Helping son decide on accepted CS programs--high Tier school [UCSD] or lower tier [ASU, UTD] honors?

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As acceptances roll in, we’ve gone from anxious b/c he chose CS which, was impacted everywhere he applied, to now being a bit overwhelmed with choices.

On the one hand, no bad choice. On the other, he seems to consider mainly the “rank” of the CS.
His current top acceptance is UCSD. Wife and I hoped for UCSD–it is close enough to see him regularly. Top waitlist is Univ Chicago.

Since applying he is now a NM Finalist so now has been accepted to ASU and UT Dallas, both of which offer essentially full cost and honors college, which I think has some real advantages.

UCSD is attractive b/c it is not only highly ranked for CS, it is near home and he knows something about it (his brother went there although he did not take advantage of all it offered-- was COVID-impacted and he learned he could do well from his room, so he did that more than getting involved with all the campus offers).

I’ve read a few older threads here on trying to decide on A vs B for CS, and recognize most rankings lists are heavily influenced by the size/research budgets/prestige.

My son is very laid back and so far has expressed no preference on school size, campus vibe, or location (growing up in SoCal he has a minor dislike of true winter, but even that is not something he says will be a decision factor). All I’ve seen him do is watch a few “day in the life” student vids on youtube. That seems a very random method of assessment.

When I was 18, I wanted very much to leave my state and just ‘get away’ for lack of a better term, and I had firmly in my mind a post-graduate path. He has no similar motivations and quite understandably has no idea about grad school at this point.

I’ve advised him to CALL the CS depts and ask about CS class registration process/priority & internships; research study abroad options (he has taught himself Japanese over the last 2-years and wants to go to Japan if possible).

Anyone go through similar–other things he should research or ask about?

He has Spring Break next month, but I don’t think we can get out to UT Dallas, however, we could visit UCSD, UCSB, Davis, ASU, Cal Poly Slo. But, by spring break there may be others, but realistically I don’t see anything else pending that is likely to be better (Stanford, Cal, and USC are pending but all are super-reach based on CS acceptance rates).

thanks in advance for any replies!

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In the past, SLO has offered a NMS scholarship. It doesn’t go through NMSC and I believe it was $3000.

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Is cost a concern?

Does he have direct admission to CS at UCSD?

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One thing to consider in your son’s decision making is how well does each college’s CS department do in helping its graduates secure a job after graduation.

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All the schools on his list are strong choices. Personally, I wouldn’t focus on the University of Chicago—very few students make it off their waitlist, and you can always reassess if he does get in.

Cal Poly stands out because of its “learn by doing” approach. It’s heavily project-based and less theoretical than many other schools, which could be a key factor in his decision.

Unless Stanford or Berkeley comes through, UCSD is the highest-ranked school on his list. If rankings are his main priority—and it’s also the parental favorite—then any other school would need a compelling advantage to outweigh it.

It’s worth diving deep into each school’s CS department. Look at the four-year degree plan, faculty research areas, and options for double majors, concentrations, or minors. Check how easy it is to get the required courses. Also, consider a backup plan—if he decides CS isn’t for him, which school offers the best alternatives?

Once he’s done the research, take the California road trip. Visiting campuses can make a big difference.

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Congratulations to your son on all of his acceptances! A few thoughts:

  1. Is there a particular area within CS that interests him? I’ve seen this ranking system that lets you select particular areas of interest, and since rankings appear important to him, this may be informative: https://drafty.cs.brown.edu/csopenrankings/

  2. Although your son has no known ideas about what his postgraduate plans will be, has he expressed any entrepreneurial interests? If so, would money saving money by attending a full ride school that could then be used for a start-up (or a house down payment, or whatever) be a factor in his decision-making?

Since it seems like visits to all other schools are possible, here are a few posts that talk more about life at UTD (1, 2). If it sounds appealing to your son, I would suggest having him investigate more and see about a quick trip to Dallas (which is a hub for multiple airlines).

When visiting campuses, I would also urge him to see about sitting in on a class or two and having conversations with current students as that can provide a more realistic view of college life than the marketing of admissions departments.

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The first part of this is true. The amount of experience in applying their theoretical education at CP is more than what students get at most other schools. It is important to know that Cal Poly doesn’t cut theory in favor of that though. Labs are added to what would be a pretty typical theory curriculum at most major programs. I’d encourage comparison of curricula, senior projects and placement if you want to get a better handle on outcomes.

Cal Poly’s top graduate school destination, only behind students staying at CP for the 4+1 efficiency is Stanford. Their top top employers, in order are Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google. Neither of those would be the case if they were “less theoretical that many other schools.”

Lastly, i’d be leery of any ranking system, meta or individual, since none of them that I’ve found use outcomes in their methodology. They are all heavily biased towards research publication. It is useful in some regard to look at that if he has a particular niche area of interest, but grossly, they are overrated.

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Maybe I’m using the wrong terminology, but Cal Poly’s approach is distinct—it’s not just a matter of adding labs to the same theoretical foundation other schools use. I have a Cal Poly graduate in my family and only positive things to say about the experience. I also have kids who attended R1 universities, and the differences are clear.

