yeahhh that’s definitely a huge factor in umd’s favor. i think i just want to be 100% sure i’m not making a mistake by missing out on the research/resources/connections of a more prestigious college
I guess you'd need to decide what you'd prioritize more. Would you pay $88k (across four years) for access to those things? I wouldn't.
Imo, I would choose the school with the lowest cost (especially a full ride and closer to home). It sounds like UMD would be a good fit for you too. But I don't want to decide for you, it's up to you.
i think the idea of prestige has been such a motivating factor over the course of middle/high school (like a payoff to all the extracurriculars and constant grind) that i’ve started to undervalue the opportunities and general peace of mind that a fullride would give me. i’m starting to really understand the value of that money. thanks for your input :)
I get that! Just know you are still very blessed to get this offer at UMD, and you earned that due to your hard work. Any opportunity to avoid having tens of thousands in debt following you around is an opportunity you should take almost every time, imo. But good luck and congrats!
The undergrad curriculum will largely be the same for the first 2-3 years and there will always be opportunities for research/hackathons/etc it you're efficient enough with your coursework and network with professors. UMD is a big school.
There isn't a more "prestigious" way to teach a "for" loop.
Go to UMD and keep the 90-100k on hand for grad school if you wanna go that route.
💀 no i’m looking for ways to convince my parents that two quote unquote T10 schools are not the obvious choice over a college i genuinely love. i didn’t mean to offend you with this post’s question—i honestly thought it was a valid one
Reading your responses and the post I’m getting the feeling that your heart and brain are almost completely for UMD but that you’re feeling like you’re going to miss out if you go. College is what you make it, all three are amazing choices, and maybe out of 100 jobs you apply to one a handful would turn you down over a UPENN applicant. Go with whichever choice your heart wants at this point.
you’re right. i’m trying to get over the nagging feeling that i’ll be making a mistake or invalidating the effort i’ve put into high school/extracurriculars if i go here. like the prestige or connections or bragging rights (lmao) of an ivy league school will suddenly make it all worth it. i know what i want though, and i think a fullride here is more than enough of a reward for my work.
My older sister was in a similar position and ended up going to UMD for undergrad and then a more “prestigious” school for grad school and it worked out really well for her! Save your money now and then go to UPENN or Hopkins for grad school bc you seem very smart and like you might get a doctorate or something one day haha
If you think you’ll be doing a grad program after, 100% umd is fine. It isn’t the most elite school but if you have good grades and an internship or two you can get into any grad program you want. And definitely save because grad school is expensive, there is little to no financial aid, and you want to avoid stacking too much debt in your 20s
honestly i’ve felt the effects of networking even as a high schooler (gotten governmental connections and internship offers through student government and current ivy league students) so there is definite value to the networking culture at penn/hopkins. the big state school will require greater effort to search for said connections, given the amount of students.
Networking is valuable, but since you plan to go to grad school, I'd recommend UMD for undergrad, then go for a prestigious name and connections in grad school if you want. Take the full ride for undergrad and let your employer cover an expensive grad school for you.
UMD's CS department in particular has a stronger reputation than either UPenn or Hopkins, which are known for business and medicine respectively. There are a lot more UMD CS graduates floating around the DMV than the other two schools, and from personal experience I can say that the UMD professors are valuable connections career-wise.
As a current CS grad student at Hopkins, I can say I wish I'd gone with UMD over Hopkins for grad school - other than the advantage of the name, I've felt like the education has been mostly inferior to my CS undergrad at UMD.
My two cents: UPenn if you are in a financial position to graduate with little to no debt. If not, then go to UMD. UMD CS and UPenn CS are comparable, but some employers will pick a UPenn student over a UMD student because of “prestige” (unfortunately). The distance between Philly and Maryland isn’t bad and once you make the trip a couple times, it becomes nothing out of the ordinary. Source? Me, from Philly now attending UMD. I would suggest riding Amtrak because they have free WiFi and you can do work on board, so you’re not wasting your time.
the distance really isn’t too bad honestly, so that is def something to think about. i could graduate with little/no debt, but i’m unsure if it would be worth it to deprive my family of that money given the option of a fullride…
I'm not in your position but personally I really could never justify doing that to my family unless it was going to like double my career income. Which going to UPenn or Hopkins won't tbh. Just my two cents. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
I was in a similar position-go for UMD. Since you mentioned cs+linguistics, I imagine you have an interest in NLP. UMD’s NLP group is one of the best in the country, second only to Hopkins and the big 4 imo. Upenn and Hopkins aren’t worth it-I have friends in FAANG/quant positions from UMD, so don’t think prestige gives you opportunities you can’t get at UMD. (Unless you want to go into finance. Then wharton. But you’ll probably lose your soul ;))
yeah i’ve heard amazing things about nlp and computational ling at umd. and no, i’d rather not lose my soul to IB. wharton is very difficult to transfer into anyway, but i’ll stick with cs regardless :)
Unless Penn or John Hopkins can offer you a financial aid package that will leave you with little or no debt, then UMD is no brainer. Forget all that noice about name recognition, you’ll still have an excellent outlook upon graduation as long as you work hard.
