#Stanford vs. Carnegie Mellon (BCSA)

3 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

silent schooner
#

Schools: Stanford and Carnegie Mellon (BCSA)
Intended major(s): computer science, music, other STEM field perhaps

Stanford
Pros:

  • it's stanford, and my parents are encouraging me to go here
  • close to home
  • close proximity to silicon valley
  • wide/flexible major offerings, which is important if i find out i don't like computer science and want something else

Cons:

  • the music program seems quite bad; i'm not interested in musicology, only performance, but it's what stanford specializes in
  • as a computer science major, i feel like i'd be thrust into an extremely competitive, dog-eat-dog type environment
  • worried about duck syndrome and people's attitudes
  • i hate hot weather, and i don't like stanford's location

Carnegie Mellon (BCSA program in computer science and piano performance)
Pros:

  • BCSA program; specialized attention and advisors to help me
  • i really like the piano program here
  • computer science is arguably the best in the country
  • i am part of the minority of people that think pittsburgh is OK and quite nice
  • the student body seems collaborative and not as dog-eat-dog compared to stanford

Cons:

  • can't switch majors if i don't like computer science
  • worried about difficulty and stress
  • not really sure what tangible interdisciplinary work i would do within BCSA

Some important notes: i've done extensive research on CMU, so i'm very biased towards it; i never considered stanford as an option because it seemed so unattainable, so i have limited knowledge about it. also, i have limited breadth of knowledge in computer science, so my parents are worried that i will find out i don't like it at CMU and suffer

azure hinge
#

if you feel like you are not interstd in CS (or may not be interested) I say take stanford. stanford has a stdrong team culture/start up culture that makes it not as cutthroat as it seems. it is a put your head down and grind, but ppl do lookup and have time to 'smell the roses' per se.

if you are extremely sure that you like cs AND music choose cmu. even if you have a bias, thats a bias for a reason right.

so it rlly comes down to two things. if you think you may change, stanford. if not, cmu. if you aren't sure between either, stanford

agile merlin
#

If you're not dead set on CS, I think Stanford is the way to go.