Im not trying to pick a school from the list of admitted schools. I’m trying to see if I should eliminate UConn from my options.
I was admitted to UMass Amherst that is very similar to UConn and I’m leaning towards UMass, because it’s stronger CS program, similar distance from home as UConn, but I can’t make out if the STEM scholarship is making UConn better than UMAss.
Parents will cover any tuition.
Major CS
Admitted to (both are main campuses that I preferred, fall 2025 that I preferred)
Uconn Storrs + honors + STEM scholarship + merit
UMass Amherst + merit
The difference in cost is so negligible that I want to keep it out
I don’t yet know what I want to do post graduation, but I am considering quantitative finance (I’ll have to get into T20 school for MS if that will be the case) or possibly Data Science or just go work.
I’m domestic. NY resident.
Preferences:
Traditional campus
Opportunities for internships and research but not the kind Northeastern has (that’s one of my options and I grew to dislike the whole coop system), I want more of a traditional summer internship and side research with a professor
good food
friends: in UConn I may have a friend who will join me in Honors dorm, I may have another friend who may join me in UMass. I also have friends in UConn who will be sophomore but other majors. None of my friends are CS major. I’m not a party person, but I do like to spend time with friends.
Honors at most any school is not a reason to attend.
You can’t put it on job apps.
Put another way - if you look at the Brown Open Source CS rankings and rankings aren’t all:
UMASS is 22nd with a 26th rank in placement
UCONN is 94 and 108th in placement
So on its face, no chance.
That said, my son was a MechE - so a bit different - got into Purdue - top 10 and went to #90 Alabama - and told me rank was a bunch of huey (US News) and it turns out he was hired in a class with Purdue and Michigan kids. So rank isn’t all.
US News rankings are suspect - you can check the methodology on these - and I’m not a CS parent - but people speak about UMASS as - one small level below the powers - so i’m sure it’s strong.
btw - many kids don’t like Honors. You don’t do Honors for sake of it being Honors. You do it because you like what’s in it. My son applied to some but not to others - they didn’t work for him. Did you even see what UCONN’s benefits are? Well you get early course registration and honors housing. Of course at UMASS you eat like a king
I put below the requirement for UCONN - make sure you even are interested in those requirements. Honors at School A is not necessarily the same as Honors at School B.
Both fine schools.
Me - I’d go UMASS given its perceived leadership. But I wish my son had gone to Purdue and turns out it didn’t matter so…
We’ve toured both, and have acceptances at both as well. Umass-Amherst had outstanding food—fresh, an incredible variety—just awesome. UCONN food for us wasn’t even edible. I know food is a small/silly thing to write about, but it means a lot for my child. If you join a RAP at UMass-Amherst (live and take a class with a group of students) you can live with others majoring in CS and related fields—it can be a great way to have an immediate friend group freshman year. This is anecdotal, but in our large MA high school, UMass-Amherst waitlisted many students who were accepted to UCONN; UMass-Amherst keeps getting more competitive with each passing year.
Thank you! I did read through those UConn links over and over but I guess I couldn’t make out from the links what you said about honors program - you don’t attend university for honors program, first you attend university and honors is secondary and shouldn’t be a major deciding factor.
I agree with your son to some extent, but I believe in quality of the teachers too which rankings reflect to a degree. I learn better with good professors.
Thank you again for detailed answer and personal example. It really helps!
Thank you so much for this! Food embarrassingly is very important to me too.
The UMass selectiveness anecdotes help too, definitely put things into perspective
Nothing embarrassing about that if it’s a priority.
I don’t think you can say Honors = better professors. You hope but you never know.
Perhaps you can ask each school to set you up with a student ambassador - UMASS CS and and CS Honors Student at UCONN - and pepper them with questions.
Here is the UMASS career scorecard - frankly, I’m shocked by the # still looking but I don’t know the timeframe of this report - but surprised because UMASS is popular.
Here’s also the UCONN scorecard - and wow, I’m surprised - it’s tough to tell but seems like a higher percentage have jobs but again we don’t know the timeframe of each (you can ask) and it does seem like UMASS grads make more on the top end - but it’s hard to tell and certainly not much worse. I guess it goes to show you - the old adage of - major drives income more than school. So maybe it’s not crazy to consider UCONN? I mean, my son did this (with Bama over Purdue) and did just as well.
Let’s get @DadOfJerseyGirl to give his professional opinion on the subject - as he hires in this area.
Thank you for all these links. Something to note for UMass is that it includes “informatics”, that’s an odd major and because it’s in the mix I wonder if it impacts employment stats? There is also BA in CS at UMass, some of my friends told me to be careful to not accidentally sign up for BA track ( different university)
2024 was also a bad year for CS, many of my friends who graduated in CS were looking and started getting offers in 2025. 2023 looks better
All 3 of my daughters applied and were admitted to both universities with great merit. All were accepted into honors colleges/programs at every school they applied to, except for UMASS and Rutgers (very competitive honors). They all ended up elsewhere, 2 were in the honors colleges at their universities, it was nice, but that wasn’t really the reason they chose those schools.
UMass Amherst has a very strong reputation for CS. UConn’s program is probably good as well but I don’t believe it’s at the same level. If cost is not an issue, I’d recommend UMass. With the CS job market contracting, name brand will carry more weight than in the past.
As an FYI - aside from the “elite” schools, Baruch College, CUNY also has one of the best MS in Financial Engineering programs in the country. Highly regarded, and places well on Wall Street.