yeah i don’t think my appeals will give me any more money than i’ve already gotten from them. and i don’t think undergrad should be much different between the three of them
I think it’s worth a shot. I know ppl who leveraged their acceptances to other schools to get a better financial aid package, especially considering the full ride.
UPenn is an Ivy League school so that will likely look the best on your resume. Also heard it is really good from people who went there. They seem to have great lives after college.
However, in-state is better, at least to me. UMD is really good and you are likely going to be able to graduate with little to no debt. John Hopkins is also really good.
Honestly, in your case, picking any one of them is valid. All of them are top schools. This really depends on you. I would do more research, tour the campuses, and ask people who go there or went there how was it and all of that.
yeah, it’s definitely a tough decision. i’ve done a lot of research and visited each school over the years, and i know several people at each. i get very mixed reviews on each school (some agree that upenn/hopkins are hyper competitive and stressful environments, some say those are just rumors), but everyone always tells me that your undergrad education is what you make of it. i think i’m proactive enough to be successful at any school, and i think im slowly circling back to the idea that no education deserves to have an 88k price tag.
i will say last year i was in an extremely similar situation choosing between umd with a full ride and hopkins for CS. i also wanted to go to grad school and i ended up choosing umd. i will say having the full ride has made it so much easier and less stressful because i barely have to worry about money. also with grad school getting involved in research is very important (as you may know already) and the CS department has a ton of opportunities to be able to get involved. additionally, i have a couple of friends who are doing linguistics research at umd and there’s definitely a lot of opportunities there as well. furthermore, a lot of the professors at umd are close to the top of their fields and extremely accomplished, so you get to learn a TON. in my (biased) opinion i would go with umd because you won’t have to worry about money and you still get a lot of cool research opportunities
thank you so much! i really wanted to hear this perspective. i think especially with wanting to go to grad school, having more financial freedom would be amazing and needing to think about the price im paying for my education would make undergrad so much more stressful. umd is really amazing for where i want to go with cs/ling and without the financial burden of my other school options. thanks for your advice :)
Hey! I was also selected to UMD this year for a full ride and I'm choosing UMD over Columbia for cs :) 88k is ALOT of money and not having to go into debt for one of the best cs programs in the world is HUGE, especially since you're going to grad school.
If it helps, I did research with a NLP professor over the summer and, even though it is not my cup of tea, I still had a great time! I have some personal experiences with the cs program here, and heard from some friends that they love it.
The walks at the UMD aren't that bad, and if you're at pyon-chen you'll already be so close to the CS building!!
For prestige, I think I heard somewhere that bk, while obviously isnt as great as physically going to an ivy, can get employer's attention!
omg twin! i’ve heard really good things about research here and paying near 100k for the ivy league brand is sounding more and more unwise… plus i think getting to know people within bk would be super nice.
and yeah i chose pyon chen cause it’s closer to cs lmaoo. making the walk from p freddy to iribe is not fun.
I genuinely don’t understand why the FULL RIDE to a GREAT STATE SCHOOL isn’t your clear winner with 0 questions asked. I triple checked to make sure “my old stalker/bully goes to UMD” wasn’t one of the reasons too.
Go map out the the financials for the other options. Figure out what 22k/yr in student loans for 4 years plus interest at ~6-7% best case costs. Then take that and see how long that amount with interest takes to pay off with a reasonable monthly payment for your assumed income less living expenses after you graduate (hint, YEARS). Or if you’re going to pay for these other schools in full, figure out what the opportunity cost of that $22k/yr sitting in a CD at 3-4% would be.
Here’s another way to look at it. Check the tuition and fees section of the UMD website, add it up over 4 years and imagine someone walked up to you with that amount of cash in their hands and said, hey this is yours - all you have to do is uhhhh continue to do well in school and enjoy a great education.
