I am an International student that want to come to US to study Computer Science. I have recently admitted to University of Washington (pay about 56k) as Pre Sciences (even I want Computer Science), WPI (I have to pay 42k), Purdue (pay about 46k), Umass Amherst (pay about 38k). Can anyone help me by giving some pros or cons to both schools? Thanks a lot.
When you calculate the costs, don’t forget to include costs of travel at least once each year, housing and meals for any vacation breaks when the residences and food service are closed, and winter wardrobe.
If you hope to work in the US after graduation for the time allowed for OPT, ask the career centers at each university about OPT placement for international graduates.
Have any of these admitted you directly to your major?
I have admitted to Engineering in College of Engineering (Purdue) and Computer Science (Umass Amherst). For WPI, I thought students must study for at least 1 or 2 years to declare a major. In University of Washington, I have only admitted as Pre Sciences.
All of your accepted universities have first class CS programs. As a CS major I would not be concerned about employment from any of them unless immigration policies get in the way. Some Universities post “outcomes” by majors. This is helpful if the recruiting companies are listed as you can see the large, international corporations.
For WPI see the project based studies program @ https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/wpi-plan and the “Project Centers” program @ https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/global-project-program. You should be able to find a center which will place you in or close to your country of interest. This can help for overseas placement. For a listing of employers go to the following site, click on the “post graduate” reports for selected years and go the CS (page 19 for 2017).
Beyond that, it comes down to personal fit and costs.
Much of American education is not just lectures and exams.
WPI '67
It’s very competitive to be admitted to the CS major at the University of Washington. You could very well find yourself not in CS at UW. For that reason, I would not choose UW, even though UW is stellar in CS.
From UW’s website
Check to see whether the same applies to WPI.
If you have direct admission to CS at Massachusetts, then you just need C grades to stay in the major.
In contrast, Washington and Purdue students who are not direct admission to the CS major need to earn high grades/GPA and/or apply into another competitive admission process to get into the CS major.
So Massachusetts is more desirable than Washington or Purdue in this respect.
@ThaiHoang Which has the better reputation where you live? UMass or WPI? Is money a factor at all for you?
Things may have changed since I was at Purdue, but what @ucbalumnus says about Purdue wasn’t true then and I don’t think it is now. CS is not part of the school of engineering at Purdue. It is in the school sciences and the path from freshman engineering to CS will involve a transfer application. Unless you are thinking Computer Engineering, which is in the school of engineering. I’ve said this before when people use the “you don’t even know if you’ll get into the engineering school you want to after Frosh Engineering” argument. The benefit of this system is not what is experienced at schools that have open direct enrollment into a program like say Computer Science at UMD. My eldest is a student there and there are way too many CS students at UMD for the department to handle effectively. At Purdue, you will not face that after your first year. The department is sized to a certain amount of students. So, if you study to learn and try your best you will most likely get your department choice. If you make wrong choices (like I did) you won’t, or are less likely to do so.
Purdue also has a great innovative thinking President who has managed to keep tuition the same price for 7 straight years and offered innovative ways to offer aide in the form of interest free future donations once you are in the job market to replace interest barring loan programs.
Also, nationally, I think Washington and Purdue will have a better rep then UMASS and WPI. In the highly populated NE, maybe the other way around or at worst all are equal.
https://www.cs.purdue.edu/undergraduate/codo.html describes current Purdue admission to the CS major. Note that it is competitive even if you meet the listed grade and GPA requirements.
@ucbalumnus I stand corrected.
@ThaiHoang can you clarify whether you were admitted to CS or First Year Engineering (FYE) at Purdue? They are two separate departments.
My S17 is finishing up his FYE and applying to his intended major. Overall he and most of his friends have found Purdue FYE academics to be very challenging but he is on track for his first choice major. The University’s current President has strong feelings rigor (and grade deflation), as discussed in the “Rigor at Purdue” section of his 2018 Open Letter https://www.purdue.edu/president/email/2018/1801-med-openletter-full.html. Not trying to scare you off but you should know what to expect.
I have found it to be a well-run school, and the campus and most of the academic facilities are very nice to amazing (although the dorms and campus food are meh). The school offers incredible opportunities, but some are competitive. Good grades will open doors. There is lots of school spirit and graduates are very proud to be a “Boilermakers.”
Sorry, left out address for WPI CS outcomes. Here they are:
For 2017 click on year @ https://www.wpi.edu/student-experience/career-development/outcomes and go to page 19 of PDF report… The average BS accepted salary was $83,672. In 2015, when the average BS salary was only $62,011, more students elected graduate school. The companies where employment was accepted are also listed.
NOTE: this is data reflecting the opinions of hiring corporations.
Sorry for omitted addresses.
If you are an international student and want to work in the US, you might need to get a masters degree before someone hires you and sponsors you for H1-B and eventually green card. You need to be prepared for the additional ~1.5 years.
I will focus on 1) ensuring you can do computer science and not get closed out, and 2) reduce your cost to get a BS degree.
I see that you were admitted directly to computer science at UMass Amherst. It has a very good computer science program. The company that I recently retired from (still consult a bit) hires a lot of computer science graduates from UMass. As such I am very familiar with its graduates and can recommend it.
I don’t know the others as well, but my impression is that they are all quite good. My concern would be whether you would be able to get into the computer science program for those schools that have admitted you to a more general program. I agree with @bouders that from what I have heard UW is very good for computer science, but that getting admitted to the CS program there is definitely not a sure thing. There are a lot of very strong students there who would like to get admitted to CS.
If you decide to go for an MS, look into the five year BS/MS programs that are available in many of these schools, They save a full year’s tuition. Check out:
WPI @ https://www.wpi.edu/academics/undergraduate/bachelors-masters-degree;
UMASS @ https://www.umass.edu/search/#stq=BS%2FMS+program&stp=1
For an international student, it usually is better to complete the bachelor degree, work for the time permitted with OPT, and then enroll in a masters program which can then be followed by another period of work with OPT.