Princeton vs. CMU Computer Science

Greekfire
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:52:21 +0000

At this level, you’re not really going to compare rankings. That’s far too narrow-minded.

If you’re studying CS, what kind of jobs do you see yourself doing in the five years after you graduate? (CMU is obviously the CS powerhouse, but if you see yourself using your CS background to migrate to different, perhaps less-technical fields, you might not want to eliminate Princeton right away.)

Are you going to be in Silicon Valley? The East Coast? International? (In Silicon Valley CMU has prestige. On the East Coast and overseas Princeton will have the name recognition.) And honestly, how much do you care about prestige?

Have you checked out the course requirements for each school? (How well will Princeton CS prepare you?) Do you have any secondary academic interests that would be better pursued at one school or the other? (CMU, despite being a technical school, should still be pretty open to double-majors and minors and interdisciplinary work, however.)

Do you feel you fit better into one culture or the other? (CMU seems like a fairly geeky and workaholic school, and this environment may be intellectually stimulating or exhausting for you.) Do you prefer one location over the other? Is staying near family a concern? Staying far from family?

It’s a good thing money isn’t a factor. Makes the decision that much harder. =)