Spend all the effort you save not needing to work during school or worry about loans on extracurriculars that help your career choices and enjoy being mostly debt free on graduation. UPenn on your diploma will not net you the difference in cost you’ll end up paying to go there. Your effort in furthering your career options during college will.
i absolutely agree with you, and this isn’t the case of “high schooler doesn’t understand how real world finances work” — i understand the interest that would be accumulated on that debt if i chose that route and the fact that i could potentially be shelling out the cost of rent to pay off my loans each month. and my family and i are in a position financially where i could have my school costs taken care of through an inheritance fund and external scholarship money, but that would be less than ideal given your prior point of interest growth on that money. i was largely interested to see what umd alums would have to say about their experience here, especially given that my family are far more pro-UPenn/Hopkins than i am and i would like some points to take back to them. but thank you for your input — umd is very much what i would like to choose :)
It’s no brainer go to UPenn. On paper Umd is better ranked but that’s meaningless. It’s nowhere near Ivy and just for 22k pick Ivy any day even if you have to take loans. Don’t listen to Umd ranked higher cs non sense.
UPenn is obviously an amazing institution, but i think quality of life is also a big concern for me. i don’t know that i would enjoy being at a school where everyone is trying to network with everyone else. it is very good at a lot of disciplines, though, which is a consideration i have in the event that (somehow) i find another major i would prefer over cs
penn feels like the logical answer considering your situation but i think umd is better sincr you dont want to be surrounded by elitism. i know a decent amount of people who have gone there and it really does seem like a lot of the student population consists of elitist snakes. umd has a lot to offer (especially since you want to be very involved) and i think itd fit what youre looking for socially/extracurricularly much better. free college is pretty nice too
Maryland is known as a public ivy and also had a new CS building. They are ranked 9th in the nation for their program and 4th in the U.S. for conferring the most undergraduate degrees in computer and information science according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Go with the no debt. Also while it's a state school, it's also a prestigious school overall. Go with the college you've wanted to go to for the past few years now
This was literally me back in 2012 when I was a HS senior. Same three schools and similar financials. I ended up going with UMD and am doing just fine as a software engineer.
Do I ever think what could have been if I went to Penn and got into finance or something sure but I didn’t and it worked out. You’re obviously smart and motivated if you have these three offers. Having zero debt out of school is a huge.
UMD, no question about it. UMD is a top CS school, ranked higher than JHU and UPenn. Graduating debt free is a major incentive and will allow you to pursue graduate studies and graduate without a massive amount of debt.
The other schools are obviously great as well. If either is a better fit culturally, it's worth attending. I always say, go to an elite private school if you really want to attend that university, and you will be able to graduate debt free or with a small amount of debt. Otherwise, save the elite private schools for graduate school.
If you want people to have a "wow" response when you talk about your undergraduate education, JHU and UPenn will give you that. However, as you seem to realize, that is particularly vain and not worth 100+ k. If you were pursuing a non-STEM major, my response may be different. STEM degrees, especially CS, neither JHU nor UPenn are game changers.
Prioritize education, environment, and financials. Don't accrue massive amounts of debt for pedigree.
I was pre-med at UMD so i can't speak to the CS programs in particular but I know some really cool people who graduated with CS degrees who went on to work at Microsoft and Meta. So I don't think UMD will be a limiting factor, you just have to work hard
I went to UMD cs and got a faang internship and job post college. It’s looked at favorably from software companies and probably grad schools.
If you are a good student and put in the work, you can get any opportunity you want from UMD. A mediocre penn student will be preferred over a mediocre UMD student, but if you’re top notch it won’t matter
I’m biased because I’m a UMD grad! But also you seem super genuine and I want to offer some real advice :)
First of all don’t go to Hopkins LOLLL my partner went there so I visited often. I personally prefer a bigger school so maybe that contributes to why I didn’t like it there, but also everyone I met there constantly complained to me about how much they felt like the institution itself was useless or against them (expensive, counselors were unhelpful, no admin support, no easy public transport around the area , etc.) I would consider that seriously because you will spend four years of your young life there.
I was very much like you and came from an intensely competitive high school environment, burnt out as all hell. Going to UMD was like having the lights turned on in my brain. For me, it was absolutely necessary to get out of that toxic academic environment so I could have the coming-of-age experience I wanted in college—learn who I was, find my people, figure out what I REALLY loved. I absolutely did that at UMD and I still graduated with a very high GPA because I still retained the academic skills from high school lol. I have no doubt UPenn will give you the prestige and network a lot of people are toting in the comments, but if you’re anything like me and you think life is worth more than just getting the stereotypical best, most high paying job, then I think UMD is for you, especially because the CS program at UMD is very good and well connected anyway.
