#Rice vs GATech vs Northeastern for CS

5 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

zinc ermine
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Rice vs GATech vs Northeastern for CS. Also interested in math and molecular biology. Interested in research as well as internship, likely going to go to grad school. Strong music ensembles would be nice to have, but I don’t plan on minoring in music performance (as of now)

Rice Pros:
• strongest overall academics
• small class sizes
• residential college system!! People seem friendly
• my favorite campus of the 3, good part of Houston
• strong research

Rice Cons:
• most expensive. Cost isn’t a huge factor but I would have to take out ~10k/year. I wouldn’t need any loans for NEU/GATech
• worst pre-professional resources of the 3
• farthest away from home/friends (and few one-way flights). Also hot and humid af

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GATech Pros:
• strongest CS curriculum / prestige
• excellent in both research and pre-professional opportunities
• inventive student culture
• affordable

GATech Cons:
• huge class sizes, even at high levels
• hot af, not a great part of Atlanta. Still a flight away
• everyone just complains about the workload, housing, and food. I’ll be fine with workload but idk about dining/housing. Meh campus
• double majoring is essentially impossible at worst and strongly discouraged at best
• not interested in Greek life

Northeastern Pros:
• strong co-op/pre-professional program and resources. Could still graduate on time even with 2 co-ops and no summer classes
• most affordable (~5k less than GT), especially considering I would only pay 3 years of tuition (due to co-ops)
• Boston is my favorite of the cities. Close to family and friends (drivable, not a plane ride)
• honors program = smaller classes and best housing

Northeastern Cons:
• definitely worst academics
• research opportunities are weakest here
• SO pre-professional, I may be at a disadvantage when considering grad school

I’m leaning away from GATech but am drawn by the strong academics. NEU is nice but the weaker programs are concerning. Rice is amazing, just far away and expensive. Graduating with $40k in debt is not bad at all though, especially going into CS.
UMD is another option: OOS, honors college, comparable price to NEU. I would rather take GT in most regards, though. Waiting on CMU waitlist, I would probably go to CMU > GT and NEU, on a similar level to Rice

mental urchin
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If cost is somewhat of an issue, go with NEU. Otherwise, I think that Georgia Tech is the best option. They have a ton of opportunities and they are a well recognized name in CS and Engineering

edgy trench
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5k per year is an acceptable amount of loan since it is usually within the bounds of federal loans