#ucla vs dartmouth

251 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

naive dragon
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intended major - cs
ucla pros:

  • better cs program
  • in california which is a state i'd like to live in more & california has good cs related opportunities
  • visited the school last year, and I honestly really liked the environment
  • better weather
  • school i generally want to go to more
  • #1 dining hall lol

ucla cons:

  • less prestige
  • quarter system
  • my parents really want me to go to dartmouth, and they are the ones paying for my eduation
  • class sizes
  • housing price is kinda expensive but i can still afford it though...

dartmouth pros:

  • prestige
  • it's an ivy
  • parents want me go here and they are paying
  • class size
  • campus seems nice ig

cons:

  • worse cs program
  • i really don't wanna go to new hampshire
  • prestige isn't even that great - least prestigious ivy
  • not really known for STEM idk
  • bad food
valid kernel
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i mean i kind of agree with you

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i feel like it’s just better to go UCLA

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the only upside of darty here would be the small size and the “i went to an ivy for under!”

vestal timber
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For CS?

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UCLA easily

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Even if you wanna go to an ivy bro

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Just become hella rich

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Then get a bull**** grad degree at Harvard

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Dartmouth has a solid CS program don’t get me wrong

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But UCLA’s is better

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And obv the environment probably seals the deal

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If it makes you feel any better about choosing ucla, I’m choosing ucla over Cornell

naive dragon
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idk, my parents really want me to choose dartmouth :(

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I mean they will support me if i really want to go to ucla

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but i mean they are the ones who are paying for college so idk

hexed ravine
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I think Dartmouth would offer u a more personalized experience

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I don’t think it’s the least prestigious ivy but I’d also have a rly hard time choosing if I was u lol

vestal timber
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I’d still go with ucla if they’re willing to support you

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Only because like you say cali will have a lot more opportunities

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And the environment are crazy diff but you seem to mess with the ucla vibe better

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At the end of the day tho if your parents are paying…

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You should def consider what they’re saying too

valid kernel
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i mean if they want to pay for it

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i guess go for darty

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and save the trouble

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cuz regardless youll get a good cs education

hollow fog
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UCLA imo

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Unless choosing UCLA will cause a rift between you and your parents

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UCLA is definitely better

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But Dartmouth is definitely good

hollow fog
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Dartmouth might lowkey be one of the worst ones

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Still solid

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But the other ivies are just rlly top notch

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Gl choosing!

naive dragon
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probably along with yale or smth

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idk, i just find it difficult to choose because it seems like ucla has the better program and stuff, but dartmouth does seem like a school that would offer better & more personalised experiences as ww suggested :(

valid kernel
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oh for CS

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i mean yale’s been improving their CS

hollow fog
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And even if it didn’t, it’s a Yale degree

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The general prestige goes crazy

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Yea Dartmouth has general prestige

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But it’s no HYPSM Columbia etc.

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Meaning there’s not that much of a drop from Dartmouth to UCLA

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General prestige wise

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And UCLA you’d get crazy opportunities from being in California

hollow fog
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State schools are designed to help you find personalized experiences

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Like smaller organizations and stuff

vestal timber
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I feel like the rumors about losing yourself at state schools is a bit over exaggerated

naive dragon
vestal timber
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You’ll have personalized experiences wherever you go

naive dragon
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dartmouth unfortunately is probably the worst ivy + worst ivy for cs 😭

vestal timber
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It’s just the worst ivy for cs by farrr

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If you were going into anthropology then Dartmouth might be one of the best ivies

naive dragon
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😔

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idk thank you all for the insight, I go to a school full of prestige whores ngl so I wasn't able to get the best input from the people around me lol

vestal timber
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Yeah np

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Good luck lol

lucid dagger
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easily dartmouth

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i got into cmu and berkeley and still chose dartmouth as an engineering/cs student

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@naive dragon i can have a very long discussion with u if u want

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this a good ss to sum it up

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the education youll recieve at dartmouth is for sure a much higher quality than UCLA in terms of class size, professoor interaction, research opportunities

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plus was looking at linkedin, the dart cs placements r pretty cracked

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plus cs + econ so cracked

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food isnt bad

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but ig if u like cali more go cali

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i can list a ton of reasons for dart in the long term but yeah

vestal timber
hollow fog
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@lucid dagger I remember you had one of these posts and you were considering all of your options heavily until Dartmouth gave you hella bread

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The OP isn’t given bread

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Look OP if you go to Dartmouth it’s because either you genuinely like it better or you mess with overall prestige

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Yes the D Plan is flexible but most of your college time is still gonna be on campus

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And where are you gonna get the best internship and networking opportunities? Easily LA.

