Georgia State vs St. Joseph vs Orange Coast College

[mild shadow]

The first two are universities while the last one is a community college

Important Note: I am an international student

Intended Major - Computer Science

Georgia State University
Pros:

• Located at the heart of the tech city of Atlanta
• Have received a scholarship making the annual COA to be around 20k
• Has a pretty decent CS population

Cons:

• Security around downtown Atlanta

St. Jospeh University
Pros:

• Located at Brooklyn, NYC so a lot of opportunities
• Have received scholarship making it cheaper than GSU

Cons:

• Brooklyn, for its cost of living (i do realize i can commute)
• Lacks a prominent CS population which raises concerns about the course curriculum

OCC
Pros:

• California.
• Gives off the best vibe among the 3
• Great transfer opportunities

Cons:

• Insecurity about the future - Might not transfer well (I will be aiming for full scholarships)
• California cost of living (My estimated COA is around 30k per annum)
• Stigma around visa success rate to a CC from my country

Tiebreaking considerations:

• Internships & Hackathons: I do want to end up at a place where I get the full exposure to the world of Computer Science

[balmy sapphire]

I will be honest, there is zero point in going to a CC as an intl or OOS student. I would just remove it from the list.

[mild shadow]

Oh really! Can I ask for your reasoning behind that statement?

[balmy sapphire]

Oh, actually now that I think about it, would you be trying to transfer to a UC from that CC?

CC education is great, but I would never suggest it for the cost for OOS/INTL students. I'm a former CC to flagship student myself, its good to cut costs initially so having it be a higher COA for you didn't make sense to me.

[mild shadow]

well, probably not

I will try to transfer to whoever gives me the most amount of aid

and i have been hearing mixed answers abt UC giving aid

[mild shadow]

OwO
it does make sense yea

but like IF i transfer with a full ride, i will cut down the cost in the long run ?

[balmy sapphire]

That's a pretty big if to gamble on haha, I would go with one of the four years if they offer you aid.

I used to live in Georgia, I loved it there.

Atlanta is not a terrible place to live. I lived in western GA, but I would say to be cautious in the city.

[warped beacon]

Atlanta isn’t that dangerous

Tbh

I walked downtown 3 am in morning multiple times and was perfectly safe

[balmy sapphire]

It really isn't, if your other option is NYC it REALLY isn't that different safety-wise.

[elfin coral]

have you tried ball parking an estimate for COA at St Joseph?

[balmy sapphire]

Do consider GA COL is about 1/2 NYC.

Eh, maybe not in Atlanta, but it's still cheaper.

[warped beacon]

Atlanta got a lot more expensive lately

[balmy sapphire]

I hear you, that's how Phoenix was looking before we moved.

Our average home price increased by nearly 60% while I was there.

[warped beacon]

Rent went from 1k to 1.7k 🥲

[balmy sapphire]

Ouch!

[mild shadow]

oh no

[balmy sapphire]

My studio in Phoenix went from sub 1k to 1.5k a month, I feel that!

[mild shadow]

without the room and board prices and personal expenses:

[balmy sapphire]

Oh you got a killer scholarship!

[mild shadow]

ignore CSULB

[balmy sapphire]

Those COA will be about the same w/ room and board factored in, I would think?

[warped beacon]

I’d prob take st Joseph if it’s cheaper tbh
Nyc infinitely more fun than Atlanta imo

And also more opps

[mild shadow]

Thanks!
(i kinda hate myself as i started my application very late . I could have gotten more scholarships)

[balmy sapphire]

St Joseph would be great, if your concern is the COL and the curriculum, you could always look into moving to a different university later.

I will say NYC's cost of living can be cut considerably if you're going to go w/ dorms or a micro-studio.

[mild shadow]

hmm atm i am more inclined towards GSU

[balmy sapphire]

Georgia is great. No matter which you decide, you will have a blast.

[wanton viper]

Idk ab st. Joh cs

[balmy sapphire]

And honestly? That's what matters beyond base curriculum.

[wanton viper]

And the scholarship may be offset by living in nyc

[mild shadow]

yea
IF i take the dorm the prices end up being:

[balmy sapphire]

Remove OCC, 100%.

CCs are not worth 33k a year.

[wanton viper]

Yup

[balmy sapphire]

GSU seems solid.

Are those scholarships promised all four years?

[wanton viper]

Also personal expenses will be higher in ny

[balmy sapphire]

That's another thing to consider w/ state schools, sometimes they can be conditional scholarships.