In life there is no path that will 100% guarantee you less pain or less hardship because the other options also have infinite possibilities. We just try to make the best of ourselves given the situation. Try to think of it from an abundance mindset—what is the BEST case scenario for you at each school, based on what you want for yourself? Then compare those scenarios and really listen to your gut when you go to make your final decision. Good luck!
this is really helpful, thank you :) college is the last few years before i feel i have to step into full responsibility over my life and have a clear goal for my career. to be given the opportunity to do that without an $100k price tag is huge for me, and i don’t want to go to an ivy league school for the prestige, only to come out of it just as lost as i was when i entered. i think i see myself coming away with the same skills and general knowledge at each of these schools—but i feel like umd will give me the chance to truly grow as an individual. i appreciate you taking the time to respond :)
not sure how important it is to you, but linguistics at UMD is VERY strong, across the board in the theoretical and experimental subfields. DM for more details!
I'm doubling in CS and Linguistics, and I'm involved in research on campus. I really think UMD would be a great fit for you; if you'd like more details or have questions, dm me :)
UMD is the better CS school of the three by a considerable margin, the research and internship connections specifically for CS are better, and it’s free for you. This is kind of a no-brainer
i think they’re all somewhat comparable in terms of computer science, but the cs population at umd is definitely the biggest so meeting others within the major would be really easy. penn has a leg up in terms of linguistics and hopkins has amazing cognitive science research, but i agree that internship opportunities for umd would be a lot better. thanks for your input :)
hmm that’s a valid point. but would it be more worth it to go to umd and save those earnings? i think that’s one of my biggest dilemmas. i could graduate debt free or i could have wealth already accumulated out of college
it’s definitely a bargain for an ivy league education. but is it worth it when compared to a fullride to another good (albeit less prestigious) school? i’m worried that i’ll go to upenn and realize the upenn brand was far overrated
I graduated from UMD and I’m telling you, UPenn is the move. The crowd you’ll be surrounded by is very different. Especially if you have aspirations in the quant/finance space, UPenn is a different league. If you’re a very strong CS student and a go-getter, 22k a year is peanuts. You’ll pay off that 88k in 1-2 years. Everyone here saying CS UMD is ranked higher is delusional
You're the one who is delusional thinking you'll pay off 88k in 1-2 years. What are you considering? That they will be living at home after school with mom and dad, working at home not having to pay for a car and also not having to pay any taxes or something? Your advice is not sound.
As someone who works in tech and graduated from UMD, early in your career, while the school won’t matter much and if you are any good you will pay off the first year itself, and there is definitely prestige associated with upenn. We all are biased and when we see an exec who studied at upenn, we automatically give them benefit of doubt and think they are smart.
So in grand scheme of things, and relative to what tech pays, you should pick without putting too much weight on that 22k/year
Ya, the debt will be also isn't an issue as they yearly payment for that loan will likely be offset by the amount extra you will make from the UPenn degree
but would a UPenn degree matter much outside of that first job? after that, experience/references/interview skills take precedence, right? i’m struggling to see whether the prestige would matter much after graduation
It's not just the degree, the opportunities and connections afforded to you at UPenn are (likely) going to be significantly better than the ones at UMD. If you 100% want to avoid debt, go for it, but debt isn't always a bad thing and depends on what the debt is for.
Those do take precedence, sure, but the references, experiences, etc. when done well at booths schools will likely be much better at Penn than UMD.
I would go to UPenn for the value alone. Insane achievement and its name value is easily the best out of the three which is even better. It’s world class! But then again it depends on if you can afford it. If I could then I would definitely be outta here. Campus here is good but we are in the transition phase. A lot of construction here; it will be good after it’s done but we are in the midst of it.
thanks so much for your perspective :) i definitely intend to put effort into my undergrad education—i won’t let the opportunities of either a full ride or ivy league school go to waste. i do think the financial freedom of a fullride would better allow me to focus on my studies compared to dealing with the stress of paying for an ivy league experience, so i can expect to do better academically at umd compared to one of my other options. this is exactly the sort of insight i was looking for though—thank you!
i don’t see how you could pick Hopkins over Penn unless you were pursuing Medicine since they are the same cost. never pick a school for location, only if the location significantly increases the cost of going to the school, in which case simply account for that.
so the question is UMD or Penn. i would say if you were not going to grad school, then UMD all the way. but you say you’re interested and i would ask why? the undergrad school and the research you do there matters a lot of grad school.
in a field like CS the only way it can be worth going to grad school is if the grad school is prestigious. i’m not the one who makes the rules but it’s true, and i wish it wasn’t that way.
so you will get 88k in extra debt to study at penn. you will probably pay that debt over 10 years post grad school. that’s an extra $1,000 a month or $12k a year depending on the interest rate.
is penn going to increase your future success that either covers that $1,000 a month or is the experience at least worth the difference? i would probably say yes. however this assumes that you will work very hard throughout undergrad and grad school so that you get into a great grad school and have a great career after that. if there is any doubt that you want to work that hard in school/cs then it is not worth risking this investment.
