Experience wise for kids interested, it can be a game changer.
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I’d argue that prestige doesn’t matter. Someone just posted that their kid from U North Georgia is at Microsoft or Google - I forget which. . My nephew has a poli sci degree from Arizona and works in NYC for one of the biggies. Had to pass a bunch of tests. I think that’s common.
If you’re looking at other majors, maybe it’s different. In most cases, it won’t matter though - - UNC vs State - maybe business. And one has loans - why would you ever choose that ?
What if she doesn’t get the major at UNC? Would she still want to be there - with cost ?
Not sure UNC is nicer - I’m not a fan of the cemetery :). That’s subjective of course. But there is more nearby than NC State. .
On the flipside, CS is at the Centennial Campus, so a bit of a haul to get there from main campus at NCSU.
To me, State is a no brainer.
Good luck.
Sorry should have added NC State is also not a direct admit. Seems a very strong student, you are best able to judge if CODA is a concern.
https://engr.ncsu.edu/academics/undergrad/coda/#engineering-first-year-students
https://engr.ncsu.edu/ir/coda-statistics/
Oh sorry - I missed that. It doesn’t say it on their website that I saw.
Sorry to OP. I’ll edit my post.
No problem. These things are changing all the time. Not sure if they have changed anything recently.
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Thank you for your input. I will mention to my husband and son what you said about Purdue. We would have to look closely at the expenses there, and weigh it out.
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The value for the good night scholarship is $23,000 per year, total cost of attendance for next year appears to be 27K and change, plus potentially an additional small fee for the engineering school.
Ok - you are right then. That covers tuition, room and board. It says tuition on line but also does mention $23k.
NC State is a no brainer.
My kids said nope to my and my wife’s alma maters.
Powder Blue will leave your bank account red.
Wolfpack Red will keep your bank account green.
NC State, and all the extras (enrichment) she’ll get - a no brainer in my mind. Maybe she’ll even meet Mr Goodnight 
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I hear you, thank you. It’s actually my son, lol.
Oh sorry. You’ve had another on here last year. They go Unc?
Yes! Thanks for remembering! My daughter is at Chapel Hill and happy there!
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No! It is never wise to impact your retirement
+1 for this (saying this as a technology executive).
That is, if you can afford the $43k/year cost with maybe just a bit of a stretch (but not retirement impacting)
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I am usually reluctant to recommend loans. There are a lot of advantages for a recent university graduate to have no debt. This can for example open up some opportunities that would not be possible if the student had debt, and make it easier for them to live fully independent of the bank of Mom and Dad. Computer science on the other hand is a major where a good job after graduation is very likely, which might make a small amount of debt somewhat more tolerable.
That being said, I think that you are comparing a list of universities that are all very good for computer science. I think that any of the schools on your list can provide a very good education in CS.
This leads me to two conclusions. One is to say CONGRATULATIONS! The other is to recommend the school that will not require any debt (which I think is NC State if I am reading your post correctly).
Master’s degrees are not needed in computer science. The three reasons that I have seen for people to get a master’s degree is either that they want to specialize in some specific area (AI, machine learning, operations research, …) that they did not already specialize in as an undergraduate student, or that they want to get a degree in the US after first getting their bachelor’s degree somewhere else (most often at a very good affordable university in their home country), or they just want to do it. I do not think that you should completely rule out the possibility of a master’s degree, but it is not likely to be necessary.
Personally I am not all that worried about whether a program is “direct admit” or not. Perhaps my thinking is that a student who deserves to be in the CS program will manage to do well enough to get into it. It is not like working in CS is an easy job – you have to have some ability in the area to be successful in a career (and of course a student needs to have some significant potential to have been accepted to 5 very good universities in the first place).
I do not think that I would consider Columbia or Carnegie Mellon if they would require debt. GA Tech is quite academically demanding and all of these three seem like a long shot in any case. I do not think that I would take a hit against your retirement funds for any of these. One thing that you can “gift” your kids is that they will not need to help you financially after you retire.
I think that NC State is a great choice, and that a celebration is appropriate!
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There’s some reviews of the program on Reddit - a lot related to interviewing but you are past that. This one is from a participant. It’s the enrichment you’ll not get elsewhere - to me, it has meaning but to another maybe not.
“Goodnight Scholar here! I’m glad to hear that you got your invite! My time as a Goodnight Scholar has been one of my BEST experiences at NC State. I’ve gotten to learn and experience a ton of stuff such as learning how to be a good professional speaker, traveling to new destinations (Boston and Trinidad) and MUCH MORE!!
Another thing I really appreciate about GSP besides the professional development workshops, really cool social events they have, and the generous financial aid they provide to the scholars, is the community of scholars and pro staff who are there to genuinely support you all through your academic career. I came into State as a transfer student and did not know many people, but the fact that I had met some Goodnights during social events gave me a chance to develop new and strong friendships with people I share the same interests with. Those are the friends that I have been able to travel with on several trips, attend Wolfpack games with and even be in classes together. We also have a big group chat and I’ve found that helpful bc the upperclassmen have been able to advise me on professors/classes to take.
As a Goodnight Scholar, you will get a peer mentor who will be your “buddy” and introduce you to campus resources and who you can reach out for absolutely any kind of concerns and questions.”
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NCSU is also not direct admit, and CODA (secondary admission) to specific engineering majors including CS is competitive.
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A good question to ask might be is a good fellowscholar exempt. I don’t think so but sometimes these programs offer extras like that.
It might be the overall student at UNC is stronger making this a better shot - just thinking out loud