Looking at Colleges; Any Advice?

Ikatono

This being the summer leading into my Senior year, I've begun my college search in earnest. I want to go into either computer science or an as-of-yet unknown form of engineering (I will decide which of the two before I pick a college, but not necessarily which type of engineering) coupled with a Chinese program that includes study abroad and/or internship(s) in China. Being in or near a reasonably sized city is a big plus. I am looking at several schools, but am visiting three while on vacation:

DePaul: The only school I've visited yet. Being in Chicago is really nice. They offer Computer Science (I haven't really checked to see if it's any good yet) but don't seem to have engineering. They have a strong language program with study abroad available even during the first year. The set-up of the school year (Trimester during the school year with an extra summer session, as well as a 6-week winter break) makes it easy to double-major. All-in-all, seems like a very good school, if I decide on computer science.

The other two schools are Ohio State and Indiana University. Both offer the Chinese Flagship program(OSU/IU), a really awesome program for learning, well, Chinese, of course. I'll post more info on these school as I visit them in the coming months.

So, do any of you go to these schools or know anyone who does? Does anyone know any other particular schools that I should look at? I'd really appreciate any advice.

Snickety-Snake

This being the summer leading into my Senior year, I've begun my college search in earnest.

You and me both. With all the visiting/planning I've been doing over the past week, I keep forgetting that there's still one more year of high school to complete.

remix3211

I don't really have the right to attest for my own school (USC) because I haven't even experienced it yet, but I can attest for its reputation as a fantastic school, with a great study abroad program. From what I've read and heard, USC has a great computer science program. I don't know extensive information about it because I'm only minoring in it, but know many people who can defend it. I DO, however, know that they offer study abroad programs through the Council on International Educational Exchange at both Peking University and Nanjing University. These particular options focus on language study.

The Viterbi School of Engineering there also has great options. USC offers International Exchange Programs in Hong Kong also USC Computer Science Page
CS Course Requirements
Best of luck in your application/decision-making process!!

Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)

I'm going to put in a plug for my brother's school, the University of Michigan. In addition to having the best public engineering school in the country, it has the benefit of being fucking huge, which means that somebody there will have a study abroad program suited for your taste - my brother opted to spend his winter in Australia and enjoyed it immensely. Also, Ann Arbor is a wonderful college town, and I think it would be very difficult not to like it. I would probably have gone there myself had I not been accepted to Columbia, which I will argue is overall the best university there is.

EDIT: I'm sure you probably know this already, but the big four CS programs are at MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and Berkeley. I recommend applying to them in any case, because they'll get you into whatever job or grad school you want after graduating.

remix3211

I'm going to put in a plug for my brother's school, the University of Michigan. In addition to having the best public engineering school in the country, it has the benefit of being fucking huge, which means that somebody there will have a study abroad program suited for your taste - my brother opted to spend his winter in Australia and enjoyed it immensely. Also, Ann Arbor is a wonderful college town, and I think it would be very difficult not to like it. I would probably have gone there myself had I not been accepted to Columbia, which I will argue is overall the best university there is.

Ann Arbor IS a fantastic place- I second Linkigi; fucking gigantic campus. That was my second choice. They have a great engineering program up there too. (Also, sidenote if you visit.. you HAVE to go to Zingerman's... it is one of the best deli's I've ever been to)

Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)

(Also, sidenote if you visit.. you HAVE to go to Zingerman's... it is one of the best deli's I've ever been to)

I'll second that and add Cafe Marie's, which serves a simply superlative brunch.

Byron

University of Michigan.

I had three cousins go to this school and a number of friends. My opinion: it is a fantastic school for graduate students, but far more expensive than it is worth for undergraduates. I have a hard time recommending it for any undergraduate work, unless you plan to pursue graduate research. In that case, Michigan might provide you will undergraduate research options you might not get elsewhere which is a nice prep for grad work.

MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and Berkeley

I know two folks who went to CMU (Carnegie Mellon University); in one year they paid as much as I paid for 4 years at my school (so they could have gotten an entire degree for that amount), and we got comparable undergraduate educations (in CS specifically). The difference is that CMU offers networking. MIT would be an amazing school for anyone that learns through hands on. Every person I know going to that school has like zero free time; they sleep about 4 hours a night and are doing projects, homework, etc the rest of the time. Most people enjoy what they're doing though. I don't know about Berkeley or Stanford.

