UW Madison CS or Boston University DS (International)

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1

The most important factor to me is career outcome followed by location. Cost is not a factor.

As for UW Madison I am worried about the location. There is no big tech city adjacent to UW madison so, I am not sure if its easy to land an internship/job. Also I want to work in the east/West Coast after graduating. IDK if that is common in UW madison. Also, I am worried about overcrowdeness of CS; would is be hard to declare cs?

My main concern with BU is that its data science department is new as they only started a few years ago; so, I am not sure if their alumni connection is strong and what the career outcome is. Also, BU’s CS ranking is low.

University of Wisconsin Madison (CS)

Pro

  1. Good for major: CS 22 ranking
  2. Good campus
  3. City is safe

Con

  1. The bad city for internship and kind of remoted
  2. Location wise, I would prefer boston over madison.
  3. Public school/big class → lower quality of learning
  4. Party school might be hard to sleep

Boston University (data science)

Pro

  1. Great location
  2. Diverse
  3. Best learning experience since private
  4. Easy to switch majors; in case I want to switch to cs.

Cons

  1. 63 ranking for cs; i assume data science is prob around there
  2. Data science is a new department in BU, it might not be strong
  3. Possible grade deflation
2

I am sorry to brake it for you but most likely you are either going back to your country after graduation or go for graduate school. There are way too many CS majors now in the US and nobody will give you work visa after BS.
So take school that is most prestigious at your home country.

3

i am Canadian; it should be easier

4

If Canadian it maybe ok.

5

But you do know that many CS majors this year can’t find jobs. Freind’s child graduated from UMD CS and could not land a job… Got one 6 months after graduation with parents’ connections…

6

is data science better than

7

I do not know. The above mentioned student was CS major and Math/Statistics minor. Very bright kid…

8

Will you be able find a job back in Canada?

9

prob but i prefer stay in us.

10

You do understand that Boston is a college city. So you will be competing with the rest of students.

11

If goal is staying in the US, you should be willing to get a CS job in the middle of nowhere for any salary…

12

Honestly, I would go to Madison…

13

Not really. Canadians need sponsorship for green cards too. So an employer has to be willing to do that.

But back to your choices: do you want to do CS or DS? They are difffernet.

I wouldn’t worry about job outcomes from either. You can work anywhere regardless of school location (immigration issues not withstanding)

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14

But which company would sponsor you?

Getting a student visa simply means that you are allowed to stay in the US to get your education; there are no guarantees for a job in the US. You could try to do an OPT (optional training year) which acts as a type of “interview” period for you. The employer pays an intern type of income salary and then when your Visa is up, they say “thanks, have a great life”.
Work visas are controlled by the US Immigration Service and the issue is that employers are required to seek US citizens first for employment. Non-residents cannot be prioritized over a citizen. Plus a number of corporate contracts are for US government clients. And without citizenship you might not be eligible for a US security clearance.

For a work visa, in the US, get in a decades-long line. Large corporate companies, right now, don’t have the time to spend on paperwork or the fees to pay to sponsor a non resident, when there are so many people, with CS and data science degrees, who have been laid off. Google, Facebook, and a lot of the giants have limited their hiring in these areas, and have actually laid people off.

Plan on returning back to Canada after you’ve completed your degree. So choose a school that is going to be inexpensive and a good fit.

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15

Pick the one that’s most affordable for you.
Madison will not be an impediment - students find summer internships all over the place because their CS department is known to be world class and there is a lot of research going on on campus.
You can email Housing and ask about a Quiet Floor or a Substance free dorm. There’s also Chadbourne.

BU DS may be more flexible if you want to associate it with a minor (CS? Physics?) but the major is not the same as CS -check out the 4-year plans, requirements, upper level classes regularly offered. They, too, have LLCs.
https://www.bu.edu/housing/undergrad-housing/specialty/list-of-specialty-residences-living-learning-communities/

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16

And if an employer is willing to sponsor you will still need to get picked in the H1B lottery. That is a far harder and more unpredictable hurdle.

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