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Not to mention UCLA, although it ain’t no Berkeley, is up there for CS. I’d argue the CS prestige is better.

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I’m not telling you don’t go to Dartmouth

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If you like the vibe and D Plan and other aspects better please go

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I think you’ll enjoy it there and you’ll still have plenty of opportunities

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It’s an ivy after all

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But for CS UCLA will top

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That’s my two cents

vestal timber
naive dragon
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b r e a d??

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am i missing something 😓

naive dragon
lucid dagger
lucid dagger
lucid dagger
lucid dagger
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also dartmouth just got a super fancy really cool cs building

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brand new

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ik UCLA might seem a better option in the short term but trust me, long term Dartmouth will serve you well

vestal timber
vestal timber
vestal timber
vestal timber
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And overall prestige doesn’t translate into CS prestige

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At the end of the day though, decide based on the vibe

lucid dagger
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is he set on doing CS tho

vestal timber
lucid dagger
vestal timber
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That’s actually a solid point

lucid dagger
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fin aid said no

vestal timber
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Or you just thought…?

lucid dagger
vestal timber
lucid dagger
vestal timber
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If OP isn’t sure then Dartmouth sounds solid

vestal timber
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My bad 🙏🙏🙏

lucid dagger
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and the alumni network is >>>>>>>>>>

vestal timber
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I hope you do get a lil something though

lucid dagger
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I will in the future

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rn we can afford

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so wasn't expecting aid

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if anything happens then Dartmouth got me

vestal timber
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At the end of the day the OP gotta decide if he wants a bigger school or a smaller school

lucid dagger
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always go smaller

vestal timber
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And a solid location vs more flexibility

lucid dagger
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yeah

vestal timber
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These are the important questions

lucid dagger
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la is the better location fs

vestal timber
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I do think you’re right that Dartmouth’s alumni network is stronger

lucid dagger
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Dartmouth will offer u a superior alumni network due to its size... any random darty person on LinkedIn will do anything to help you

vestal timber
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But tbh the networking ability in LA balances that out relatively easily

lucid dagger
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there's so many UCLA grads that this won't happen if u attend UCLA

vestal timber
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I think it just comes down to fit

lucid dagger
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for sure

vestal timber
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OP, can you visit both campuses?

lucid dagger
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I knew since 10th grade I could never see myself in 500 ppl classes, this is why I ruled out Berkeley

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if you don't think it matters, then both options r solid

vestal timber
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Yeah fax

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UCLA you gotta put in more work

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To make important connections

lucid dagger
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a lot more work

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you'll never transfer out of UCLA because you're not gonna have solid LORs

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the professor office hours themselves are 50+ ppl

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at Dartmouth, the professors know sm about u and they come eat lunch with you everyday

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plus Thomas corben taught undergrads at dart and did research with them for 20 years... he's the guy that made the textbook that all cs schools including MIT caltech Stanford use

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and Heidi Williams is moving from Stanford to come teach us this fall... she's one of the most brilliant young economists in the world

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at UCLA, your main interaction is with TAs

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now imagine, if ur going to grad school, would you want Heidi Williams LOR after working with her closely for 4 years or a professor who barely knows your name

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@sinful sail back me up 🐐🗣️

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also the reason dart is so low on subject rankings isn't due to quality but because they barely have grad programs and a huge factor in subject rankings is research output.. a super small school like this isn't gonna have the insane amount of research coming out of cmu but the quality of research is certainly on par

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obviously I'm 100% biased but you should def consider these points

naive dragon
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thanks <3

dense mason
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@naive dragon hey I was wondering if you could dm me your stats as ill be applying to these schools next year

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could u accept my friend rq ples

naive dragon
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Uh I mean sure, but I think there are plenty of people here who got into better schools lol.

sinful sail
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yeah, there is no world in which i would pick UCLA over Dartmouth spare like... athletic recruiting if I thought going pro was an option

naive dragon
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really?

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so much mixed opinions lol.

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Ahhhh, I don't know. Honestly at this point I'd love to go to either school, so thanks all for the input.

sinful sail
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The UC system is wildly overcrowded

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Classes are huge

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My biggest class had about 100 forngen chem

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Most of the rest were under 30, with a good number under 15

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Never taught by a TA, just stuff like overseeing labs and discussion sections

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Looking at your pro con now. Are you aware dartmouth has quarters too?I think Shayne mentioned it, but Dartmouth as really good cs and just got a brand new building. Tons of big computing inventions happened at Dartmouth.

