SCS vs Columbia Fu

red_amp_blue
Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:39:26 +0000

You have two great choices. Given your stated interests - computer sciences/engineering and arts/photography/music, my advice would be to enroll in CMU. CMU is world class in both areas (which is actually rare among top American schools - only Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton and maybe maybe Cornell can make similar claims).

CMU is about as strong as Columbia in the arts (and I believe most rankings place CMU above CU in music). In engineering. there really is NO comparison. Carnegie is top 5 in the world in artificial intelligence, and a clear top 10 in computer science. Columbia is not in the top 25

If you want big city elan, both NYC and Chicago are about a hour away by plane. Fares aren’t expensive, and you’ll be able to easily get to other interesting places like Philadelphia & Bucks County, Washington DC and Cleveland (top arts scene) too.