Brown University is another expensive school that is probably hard to get into. However, I had a few friends who went there. It's pretty sweet. You pretty much make your own curriculum. Two of my friends that went there did, in fact, study in China as part of something Brown does. My one friend came out with a degree in CS, but is a major math whiz. He was allowed to take some serious math courses that he couldn't have taken with any other CS program, because of Brown's system.

Byron

Being in Chicago is really nice

Oh duh, how could I forgot UIUC? I'd say University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is nearly on par with UC-Berkeley for CS innovation. Not very near Chicago though.

remix3211

MIT

I've also heard from some friends who are going there that MIT essentially doesn't offer any financial aid- although the careers you might get afterwards might be worth the expense for an MIT education. I dunno though.

Andrew

Georgia Tech is probably the top public school for CS and is commonly referred to as the MIT of the south for good reason. We also have a well developed Shanghai exchange program.

/biased

EDIT: Oh yeah, we are also one of the top drinking schools that isn't one of the top party schools. Take that as you will.

Matt

Let me just give you the sole most important piece of advice in the world if you are going into a tech field: your college education, while it will teach you many things, will not prepare you to be a top performer in your field. Pick your specialty and pick it now, then start learning on your own. It sucks to take a few hours out of your life here and there for self study when you are so young, especially since all of the opportunities of the world are just opening up to you, but trust me every hour you put in to becoming smart in your field will pay off tenfold.

Railith

our college education, while it will teach you many things, will not prepare you to be a top performer in your field.

Second'd
I would not recommenced going to an expensive school unless you get some kind of sweet scholarship.

Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)

MIT

I've also heard from some friends who are going there that MIT essentially doesn't offer any financial aid- although the careers you might get afterwards might be worth the expense for an MIT education. I dunno though.

This is essentially true for all of the top private schools, which offer tons and tons of need-based scholarships but absolutely nothing in the way of merit scholarships - even Michigan doesn't have many scholarships for out-of-staters.

If your family has no money, expect a lot of grants, loans, and work-study that can cut your college costs a lot. If your family has money, expect a big price tag. However, I'd emphasize that you're not really just paying for the CS program, but also all the other cool shit you can get the opportunity to do, as well as the cool people you end up working with.

Admittedly, the financially-conscious among you will probably think I'm an idiot, considering that I could have gone to Stony Brook for free and chose to go to Columbia instead.

Shiam

I'll take the chance to promote the school I just graduated from, RPI. It actually sounds close to what you're looking for educationally. RPI is primarily a engineering school, the majority of students are mechE, but has a strong computer science department particularly if you want to do networking, AI, or robotics. There's a fairly well developed study abroad program that they're trying to get more students to use, and it includes a number of sites including Hong Kong.
The downsides here are that the language program has been gimped in recent years, so they list Chinese as an course option but it may not be easy to take. It's also in Troy, NY which is close but not that close to Albany, and unless you have a car or are quick to find people who drive it can feel like a small town. The school itself is also not that big (mid-size) and being an engineering school has the standard assortment of nerd social problems. They're also pretty damn expensive, though financial aid isn't that hard to get.

Apreche

Don't go to college. Go become a plumber or something. You'll make a shitton more moneys and won't have to sit in an office all day. You'll also have much less student loan debt. If computers are your passion just do open source software with all that extra spare time you have.

gomidog

This reeks of your "You artists shouldn't do what you like for a job. You can make your animations in your spare time and give them away for free."
HA! "Extra Spare Time." If my only artistic outlet was the stuff I do for free after work, I would be bummed out. I like to get paid for doing animation.

remix3211

This is essentially true for all of the top private schools

I'd rephrase to many top private schools- USC is a private institution, and I got a very good merit-based financial aid package. It just really helps to broaden your options to multiple schools.

I know, the application fee is quite a lot, but when you start looking at the schools after decisions have come through, and it's about financials vs. program strength, that's where it becomes more beneficial on your end. And of course, as Scott mentioned, the vocational studies is something I also seriously considered as an option.

Byron

This reeks of your "You artists shouldn't do what you like for a job. You can make your animations in your spare time and give them away for free."
HA! "Extra Spare Time." If my only artistic outlet was the stuff I do for free after work, I would be bummed out. I like to get paid for doing animation.

