Northeastern vs UW-Madison vs UT-Dallas vs UCF for CS

[vamom7]

Please help S21 decide between these 4 schools. S is especially interested in Artificial Intelligence and places internship opportunity and job placement as very important.

In terms of COA, UT-Dallas (honors) and UCF (honors) would be full rides, UW-Madison is less than 5K from a full ride and NEU (honors) is about 35K. We can afford the 35K if NEU’s coop program places it above the other choices in terms of job placement.

We are planning to visit soon, but in the meantime, I would appreciate any feedback on these schools. Thank you so much!

[dimkin]

UW has one of the top CS programs in the world (can you get directly into CS?)
UTDh is also very good, but I don’t think in the same category.
NEU especially at that price shouldn’t be even in conversation

[vamom7]

Thank you for your reply. When you say UW, are you referring to UWashington (Seattle)? S21 has been accepted to UW-Madison (Wisconsin), not UWashington.

[dimkin]

Well both …

But yeah, I was referring to Wisconsin - AWESOME school for CS

[vamom7]

Thank you. S is really leaning toward UW-Madison, but it’s really hard to pick when he has not been able to visit.

[dimkin]

UWi-M is amazing in CS … the problem is it’s not a direct-admit school (I don’t think) so to declare
CS as a major, one has to satisfy some requirements:
https://guide.wisc.edu/undergraduate/letters-science/computer-sciences/computer-sciences-bs/#howtogetintext

I want to let others opine as they have more experience with UWi-M.

[PengsPhils]

Without considering cost here, Northeastern and UW Madison would be the picks. Given the cost difference, I would make UW Madison the massive front runner. UCF and UT-Dallas are good fallbacks if needed, much better value. Compared to free, Northeastern (as much as I love and can/will rant about the CS program) can’t compete in this specific case. Co-op is good, but nowhere near 140k compared to other good CS programs good.

[EricStratton]

Northeastern is a very good school, but its not better than Wisconsin in my view. Factoring in the money I would say Wisconsin all the way.

[vamom7]

Thank you so much for your perspectives!