I am going to purdue for cs but originally I was going to uiuc for cs+ling. I was oos for both and based on the financial aid for both uiuc was 15k more being 65k/year. I visited both campuses and liked both but after getting off the waitlist for purdue I decided to go there because my parents make ~210k together and would contribute for my college but I would end up with 50k loans at purdue vs 110k at uiuc. My mom keeps telling me that I should’ve stayed with uiuc as she only cares about the rankings but I don’t think 60k more is worth it especially because I just want to try and intern and work into big tech after college. The only way I could see going to uiuc would be worth it is if I can work as a quant after but I know it’s very hard and I have never done anything related to/know what its about to even see if I would be interested in getting into it. What do you guys think? did I make the right choice?
Purdue has a great CS program and their graduates place very well. You didn’t make a mistake. Enjoy your time at Purdue and make the most of it.
UIUC would have been a mistake, IMHO.
Purdue is a great school and I’d hate to graduate with a six figure debt load. Stop second guessing yourself. Time to look forward.
You 100% made the right choice. You posted about this before you decided, and there wasn’t a single poster who advocated for you to choose UIUC under these financial conditions.
Your mom doesn’t seem well-informed. The rankings she is looking at do not mean that an undergrad CS+ling degree from UIUC is better-regarded or would confer more opportunities than an undergrad CS degree from Purdue. And she is not offering to pay the difference. The additional debt would have had a significant impact on your life.
The decision is made, and between those two schools, you made the right choice. You’re already committed to 50K of debt for Purdue; that is already a significant amount. There was no good argument for more than doubling your debt for UIUC. It isn’t even clear that UIUC would have been a better choice at cost-parity, but for 60K more debt, no way.
I know it’s hard to let it go if your mom won’t, but… the decision is made, and you’ve gotten lots of validation already that it was the right one. Time to tell your parents, as forcefully as possible, that you investigated the pros and cons thoroughly, you made the best decision you could with the information at hand, it’s a done deal now, and you are going to focus on looking forward.
Exactly!
This is a great choice. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
I also think that you made the right choice.
By the way, I have worked in high tech for my entire career.