[warped beacon]

I’d say it’s a toss up between st Joseph and gsu

[wanton viper]

Now it comes to the weather 🤣

[mild shadow]

I did review the scholarship agreement form and unless i tank my GPA or the college runs out of funding, i will get the scholarship each year

[warped beacon]

If u can afford it I’d prob rec St. John’s cuz I heard mixed things about gsu as a school and it’s cs program from ppl that transferred from there lol

[balmy sapphire]

@mild shadow If you're comfortable w/ sharing, what region of the world are you from?

NYC can be considerably more open to internationals.

[mild shadow]

Oh yea sure
Nepal

[balmy sapphire]

In my experience, GA outside of Atlanta can be iffy as a minority.

[warped beacon]

Tbh if he goes to gsu

He will be in Atlanta so it’d be fine

[balmy sapphire]

I mean, people do leave their college's city for life stuff.

[warped beacon]

But that being said tho I’d prob say nyc is more inclusive

[mild shadow]

Surprisingly, unless its too hot, i dont mind any other weather lol
(I might end up regretting this statement later)

[balmy sapphire]

I do realize Atlanta is much more reasonable than GA broadly haha.

I would consider the NYC school.

[warped beacon]

And have much better dining options

[wanton viper]

NY weather makes u depressed, but then I live in the suburbs

[warped beacon]

It’s fine as

Long as it’s not summer

[wanton viper]

Prolly won't be at the college in the summer

[warped beacon]

During spring it can get bad

But most days it’s fine

[wanton viper]

You don't even hear ab st. Joseph cs program 💀

[warped beacon]

I’m just saying a lot of ppl transfer to my college from gsu and they all seem to hate it

[wanton viper]

Also ppl may feel uncomfortable going to a religious school, assuming that most Nepali aren't Christians

[mild shadow]

yea
but St Joseph is said to be a chill school even though it may be a religious school

[wanton viper]

Ok. At least you read the reviews. I didn't

[balmy sapphire]

@mild shadow I will make it simpler: Go where you feel you will be happier. GSU and St Joseph seem to be on similar levels financially and educationally, both are in major cities. The smaller differences between them will not outweigh the larger lifestyle changes you (may) have to face coming to the US from outside, so go where you think you'll find a supportive community. That's my take on it, anyways.

[warped beacon]

Yep 4 yrs a long time, prob better to be at place that Ud be way happier if the cost diff is like only like 10 k total

[balmy sapphire]

^

[cold canopy]

Imo most lot of religious colleges are pretty chill

[balmy sapphire]

As someone who struggled to find community at the university I attended in my major, I really wish I had thought about that more when applying.

[mild shadow]

GSU seems to have bad CS reviews while St. Joseph has no reviews at all
what is this

[balmy sapphire]

It made my college experience much more challenging than it had to be.

[mild shadow]

That sounds awful

[warped beacon]

Ngl I’d just go to st Joseph for prob more fun college experience, plus nyc is big enough for u to find tech opps regardless

[balmy sapphire]

^

That'd be my pick as well.

Georgia would be a very sudden "Americanization" for many people. It may be harder to get used to the cultural differences.

[wanton viper]

St. Joseph just became a uni a month ago 💀

[wanton viper]

True

[warped beacon]

St Joseph also had j cole come out of it so it’s valid lol

[wanton viper]

You can at least find nepali food somewhere in NYC

[warped beacon]

Yeah there is no Nepali food accessible in Atlanta unless if U have access to car and can drive to suburbs

[balmy sapphire]

SJ seems to have awesome class ratios, 11:1?

That's solid.

[mild shadow]

ok can someone clear this misconception that i have
Wont my visa chances for a private religious school near NYC for computer science be less than going to a public university in Atlanta?

[wanton viper]

No

[wanton viper]

No

[mild shadow]

OwO

[balmy sapphire]

I'm not international, I couldn't tell you.

[mild shadow]

Interesting

[wanton viper]

Most of the visa rejects in my country go to either a cc or full pay to an unk college

Especially if near family members

[mild shadow]

True

[wanton viper]

Ur college is at least somewhat recognizable (appears in some rankings on USNews) and u got big phat scholarship

Should be fine

Act normal

🤣

GSU would def be more recognizable, but the culture shock may not be worth it

[mild shadow]

That is very true

[wanton viper]

(tbh the only culture shock I got is how half the school is chinese)

Like wtf chill with the chinese dude

[mild shadow]

i might be getting ahead of myself but i dont even feel like i would get a culture shock lmao

[wanton viper]

Yeah it's not that servere

I live in a very white suburb a few hours away from NYC by train

[mild shadow]

I have literally binge watched an Indian youtuber's journey at GSU so i guess that is why i feel more connected/inclined towards GSU

[wanton viper]

But my school's half chinese so... I don't go out of school much anw unless to go to NYC

[mild shadow]

how long do you commute everyday?

