I, like many others, am trying to figure out what college to go to. So far, I have been accepted to San Jose State University and UC Davis, and will soon be finding out about my acceptance to UC Berkeley. I will be majoring in computer science, and am having trouble choosing between colleges. Here is a list of positives / negatives for each school:
** UC Berkeley **
Pros [ul]
[] Highest ranked for CS
[] In San Francisco / Silicon Valley / Bay Area
[] Largest amount of prestige attached to going there
[] Cool atmosphere / neat buildings
[/ul]
Cons [ul]
[] Most expensive
[] Haven’t received any scholarships from them
[] Will need a vehicle for part of commute to / from home
[] Potentially very competitive
[/ul]
** UC Davis **
Pros [ul]
[] Pretty campus (treeees)
[] Seemingly nice, friendly people
[] Received Regent’s Scholarship / Honors Program admission from them as well (perks / reduced tuition)
[] Better chance of standing out at college
[/ul]
Cons [ul]
[] Not in the Silicon Valley / Bay Area
[] Less highly ranked for CS majors
[li] It may seem weird, because a con of Berkeley is that it may be too competitive, but UC Davis may also have a con because it could also be too UNcompetitive[/li][/ul]
** San Jose State University **
Pros [ul]
[] Cheapest university
[] In Silicon Valley / Bay Area
[] Much more highly ranked than I expected for CS majors / alumni who get jobs at top companies
[] Better chance of standing out at college
[/ul]
Cons [ul]
[] Weaker / less competitive school overall
[] May not be worth it if I can go to a UC for not all that much more money
[/ul]
So, if anyone thinks that they can compare these colleges and objectively say what they think would be the best choice, that would be appreciated. Also probably a good idea to choose between all three and also between just UCD and SJSU, because I haven’t been accepted to UCB yet!
Alongside this, I am a semifinalist for the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship, and I will also be finding out results for that late March. If I receive this award, then the influence of the cost of college will disappear, but if I do not receive any sort of large scholarships, the cost is rather important.
So, to sum up everything in a basic question: Do you think that it would be better for me to go to UC Davis and potentially stand out more but not be in the middle of a CS hub, or to go to either UCB where I may not stand out, or SJSU, which may not be a difficult enough school for me, but be able to make many more connections in the Bay Area?
Admitted to the CS major at UCD and SJSU or not?
For UCB, did you apply to EECS (admits to major) or L&S (admits undeclared, need a 3.3 GPA in prerequisites to enter L&S CS major)?
Net price at each, and how much will your parents contribute?
UCD is “local” enough that bay area companies do not need to send recruiters on airplane flights to recruit on campus.
For CS I would go to SJSU over UC Davis.
Bay companies hire a lot from SJSU. And proximity matters a lot more than what college you get your degree from in CS (since they’ll hire you based more on your provable skills.) Plus the lower cost.
Check this out:
http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/future_tense/2014/05/23/tech_company_feeder_schools_stanford_to_google_washington_to_microsoft_sjsu/wired_infographic_1.jpeg
@ucbalumnus Admitted to CS major at both, applied to L&S for Berkeley.
Parent contribution is difficult to say right now ;-; My father passed away this December and he was a large part of our income. It’s problematic because FAFSA is based on last year data so colleges say that EFC is over 30,000 but I’ll be appealing because now there’s now way we can pay that now.
Also @insanedreamer I’ve seen that before, but I’ve also seen data saying that UCD is about the 18th in the nation for colleges that end up at Google, and ranked on a list of top 25 colleges that give you the best ROI for a CS major while SJSU wasn’t on the list at all. Any idea why different data gives these different results?
Save a link to this post on your calendar for this time next year. If you end up going to Davis I think you’ll find you’re getting all the work for good grades that you can handle 
All these are good schools and can adequately teach you CS. You seem to be looking for the school to “deliver” your future and while I don’t deny there is something to prestige, 5 minutes after any interview starts that will be gone and they’ll want to see how much you’ve learned and how you solve problems. Furthermore a lot of what makes a kid an attractive candidate, from any school, is what they do on their own. If you take part in contests and hackathons, contribute to open-source projects, build apps on your own just because you want to – these are the kind of things that attract notice when you’re looking for internships (a key step up the ladder) and for jobs.
@mikemac So just see where I’ll fit in the best and work hard wherever I go, and it won’t matter if I choose Berkeley over Davis or vice versa?
I think UCD would be the best option, since it sounds like UCB would be unaffordable.
I agree with @mikemac 's comment above.
As to why SJSU wasn’t in that list of schools with best ROI for CS, I can’t say - depends on their methodology. All I can say is that if you excel at SJSU and learn/know your stuff, and can demonstrate it at a job interview, you’ll have no problem getting jobs in the bay area. Plus, co-op/internship opportunities.
I’m not saying UCD isn’t a good choice, but if it were me I’d choose SJSU.
Would recommend not making the final decision until you get the financial aid revision sorted out, if you can do so by the decision deadline.
@ucbalumnus I’ll find out about college financial stuff (I think?) before deadlines, and I’ll find out about at least the JKCF scholarship, but I won’t know about any local ones (I applied to a lot of local ones) until late May. I’ll probably re-update here after I find out more. Thanks to everyone whose responded so far 
I was also concerned about my son choosing the best possible California college location when he was in the application process, because I pictured him applying for internships and jobs with recruiters who prefer certain colleges. But now that I see that he applied for computer science internships ONLINE, and that internships often determine graduation job prospects, I don’t think the location of the college is as important as I thought it was. His ability to solve the programming problems posed in the interviews and the training he got at college got him the internship, not particular connections of the company with the university. It seems that the quality of the internships he gets and the perceived quality of his university’s CS program will be the biggest factors in where he gets hired or goes to grad school. I am seeing this play out in a similar way with a student who left California to attend a prestigious CS program and then got a Silicon Valley internship remotely through online applications. By the way, you probably already know this, but another thing we learned along the way is that many companies provide free or reduced cost housing near the workplace for their summer interns.
Forgot to mention that, for the company that hired him, all of the job interviews were online also.
I found out that I kinda know someone who works at Google (nephew of my mom’s boss XD) and I got to email him and ask. He gave me an response that I think is worth posting:
“It is not the school that decides your fate, it is the amount of study and hard work you put into your time at school that will determine if you are ready for a career at the top companies in any area.
I work with people that have gone to Berkely, Harvard, Yale, University of Phoenix, and community college. Shoot, I even know Googlers that were plumbers and have no college degree. And in the end, it’s not the school they went to that makes them successful, it is the hard work and dedication to being the best they can be that makes them superstars to work with.
My advice, pick a school that you WANT to go to. One that has the program and classes you want to attend, in an area that you enjoy being in.”
Last update (for schools):
UC Berkeley: accepted! No scholarships, tho, but still cool to have it as an option 
I got $25,600 per year from a Dean’s scholarship and a grant at SCU, but it’s still more expensive than other colleges, so I’m not going there.
Congratulations! Best of luck with making your decision.
I officially accepted UCB’s admission decision! It feels so unreal @.@
@katliamom beat me to it. Congratulations @MasterLillyclaw