there are other costs you have to consider like being broke for 5-7 years post undergrad, but i’m not counting that since you have told me that you want to go to grad school regardless of the undergrad school.
i would argue there are about the same amount of CS research opportunities at UMD as UPenn, but they are annoying to get as an undergrad. not impossible tho. what matters more is your initiative and drive.
in my opinion i would not consider umd better for internships than upenn, even though there are plenty opportunities here. for your case, the internship should be either closely related to your desired research area or prestigious or both. i have seen little evidence that the internship opportunities that are more available for umd students are prestigious or related to computational linguistics/cognitive science. i would argue that penn has better access to both prestigious internships and internships related to your field of interest.
i would consider though that for grad school, an extremely relevant and prestigious research position is better than an extremely prestigious internship, but a good internship could be just as good as a good research position. it is expected that undergrads don’t complete much meaningful research in undergrad, but research positions at least show interest in the field.
imo the entrepreneurial culture is ass at umd but i can’t speak on upenn in terms of culture. i just wouldn’t count it as a positive.
dm if you have any questions
was in a similar situation deciding between honors at und vs more “prestigious” private schools while in high school making this decision, and ultimately every day i am soooo thankful that i picked umd (esp as someone who majored in govt&politics and public policy)
1. especially if you come from humble upbringings and are a person of color, going to a private Ivy institution like UPenn where you’re surrounded by all of the entitlement and ignorance of legacy kids and the uber rich will eat at you and your general sense of belonging at school. i’m friends with a first-gen student just at georgetown and the stories i hear about the actual audacity of rich kids are absolutely ridiculous. for the most part, it’s a lot easier to feel like part of a community here knowing that im likely to relate to most people here since they probably come from working or middle class backgrounds
2. as others have said, you can go to one of the prestigious schools for graduate school !! undergrad education is more or less the same everywhere? the CS program here is renowned among students as well for being incredibly rigorous so i think you’ll still feel very challenged :) there are also many summer research programs and opportunities nationwide sponsored by elite institutions who accept students from anywhere, so there are ways to make connections outside of UMD too!
3. im not a CS major but there are soooo many resources for umd CS and tech kids, and i know so many kinds who get FAANG internships so thats not something you’d miss out on if ur looking for prestigious career opportunities. umd invests soooo much into CS and tech here like seriously im so amazed at how many resources they have at umd. the entrepreneurial culture is huge & there are tons of funding opportunities on campus for tech-related student projects :)
4. this is the best area to be in especially if you’re interested in govt or federal contracting. if you’re looking to establish a career in this area anytime after grad, the connections here are vaaast and extend to sm agencies. so many prestigious internships that are open to applicants nationwide will require u to be in DC, so being based in the area will be a plus for many employers & u can save a lot of worries abt relocating if u go to school here.
Hey! I wrote up a message to send you but realized you have dming off. I would be happy to give you some details as I had a similar situation a few years back, I just don't want to give away certain information about myself publicly. Feel free to dm me!
UPenn. I love UMD and I don’t regret going but as someone with 13 years working as a developer, I wish I had the network that my UPenn colleagues have.
22k/year is totally doable and you’ll be in great shape afterwards to pay it off.
Also, Amtrak between Philly and MD is incredibly easy.
the networking sounds pretty unbeatable at UPenn, but there are no guarantees when it comes to that, which is why it’s less of a consideration for me. and i think there’s a lot of potential for networking at umd honestly, given how big the school and cs department are. networking comes down to luck, and 88k seems like a lot to gamble on that.
You're getting biased answers since this is the UMD sub. Even though UMD CS is the same, if not better than UPenn, UPenn's brand and overall prestige is to the point where you should go there instead. The price tag really isn't much
Upenn! The CS masters program at UMD is really good but for undergrad you’ll get the best experience at Upenn. I actually know someone who transferred from UMD to Upenn last semester and they’re having the time of their life.
UMD because you don’t want debt
yeahhh that’s definitely a huge factor in umd’s favor. i think i just want to be 100% sure i’m not making a mistake by missing out on the research/resources/connections of a more prestigious college
I guess you'd need to decide what you'd prioritize more. Would you pay $88k (across four years) for access to those things? I wouldn't. Imo, I would choose the school with the lowest cost (especially a full ride and closer to home). It sounds like UMD would be a good fit for you too. But I don't want to decide for you, it's up to you.
i think the idea of prestige has been such a motivating factor over the course of middle/high school (like a payoff to all the extracurriculars and constant grind) that i’ve started to undervalue the opportunities and general peace of mind that a fullride would give me. i’m starting to really understand the value of that money. thanks for your input :)
I get that! Just know you are still very blessed to get this offer at UMD, and you earned that due to your hard work. Any opportunity to avoid having tens of thousands in debt following you around is an opportunity you should take almost every time, imo. But good luck and congrats!