If you think the prestige isn't that great you're crazy

vestal timber
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OP it just depends on fit I promise you

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Google, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Apple, Amazon, Bloomberg, eBay, Adobe, Intel, Boeing, etc. are on UCLA’s campus actively recruiting multiple times a year

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The engineering and technical career fairs are legendary on UCLA’s campus

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So legendary that even I, a PoliSci major, have heard about it from ucla admit group chats

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Also I don’t think Dartmouth is significantly more prestigious than UCLA, if more prestigious period, I’m sorry

lucid dagger
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i think we need a different opinion 😭

vestal timber
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Because at the end of the day it’s apples to oranges

lucid dagger
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its 1 UCLA guy vs 1 dartmouth guy

vestal timber
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They’re intrinsically different schools

sinful sail
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It's def apples to oranges

lucid dagger
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for sure

vestal timber
sinful sail
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City, huge, public

vestal timber
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The opportunities will be plenty wherever

sinful sail
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Small, rural, private

sinful sail
vestal timber
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And I feel like personalized faculty LORs could easily be subbed by personalized internship LORs, and ofc Vice versatile

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*Vice verse

lucid dagger
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if OP is more comfortable with the city vibe then i mean who should stop them from going to UCLA, its an amazing school aswell

vestal timber
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Spell check goes crazy 💀

lucid dagger
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i will say that dartmouth vibe probably isnt for 100% of people

sinful sail
vestal timber
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It is hugggggw

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So if you can’t navigate through a huge school

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And find your own path

lucid dagger
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thing with ucla is i feel like you sink or swim

sinful sail
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Like Yale was the biggest school I looked at

vestal timber
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Then it’s tough

lucid dagger
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dartmouth i do think theres a big support system and people are there to help you

sinful sail
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Yup

vestal timber
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The reason why I’m fighting for ucla if I’m being honest here

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It’s because it’s the school that the OP said he generally wants to go to more

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And honestly I think the opportunities are equivalent

lucid dagger
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thats true

vestal timber
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Like Dartmouth definitely isn’t this holy grail, especially for CA

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*CS

sinful sail
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Yes, the difference is experience,not outcomes

vestal timber
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The schools are comparable

vestal timber
lucid dagger
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outcomes will be good either way, and mostly cs also comes down to leetcode

vestal timber
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You can get good LORs from state schools too

lucid dagger
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if its finance, its a different story

vestal timber
lucid dagger
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OP if u wanna go finance then fs dartmouth 100%

vestal timber
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Finance I’d def go with Dartmouth

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Yeah

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It’s the smaller school and that def matters a lot more in terms of finance

lucid dagger
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i wanted to do engineering then i saw how nice dartmouths finance is, so im probs gonna do cs + econ now

vestal timber
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I truly believe that it doesn’t matter that much for pure cs though

lucid dagger
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if youre unsure on what you want in life, i also feel dartmouth is the right place to be

sinful sail
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Definitely

vestal timber
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A lot of these top cs schools, Cal, Georgia Tech, etc. are huge

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But they have some of the most successful CS outcomes

sinful sail
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Especially if one of your interests in an impacted major in the UCs

lucid dagger
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CS, i feel, is more of a major that comes down to your own skill

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finance isnt like that, for finance prestige is a big deal

sinful sail
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Internships matter a ton too

vestal timber
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Yeah

vestal timber
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It’s crazy how true it is lol

lucid dagger
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yeah and i feel with the dartmouth alumni network, its like 1 call and you've got an amazing internship

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obv exaggerated but dartmouth people ride for each other

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UCLA is so big that yes theres so many alumni but then are they really going to help out all 57 students that dm them on linkedin?

vestal timber
lucid dagger
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its a quality vs quantity type thing, ig you could say if u need something you would have to try maybe 3 or 4 dartmouth alums vs 30 to 40 ucla alums

vestal timber
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And again if you actively seek,

lucid dagger
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depends on major, most finance is east coast

vestal timber
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It’s one of those things

vestal timber
sinful sail
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Dartmouth has fewer alums out there, but higher engagement from those alums

lucid dagger
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yeah that words it better

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i def didnt explain it correctly

naive dragon
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thanks all for the great advice

sinful sail
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LETS GOOOO

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😄 as always let me know if you have questions

naive dragon
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<3