#Northwestern vs CU Boulder vs US Air Force Academy

7 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

nova basin
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IK yall are gonna say Northwestern but hear me out
Schools: Northwestern, CU Boulder, USAFA
Intended major: Computer Science
Similarities: Not a lot lol, good weather, campus, sports, internship opportunities

Notes: I have a full tuition AFROTC scholarship, so I will be doing AFROTC at all schools (besides USAFA lol)
I also really like skiing
Im also a white guy if that helps

CU Boulder
CU Boulder Pros:

  • Good location (mountains, skiing, outdoors stuff)
  • Good internship location in Boulder for CS
  • AFROTC is on campus
  • Relatively easy classes from what I've read (big fish small pond type beat)
  • Pretty good CS program
  • OOS

CU Boulder 1 Cons:

  • Mixed Reponses on the quality of Professors and classes
  • Too "Play Hard" of a school
  • Not really like minded student body (Lots of rich white frat kids looking to party then drop out freshman year for not going to class)
  • No diversity at all (see above)
  • Not prestigious (I dont really care tho)
  • Not a lot of school spirit or community from what I've heard
  • People say it's overrated and not a good student body

USAFA
USAFA Pros:

  • Good location (Also in CO, good skiing and activities)
  • Most prestige (okay maybe I do care about prestige lol)
  • Good tech-related classes
  • Everything is free (study abroad, internships, research, easy tranfer to USNA and West Point)
  • OOS
  • Lots of school spirit
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  • Work hard play hard
  • Good student resources

USAFA Cons:

  • Would have no work/life balance (eat sleep and shit military life pretty much)
  • No free time (Boot camp over the summer, 3 weeks of summer, barely any breaks)
  • Freshman year is equivilant to military prison
  • No privacy
  • Lots of drama for some reason
  • High School schedule (like having 8 periods and shit, WTF)
  • 6-7 classes a semester (WTF)
  • Unncessesary competitiveness between students (class ranks)
  • Sports teams kinda suck
  • No diversity
  • Would end up in the same place if I just did AFROTC
  • People say graduates don't have good experience outside of the miltary
  • Not a die-hard military kind of guy

Northwestern
NU Pros:

  • Best academics out of the three
  • Prestige
  • Best alumni network
  • Best Work hard Play Hard enviornment
  • Most like-minded student body (interdisciplinary, work/life balance, well-rounded and unique students)
  • Most flexible curriculum because of the quarter system and degree requirements
  • Access to Chicago and the lakefront
  • Big 10 sports
  • More resources to students for research and internships
  • Collaborative enviornment
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NU Cons:

  • In state (I really don't want to live in Illinois anymore but I can suck it up for 4 more years)
  • Shitty weather compared to the other schools (I don't care im used to it)
  • NO SKIING (!!!)
  • Harder schedule because of quater system
  • I would have to drive 40 minutes to UChicago frequently for AFROTC classes and training (!!!)
  • School encourages putting a lot on your plate and being busy (I can probably avoid all that tho)
  • No ABET accreditted CS program so transfering would suck
grim saddle
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Northwestern

sly kelp
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Since you don't seem too hyped for USAFA and you have AFROTC anyways, I would go boulder

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you're going to have to serve in the military for a bit if you follow through with ROTC so I dont think prestige really matters that much (?)
you value work-life balance, driving to chicago for classes and training sounds exhausting. boulder has it right on campus, plus theres skiing and stuff

wintry gyro
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Northwestern