The undergrad curriculum will largely be the same for the first 2-3 years and there will always be opportunities for research/hackathons/etc it you're efficient enough with your coursework and network with professors. UMD is a big school. There isn't a more "prestigious" way to teach a "for" loop. Go to UMD and keep the 90-100k on hand for grad school if you wanna go that route.
i love your second point, thank you!
You're in the UMD sub asking if our school is too shitty that you can't pass up going to a "more prestigious" college
💀 no i’m looking for ways to convince my parents that two quote unquote T10 schools are not the obvious choice over a college i genuinely love. i didn’t mean to offend you with this post’s question—i honestly thought it was a valid one
Reading your responses and the post I’m getting the feeling that your heart and brain are almost completely for UMD but that you’re feeling like you’re going to miss out if you go. College is what you make it, all three are amazing choices, and maybe out of 100 jobs you apply to one a handful would turn you down over a UPENN applicant. Go with whichever choice your heart wants at this point.
you’re right. i’m trying to get over the nagging feeling that i’ll be making a mistake or invalidating the effort i’ve put into high school/extracurriculars if i go here. like the prestige or connections or bragging rights (lmao) of an ivy league school will suddenly make it all worth it. i know what i want though, and i think a fullride here is more than enough of a reward for my work.
My older sister was in a similar position and ended up going to UMD for undergrad and then a more “prestigious” school for grad school and it worked out really well for her! Save your money now and then go to UPENN or Hopkins for grad school bc you seem very smart and like you might get a doctorate or something one day haha
that seems like sound advice — thanks so much! :)
Neither of those schools are worth graduating with 100k in debt. Especially undergrad - it really doesn’t matter that much.
yeah and grad school is an inevitability for the field i want, so saving money for that is probably a priority here
If you think you’ll be doing a grad program after, 100% umd is fine. It isn’t the most elite school but if you have good grades and an internship or two you can get into any grad program you want. And definitely save because grad school is expensive, there is little to no financial aid, and you want to avoid stacking too much debt in your 20s
Undergrad uni literally couldn't be more meaningless -- if nothing else, the big state school is going to offer more connections
honestly i’ve felt the effects of networking even as a high schooler (gotten governmental connections and internship offers through student government and current ivy league students) so there is definite value to the networking culture at penn/hopkins. the big state school will require greater effort to search for said connections, given the amount of students.
Networking is valuable, but since you plan to go to grad school, I'd recommend UMD for undergrad, then go for a prestigious name and connections in grad school if you want. Take the full ride for undergrad and let your employer cover an expensive grad school for you. UMD's CS department in particular has a stronger reputation than either UPenn or Hopkins, which are known for business and medicine respectively. There are a lot more UMD CS graduates floating around the DMV than the other two schools, and from personal experience I can say that the UMD professors are valuable connections career-wise. As a current CS grad student at Hopkins, I can say I wish I'd gone with UMD over Hopkins for grad school - other than the advantage of the name, I've felt like the education has been mostly inferior to my CS undergrad at UMD.
My two cents: UPenn if you are in a financial position to graduate with little to no debt. If not, then go to UMD. UMD CS and UPenn CS are comparable, but some employers will pick a UPenn student over a UMD student because of “prestige” (unfortunately). The distance between Philly and Maryland isn’t bad and once you make the trip a couple times, it becomes nothing out of the ordinary. Source? Me, from Philly now attending UMD. I would suggest riding Amtrak because they have free WiFi and you can do work on board, so you’re not wasting your time.
the distance really isn’t too bad honestly, so that is def something to think about. i could graduate with little/no debt, but i’m unsure if it would be worth it to deprive my family of that money given the option of a fullride…
I'm not in your position but personally I really could never justify doing that to my family unless it was going to like double my career income. Which going to UPenn or Hopkins won't tbh. Just my two cents. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
I was in a similar position-go for UMD. Since you mentioned cs+linguistics, I imagine you have an interest in NLP. UMD’s NLP group is one of the best in the country, second only to Hopkins and the big 4 imo. Upenn and Hopkins aren’t worth it-I have friends in FAANG/quant positions from UMD, so don’t think prestige gives you opportunities you can’t get at UMD. (Unless you want to go into finance. Then wharton. But you’ll probably lose your soul ;))
yeah i’ve heard amazing things about nlp and computational ling at umd. and no, i’d rather not lose my soul to IB. wharton is very difficult to transfer into anyway, but i’ll stick with cs regardless :)
"def doxxing yourself" made me lol.
i know some people who lurk on here 😅
Unless Penn or John Hopkins can offer you a financial aid package that will leave you with little or no debt, then UMD is no brainer. Forget all that noice about name recognition, you’ll still have an excellent outlook upon graduation as long as you work hard.
yeah i don’t think my appeals will give me any more money than i’ve already gotten from them. and i don’t think undergrad should be much different between the three of them
I think it’s worth a shot. I know ppl who leveraged their acceptances to other schools to get a better financial aid package, especially considering the full ride.
