College bound son for CS [Computer Science]

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Pdxnative
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Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 1:17 pm

Re: College bound son for CS [Computer Science]

Post by Pdxnative »

OP’s son isn’t looking at Harvard. The question was Pitt or Purdue.

I’m in the camp that salary comparisons based on incomplete data aren’t useful for that decision.

These are both good schools. I do think outside the northeast and especially on the west coast, more engineering types will be familiar with Purdue than Pitt. Not sure that matters a lot. I don’t think there’s a wrong answer here unless he chooses a school where he feels he doesn’t fit.

The honors component at Pitt is relevant. Those are bright kids. If he is better able to find his cohort there that’s worth something. Some of the professional opportunities, internship searches, etc are going to be influenced by what classmates and friends are doing or have done. Sometimes that’s as important as what the career center is doing. I’m guessing the honors kids are probably pretty on top of things with identifying opportunities but that’s worth checking.

Pittsburgh is a nice city, more vibrant than decades ago, and there’s a modest startup community due to CMU. How accessible that is to Pitt undergrads or grads I don’t know.

For CS, the projects he has to show and then leveraging those into good internships is going to be what determines his professional opportunities when he graduates. This sounds like a self-motivated kid who will have a fair amount to show on GitHub and will probably excel at the technical portion of interviews. So I don’t know that being at one school or the other is going to limit his opportunities. It’s more the internships that’ll build on each other.

I’d second other opinions that being happy is the most important. So definitely factor that in (sounds like you already are).
stoptothink
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Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:53 am

Re: College bound son for CS [Computer Science]

Post by stoptothink »

Pdxnative wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 12:21 pm OP’s son isn’t looking at Harvard. The question was Pitt or Purdue.
Don't know how Ivy schools were even brought up in the discussion. College is easily the most heated topic on this board and they always end up like this.

I certainly played my part as I have no experience with Pitt or Purdue, and none of my degrees are in CS.
MMiroir
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Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2020 12:14 pm

Re: College bound son for CS [Computer Science]

Post by MMiroir »

stoptothink wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 12:28 pm
Pdxnative wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 12:21 pm OP’s son isn’t looking at Harvard. The question was Pitt or Purdue.
Don't know how Ivy schools were even brought up in the discussion. College is easily the most heated topic on this board and they always end up like this.

I certainly played my part as I have no experience with Pitt or Purdue, and none of my degrees are in CS.
The Ivies were bought up when it was claimed that Purdue had a better CS program than Harvard. I found it necessary to defend Harvard's honor from such besmirchment.
psteinx
Posts: 5801
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:24 pm

Re: College bound son for CS [Computer Science]

Post by psteinx »

Also, OP's kid has ~MIT/Harvard level admissions profile, and applied to at least one school on that level in CS (CMU)...
skibummer wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:51 am He applied to CMU, but realistically he is unlikely to get in (regular decision hasn’t been announced yet). He is mid-1500s SAT, 4.0 UWGPA, 4.6 WGPA, Eagle Scout, good ECs (extra curriculars), and a lot of AP classes, good passion projects posted on GitHub, but CS (computer science) is crazy competive and we don’t have any hooks to the top 10 schools and he doesn’t check any of the first gen, low income or EDI (equity, diversity, inclusion) goals. He is a very competitive top 10-20 school CS applicant.
Pops1860
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Re: College bound son for CS [Computer Science]

Post by Pops1860 »

This thread has run its course and is now locked.

While most responses have been directed at OP's question/situation, several recent posts have been off-topic and have generated derailing discussions. These posts have been deleted.

Thanks to members who posted relevant perspectives. These remain visible to future browsers of this thread.

Moderator Pops1860
The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those who do not have it. ~George Bernard Shaw
Pops1860
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Re: College bound son for CS [Computer Science]

Post by Pops1860 »

Update from OP skibummer (April 11, 2023):
My son visited Purdue this past weekend and loved it. He has decided to attend Purdue and thank you for everyone's input and advice.
The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those who do not have it. ~George Bernard Shaw
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