I often see discussions on CC about “fit,” and this is a great example of where it actually matters. The “learn by doing” philosophy is ideal for some students, while others may thrive in a more traditional research-focused environment. There’s no single right answer—graduates from any of these programs can find success.

I let Google AI take a stab at the difference between UCSD and Cal Poly in CS and I think it did a decent job capturing Cal Poly vs R1 institutions.

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I agree with this…it is distinct. My son is a CP grad (BS/MS ME '19). I’ve been told by many of my engineering friends that his experience was different than theirs, and in their minds better. They came to that conclusion by assessing his class projects and senior project, things they didn’t have the skill to accomplish until they were well into the workforce.

They do indeed get there, in large part, by adding labs to classes that are otherwise just lectures at most schools. Take vibrations or rotational dynamics for example (I know ME better than CS). Those are literally just math classes at most programs. At CP, they have labs that set up experiments to test the application of the theory. That’s not the only difference. They have a vibrant club scene too. Class work for like courses is not that different though, other than that they are generally small, and labs and discussions aren’t taught by TAs.

There is a notion that the practical comes at the expense of theoretical. For ME it certainly didn’t. Engineers take the same math as Math majors, proofs and all, not watered down, good enough, engineering math as they do in some of the top ranked engineering programs.

So, is it a pretty atypical program in the way they teach? I think so. Do they have access to the most obscure graduate level classes (or the professors that teach them, which is important) that one might find in CS at say Stanford or MIT? They do not. Do grads come out lacking for a theoretical foundation? I don’t believe they do. Otherwise the top graduate programs fed by the CENG wouldn’t be Stanford, Michigan, Georgia Tech, UCLA, UCB, and UCSD.

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For CS, the differences are likely overstated. Except for the small number of pure theory courses (discrete math, algorithms, theory of computation), every CS course in a decent CS department should be expected to have programming type assignments and projects. For example, in a compiler course, students write a compiler as they learn the various parts of it.

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For sure. It’s much less equipment intensive. It’s a good reason why schools like Pomona and Yale can have strong programs when their engineering is otherwise weak, or non-existent.

It’s also a bit weird to compare curricula between institutions because of nomenclature. For example, there is a discrete class in the CP curriculum but it’s a CS labeled course. Ditto Tensor Calculus. It’s not a stand alone math class, but taught in Continuum Mechanics. There will be varying levels of depth between institutions in classes taught like this.

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If you’re out of state for UCs, I certainly wouldn’t pay for UCSD when UTD and ASU are available for almost free.

UT Dallas has this: Computing Scholars Honors Program - Computer Science | The University of Texas at Dallas

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I have 3 national merit kids, two of which are CS and chose UTD. We have been VERY pleased with the education and opportunities that UTD provided. Youngest graduated with his masters in CS last May (fully covered by his scholarship) and landed an amazing job. Older one is still at UTD finishing his PhD in CS on the McDermott graduate fellowship. Please search for my past posts on the UTD forum or feel free to pm me.

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Thank you everyone for the informative replies. We are CA residents, so can do the in-state cost, but I find the honors college advantages that UT Dallas and to lesser extent ASU honors gives to NM Finalists rather attractive, plus the cost savings can apply to grad school.
He got wait-listed to UCLA today.
He is direct CS-admit to all the schools so far that accepted him.
He is interested in AI/machine learning.
He is currently interested in helping develop a wearable neural-net artificial pancreas, which I think is a topic/project that is already something labs are working on, and I think would take him into graduate level.

I greatly appreciate the feedback here, and I have read most threads using the search terms of CS plus ____ University.

Is there anything that already tracks/compiles “outcomes” as far as job placement, or he needs to search or contact each school? I found https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/ but am not sure if it is accurate, has a large enough data set or is up-to-date.

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College Scorecard does use comparable methodology for all colleges, while colleges that report career or first destination survey results (most do not, and many that do report do not stratify by major) may use different methodology from each other, making them harder to compare. However, College Scorecard only counts graduates who used federal financial aid as students. Small majors at a given college may not have enough data. College Scorecard also does not list employer names, locations, or percentage employed like some colleges’ own career survey reports.

College Scorecard’s future is uncertain due to cuts in the Department of Education.

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Plus CS goes by several names, making it confusing to compile the information.

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I think UT Dallas had multiple honors programs. Is he a direct admit to this program:

If so, that program may help a ‘laid back’ student get noticed by professors and recruiting companies.

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thank you–since you mention cuts, I suppose he should ask schools if they anticipate any cuts to programs (not sure what that would be, maybe to research or study abroad, or less staff and so possibly larger class sizes)

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I believe that computing scholars program requires he take some sort of test–I will ask him if they have sent anything–he has had several items in the mail from UT Dallas since they accepted him.

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For outcomes at UTD CS job placement I can only go by personal experience. My youngest son accepted a job offer in August before his senior year to start work at the company he interned with the summer prior starting after graduation. Here’s a pervious post I made about out comes, Big merit NMF/NMSF schools and their specialties - #67 by 3scoutsmom

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