[wanton viper]

Or to random natural reserves/forests that barely have ppl, also mostly white

[wanton viper]

I live on campus

[balmy sapphire]

Coming from someone who lived in GA... it may be not what you expect from watching YouTube.

[mild shadow]

Ou

[wanton viper]

So white can't even discern from winter snow

[warped beacon]

Yep I learned that the hard way lol

[mild shadow]

ok you guys have made me rethink about St Joseph at this point

[wanton viper]

nyc is def diverse and would accommodate int'ls better. Honestly still arguably more dangerous than Atlanta tho...

but never been there so idk. My teachers from there seems nice

went over for dinner at their home a few times and helped prepping food and helped around the house. They gave me chocolates for Easter too.

small sample size (1) tho

[mild shadow]

So if i chose St. Joseph, you guys recommend that i stay elsewhere cheap and commute to school right?

[balmy sapphire]

NYC is far more diverse and will offer more opportunities.

No, I honestly recommend dorming.

Dorming seems to be cheap enough and you'll get to live in the city that way- commuting is awful if you can avoid it.

I commuted my last year of UG and wasted so much time doing so.

[mild shadow]

hmmm

[wanton viper]

preferably dorming

you can sleep in and it's safer

[mild shadow]

is 13k reasonable for dorms at Brooklyn?

[balmy sapphire]

Yeah, that's great haha

[wanton viper]

you can still work/invest/freelance and get some money yk

[balmy sapphire]

13k/yr for housing in NYC is unheard of.

[warped beacon]

For 1 yr 13 k seems very good

[wanton viper]

it's 15k on the board no?

[balmy sapphire]

15k is still great, no?

[wanton viper]

15 is better than average and 13k is great

[warped beacon]

That’s still good

[mild shadow]

hmm
well i was already thinking abt spending the same amount of money at GSU so ig you guys are right

[balmy sapphire]

In the end, your major is economically safe so I wouldn't worry about a couple thousand a year extra.

[mild shadow]

i think its for 8-9 months

[balmy sapphire]

Are you planning on staying in the city during the summer?

[mild shadow]

I am actually hoping to pay my COA with internships so wish me luck

[mild shadow]

I will Intern
whether it will be in NYC or somewhere else, idk
I will be wherever I am selected for a paid intern

[balmy sapphire]

Some internships offer housing stipends.

[warped beacon]

Most cs do

[balmy sapphire]

Don't know how the visa situation will work though, consider that.

[wanton viper]

you'll spend more in NYC btw

like 5k

[warped beacon]

That being said make sure internships sponsors work permit

[mild shadow]

Oh yea
will do that

[mild shadow]

hmmm isnt 4k for personal expenses enough?

[wanton viper]

I don't spend much, but most of my friends do

[mild shadow]

i will be living quite minimalistically too

[wanton viper]

assuming you will have a flight to NY and back to Nepal

it'll prolly cost ~1400 already

and that's for only 1 round trip

during breaks, you'll have to pay for airbnb or smth

[mild shadow]

Oh, thats like a one time cost which i have already documented
so no worries

[balmy sapphire]

Personal expenses vary incredibly.

[warped beacon]

Yep

[wanton viper]

or go somewhere else maybe via flights

[balmy sapphire]

I own a car, my personal expenses are probably far more than a commuting public transit student.

[mild shadow]

oh yea, thats one thing that i havent documented in my prices

[wanton viper]

personally I spend ~3000/year on flights and those things alone. Other than that I don't spend much, prolly $600/year

[mild shadow]

hmm
so $4k sounds reasonable

[wanton viper]

have you included dining plan?

k ima sleep lol 🚶

[mild shadow]

brb

[wanton viper]

AP Bio FRQ correction tmr prolly

[mild shadow]

Good luck!!

[mild shadow]

in my knowledge SJC doesnt have a dining plan
they do have a communal kitchen in the dorms where students can cook tho
it was 13k for housing and 2k for food? wait wtf

i need to do some research

anyways, thank you all for contributing to this discussion
really helped a lot

[mild shadow]

Apprently at SJU
15k is only for the dorms🤡

[kindred jay]

fr fr

[wanton viper]

In conclusion, cost shouldn't really be a great factor since you're doing comp sci, but I'm still unsure of SJU CS program. NYC would be a great transition from another country, however. GSU seems to have some reputation for transfer if you end up not liking it, but there's a somewhat high chance of u not liking it. Personally, I'd choose GSU but others seems to favor SJU.

Sju has a smaller class size so you'll prlly have more connection

[mild shadow]

True but i reached out to a student studying CS at SJU (an int student from my own country) and he stated that the CS of SJU is really poor and that I will be on my own most of the time.

[mild shadow]

So I am inclining more towards GSU as well