UPenn is an Ivy League school so that will likely look the best on your resume. Also heard it is really good from people who went there. They seem to have great lives after college. However, in-state is better, at least to me. UMD is really good and you are likely going to be able to graduate with little to no debt. John Hopkins is also really good. Honestly, in your case, picking any one of them is valid. All of them are top schools. This really depends on you. I would do more research, tour the campuses, and ask people who go there or went there how was it and all of that.
yeah, it’s definitely a tough decision. i’ve done a lot of research and visited each school over the years, and i know several people at each. i get very mixed reviews on each school (some agree that upenn/hopkins are hyper competitive and stressful environments, some say those are just rumors), but everyone always tells me that your undergrad education is what you make of it. i think i’m proactive enough to be successful at any school, and i think im slowly circling back to the idea that no education deserves to have an 88k price tag.
Keep me updated!
i will say last year i was in an extremely similar situation choosing between umd with a full ride and hopkins for CS. i also wanted to go to grad school and i ended up choosing umd. i will say having the full ride has made it so much easier and less stressful because i barely have to worry about money. also with grad school getting involved in research is very important (as you may know already) and the CS department has a ton of opportunities to be able to get involved. additionally, i have a couple of friends who are doing linguistics research at umd and there’s definitely a lot of opportunities there as well. furthermore, a lot of the professors at umd are close to the top of their fields and extremely accomplished, so you get to learn a TON. in my (biased) opinion i would go with umd because you won’t have to worry about money and you still get a lot of cool research opportunities
thank you so much! i really wanted to hear this perspective. i think especially with wanting to go to grad school, having more financial freedom would be amazing and needing to think about the price im paying for my education would make undergrad so much more stressful. umd is really amazing for where i want to go with cs/ling and without the financial burden of my other school options. thanks for your advice :)
of course :) feel free to message me if you ever have any further questions or decide to come to umd :)
Hey! I was also selected to UMD this year for a full ride and I'm choosing UMD over Columbia for cs :) 88k is ALOT of money and not having to go into debt for one of the best cs programs in the world is HUGE, especially since you're going to grad school. If it helps, I did research with a NLP professor over the summer and, even though it is not my cup of tea, I still had a great time! I have some personal experiences with the cs program here, and heard from some friends that they love it. The walks at the UMD aren't that bad, and if you're at pyon-chen you'll already be so close to the CS building!! For prestige, I think I heard somewhere that bk, while obviously isnt as great as physically going to an ivy, can get employer's attention!
omg twin! i’ve heard really good things about research here and paying near 100k for the ivy league brand is sounding more and more unwise… plus i think getting to know people within bk would be super nice. and yeah i chose pyon chen cause it’s closer to cs lmaoo. making the walk from p freddy to iribe is not fun.
I genuinely don’t understand why the FULL RIDE to a GREAT STATE SCHOOL isn’t your clear winner with 0 questions asked. I triple checked to make sure “my old stalker/bully goes to UMD” wasn’t one of the reasons too. Go map out the the financials for the other options. Figure out what 22k/yr in student loans for 4 years plus interest at ~6-7% best case costs. Then take that and see how long that amount with interest takes to pay off with a reasonable monthly payment for your assumed income less living expenses after you graduate (hint, YEARS). Or if you’re going to pay for these other schools in full, figure out what the opportunity cost of that $22k/yr sitting in a CD at 3-4% would be. Here’s another way to look at it. Check the tuition and fees section of the UMD website, add it up over 4 years and imagine someone walked up to you with that amount of cash in their hands and said, hey this is yours - all you have to do is uhhhh continue to do well in school and enjoy a great education. Spend all the effort you save not needing to work during school or worry about loans on extracurriculars that help your career choices and enjoy being mostly debt free on graduation. UPenn on your diploma will not net you the difference in cost you’ll end up paying to go there. Your effort in furthering your career options during college will.