I was told a lot of artists/musicians work at Starbucks part time because it offers benefits for part time work. They get treated well, aren't creatively sapped from drudge work, and can work full time on other pursuits. I might not be pursuing artistic interests (at least not fiscally), but I am seriously considering this avenue.

Byron

I went to Michigan Tech in the upper peninsula of Michigan, where instead of learning to cope with the cold I learned to hate it even more. Pretty fantastic if you like skiing. The snow is crunchy (and this is supposed to be like Colorado and wonderful for skiiers?), and there is snow on the ground ohhhh 7 months out of the year.

RPI Michigan Tech is primarily a engineering school, the majority of students are mechE, but has a strong computer science department particularly if you want to do networking, AI, or robotics.

This is pretty common.

New Mexico Tech also has a good CS program. Also Adam and Jaime from MythBusters go out that way when they need to blow shit up, like the rocket car.

Cremlian

Don't go to college. Go become a plumber or something. You'll make a shitton more moneys and won't have to sit in an office all day. You'll also have much less student loan debt. If computers are your passion just do open source software with all that extra spare time you have.

Yea, just be like a HVAC tech, while you are on the roof of buildings on 115 degree days, you make pretty great money and you have guaranteed employment.

Byron

PROTIP: Pick a school that has the name of some other famous school in it, especially if there is a state school system. Everyone will think you're from the big named school, because they've never heard of the school you went to.

"I see you have listed Michigan Technological University as your school ... [5 minutes later] ... So how did you like attending the University of Michigan?" I have gotten this from people interviewing me.

gomidog

Michigan Tech in the upper peninsula of Michigan

Fuck yeah! Go Huskies!

ninjarabbi

Michigan Tech in the upper peninsula of Michigan

Fuck yeah! Go Huskies!

Woot yoopers

Or got to Northern Michigan University. We have snow...and alcoholism...

gomidog

Dad transferred to Michigan Tech from MIT for the last part of his Engineering/Physics Degree. A lot of our recipes in our kitchen were written on old punch cards with the hockey team's husky printed on them.

WindUpBird

I recommend the path directly opposite Scott's: Stay in Academia forever.

Also: DePaul is a fantastic school, and I have several friends attending who love it. UIUC caters perfectly to your fields (we're building the biggest supercomputer in the US right now), and I've enjoyed my time there.

ninjarabbi

Hmm...Be a drug dealer and do whatever you want...before you go to jail.

Rochelle

Along with Scott's advice look into trade schools. If you remember that one thread where we talk about how labor skill jobs are high in demand, but not enough people in the workforce are qualified to do so. There maybe a field where you would be interested in that type of work.

Also pursuing Chinese is a good choice. China has been doing many things these past few decades to become competitors in industry/production to be on the same playing fields as US and other European nations.

I honestly have no idea for schools, but just a thought to consider.

Byron

Or got to Northern Michigan University. We have snow...and alcoholism...

I think Tech wins alcoholism, because MTU will always beat NMU at everything. Man were those hockey games were violent.
EDIT: My bro went to NMU and I went to MTU. And we both went to Rym's high school down in SE Michigan. How we both ended up in da yoo pee (eh?) is beyond me.

Dad transferred to Michigan Tech from MIT for the last part of his Engineering/Physics Degree. A lot of our recipes in our kitchen were written on old punch cards with the hockey team's husky printed on them.

Got any recipes for pasties (not to be confused with pasties)? I'm not much for meat and potatoes in a hard bread roll, but miners love the shit outta it.

Byron

Oh hey, one could just skip going to college and pick up an MBA from Phoenix Online. MBA's are like liquid money.

gomidog

Got any recipes for pasties (not to be confused with pasties)? I'm not much for meat and potatoes in a hard bread roll, but miners love the shit outta it.

I made some the other weekend! I always put Rutabaga and LOTS of pepper in them.
Pasties were discussed in this thread.

Anthony Heman

In a similar enough subject, I've been pondering how one who is currently in an OK job goes about searching for a much better job. Some of my primary motivations are relocation, more compensation, and potentially working with people with more - similar - interests. I know Rym just did the big switch. But I imagine he's staying in New York. There's vastly more options there than here in the middle of Missouri. I havn't even started the search... but it's odd. Now that I'm past college, I feel like I'd be well informed to talk to people about colleges. But after just my first real professional job, I'm not yet certain I know a whole lot about finding real professional work. I lucked into this one at the time.