For Computer Science, at What Point is it Advisable to Consider Cost or Prestige?

[1NJParent]

@ucbalumnus

At most colleges, admissions is primarily by prior academic credentials as predictors of academic capability (of course, different colleges choose different combinations and weights of such, and no prediction is perfect). Most students assess “reach” (versus “match”, “likely”, “safety”) based on how their prior academic credentials compared to the college’s enrolling students.

For colleges that admit by stats, the concept of a “reach” doesn’t make sense in most cases. An applicant would know a priori whether s/he is likely to be admitted. Some public unversities may use different criteria (or formulae) for OOS applicants so they may be viewed as “reaches” for those applicants.

@ucbalumnus

@1NJParent

IMO, the best academic environment for a student is one where s/he can be sufficiently challenged by her/his peers and is able to keep pace with these same peers.

In addition to excluding reach colleges, this criterion would also mean that most students who need big merit scholarships to afford college will find an unfulfilling academic experience because they are in the top few percent of students by prior academic credentials.

I explicitly excluded any other consideration besides academics. For applicants who need merit scholarships, or any other requirment (such as athletics), they’d obviously have to make compromises.