#UCLA vs Vanderbilt vs Imperial College London

46 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

west hatch
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Im an international student from India.

Schools & Major:

  • UCLA: Statistics & Data Science
  • Vanderbilt: In for engineering but will prob do Math/Comp Eng
  • Imperial: MEng Computing

Costs: Not a Factor
(but international fees everywhere)

UCLA :
Pros:

  • Love the campus & LA, and am used to warm weather
  • Been my 'dream' US college experience since a kid
  • Major seems really interesting
  • Have family there
  • Larger Alumni Network (?)
    Cons:
  • Very big public, heard its really easy to get 'lost' and end up not really doing much over 4 years
  • Have heard its really hard to get opportunities with profs/join clubs etc, and theres less attention on undergrads as a whole

Vanderbilt :
Pros:

  • Ive got the Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship (full ride!)
  • If anyone from vandy here knows if the scholarship has any other advantages once there, Im eager to know
  • Private, I prefer a smaller class size.
    Cons:
  • Not sure how good Nashville is in terms of opportunities for work/internships vs LA/London
  • Overall prestige/recognition if Im settled outside the US later on

Imperial :
Pros:

  • Prestige (QS #2 is also a benefit?), better global recognition (I dont intend on permanently settling in either us/uk)
  • Higher assurance for a great job once graduated, may head down quant/more mathematical path
  • Can directly do an MEng (4years), which also guarantees an industry placement within the 4th year - so much faster than US
  • London is nice, lots of friends & fam there
    Cons:
  • From the seniors I've spoken to, extremely rigorous workload, 2-3x of US equivalents, and hyper-competitive for internships etc.
  • Lack of a campus (lose out on the traditional 'college experience')

Overall Goals/Considerations

  • Mainly grad prospects in the US (or oxbridge if at imperial), and would the opportunities at any (internships/LORs from profs/research) affect it greatly
  • Prestige and recognition amongst employers/investors etc worldwide.
gray prairie
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i got into vandy too and from my research on reddit their cs department is pretty mid

long blade
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listen even if you're not concerned about cost

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a full ride scholarship is pretty awesome

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nashville isn't great for internships, but vandy kids get internships outside of nashville

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thing with uk MENG is that uk engineers earn a lot less than american engineers do

vivid totem
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I would choose UCLA if money is really not a factor. The people getting lost at UCLA would definitely drown many times over at Imperial, and the international rep is a valid concern with Vanderbilt.

But if money is at all a factor, go to Vandy and ask your parents to give you the difference. Use that to offer unpaid internships, pay for lunches when networking, etc.

long blade
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yeah; if you want to do na expensive grad school later, this will help

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if you want to get a PhD, maybe you can ask if the difference can help supplement your stipend

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etc..

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if money is completely inconsequential, it depends on the stats/data science program at each ig

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ik some schools have just horrible stats departments, even for schools with great math departments

fair skiff
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fwiw i was in a similar situation as you but with purdue cs vs imperial jmc

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purdue ended up being a no-brainer for me. the lack of a campus life, and the lack of gen-ed’s at imperial were the biggest red flags for me

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at purdue, I ended up being able to take just as many cs and math courses as I would’ve at imperial, added a couple of minors, had a much more fun college life, ended up with better outcomes than imperial would’ve gotten me, all while paying less (even once you factor in that purdue’s 4 years instead of 3)

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so don’t feel bad turning down imperial’s prestige for an american school

long blade
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Yeah if you go to school in the UK

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You’re just doing your major for 3 years

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Or 4

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Which might be very attractive

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But if money is so insignificant (and Vandy is free)

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The chance to broaden your worldview with a liberal arts education is one that imo you shouldn’t take lightly

vestal marlin
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my friend is at imperial right now and is going to their study abroad for MIT for a semester. otherwise, his sister goes there and he has time to travel to the nearby cities although he is very smart with his time. maybe it’s because he has family there where he didn’t really going through the whole like no campus but he might also prefer that

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uhhh let’s see he goes for mech e and was very interested in the physics portions

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so the dept is rlly good for that

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i know people do a thesis at imperial where they work for a professor or at least his sister does so LORs will be figured

mighty gyro
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Bro go vandy

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UCLA is not worth it

west hatch
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my main concern with vandy is the international rep outside the US

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But then again not too fond of UCLA being that big of a public

fair skiff
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as a sidenote, stats & ds is NOT cs. if you really wanna do cs/ce i'm think ucla makes it kinda hard to transfer majors into them

mighty gyro
mighty gyro
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U just need a 3.5

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Ik people who transferred from bio to cs

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If ur smart u can do it

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But it’s an inconvenience fs

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Also class enrollment will cook you and possibly prevent it from happening

west hatch
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more interested in stats/more of the math side

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But idk what ill do at vandy then

gray prairie
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i think you are discounting vanderbilt too much

minor onyx
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I would say Vanderbilt since it seems like it fits more of your personality from what I'm getting at, and again, full ride.

long blade
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if outside, then this is a factor.