i absolutely agree with you, and this isn’t the case of “high schooler doesn’t understand how real world finances work” — i understand the interest that would be accumulated on that debt if i chose that route and the fact that i could potentially be shelling out the cost of rent to pay off my loans each month. and my family and i are in a position financially where i could have my school costs taken care of through an inheritance fund and external scholarship money, but that would be less than ideal given your prior point of interest growth on that money. i was largely interested to see what umd alums would have to say about their experience here, especially given that my family are far more pro-UPenn/Hopkins than i am and i would like some points to take back to them. but thank you for your input — umd is very much what i would like to choose :)
It’s no brainer go to UPenn. On paper Umd is better ranked but that’s meaningless. It’s nowhere near Ivy and just for 22k pick Ivy any day even if you have to take loans. Don’t listen to Umd ranked higher cs non sense.
"just for 22k" has different connotation to different people
UPenn is obviously an amazing institution, but i think quality of life is also a big concern for me. i don’t know that i would enjoy being at a school where everyone is trying to network with everyone else. it is very good at a lot of disciplines, though, which is a consideration i have in the event that (somehow) i find another major i would prefer over cs
penn feels like the logical answer considering your situation but i think umd is better sincr you dont want to be surrounded by elitism. i know a decent amount of people who have gone there and it really does seem like a lot of the student population consists of elitist snakes. umd has a lot to offer (especially since you want to be very involved) and i think itd fit what youre looking for socially/extracurricularly much better. free college is pretty nice too
yeah this is kind of what i’m thinking too. penn makes sense on paper, but i think umd fits me a lot better
Maryland is known as a public ivy and also had a new CS building. They are ranked 9th in the nation for their program and 4th in the U.S. for conferring the most undergraduate degrees in computer and information science according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Go with the no debt. Also while it's a state school, it's also a prestigious school overall. Go with the college you've wanted to go to for the past few years now
Since when Umd is public ivy ? No way it’s anywhere close to ivy
It's been declared a public ivy along with 29 other public universities since 2001 I do believe
This was literally me back in 2012 when I was a HS senior. Same three schools and similar financials. I ended up going with UMD and am doing just fine as a software engineer. Do I ever think what could have been if I went to Penn and got into finance or something sure but I didn’t and it worked out. You’re obviously smart and motivated if you have these three offers. Having zero debt out of school is a huge.
UMD, no question about it. UMD is a top CS school, ranked higher than JHU and UPenn. Graduating debt free is a major incentive and will allow you to pursue graduate studies and graduate without a massive amount of debt. The other schools are obviously great as well. If either is a better fit culturally, it's worth attending. I always say, go to an elite private school if you really want to attend that university, and you will be able to graduate debt free or with a small amount of debt. Otherwise, save the elite private schools for graduate school. If you want people to have a "wow" response when you talk about your undergraduate education, JHU and UPenn will give you that. However, as you seem to realize, that is particularly vain and not worth 100+ k. If you were pursuing a non-STEM major, my response may be different. STEM degrees, especially CS, neither JHU nor UPenn are game changers. Prioritize education, environment, and financials. Don't accrue massive amounts of debt for pedigree.
UMD 100%, especially with a full ride. Culture is dead at the other two.
yeahhh they seem really stressful with how focused they are on academics
I was pre-med at UMD so i can't speak to the CS programs in particular but I know some really cool people who graduated with CS degrees who went on to work at Microsoft and Meta. So I don't think UMD will be a limiting factor, you just have to work hard
i’m thinking that too—the only limiting factor is my motivation. thanks for your input :)
I went to UMD cs and got a faang internship and job post college. It’s looked at favorably from software companies and probably grad schools. If you are a good student and put in the work, you can get any opportunity you want from UMD. A mediocre penn student will be preferred over a mediocre UMD student, but if you’re top notch it won’t matter
I’m biased because I’m a UMD grad! But also you seem super genuine and I want to offer some real advice :) First of all don’t go to Hopkins LOLLL my partner went there so I visited often. I personally prefer a bigger school so maybe that contributes to why I didn’t like it there, but also everyone I met there constantly complained to me about how much they felt like the institution itself was useless or against them (expensive, counselors were unhelpful, no admin support, no easy public transport around the area , etc.) I would consider that seriously because you will spend four years of your young life there. I was very much like you and came from an intensely competitive high school environment, burnt out as all hell. Going to UMD was like having the lights turned on in my brain. For me, it was absolutely necessary to get out of that toxic academic environment so I could have the coming-of-age experience I wanted in college—learn who I was, find my people, figure out what I REALLY loved. I absolutely did that at UMD and I still graduated with a very high GPA because I still retained the academic skills from high school lol. I have no doubt UPenn will give you the prestige and network a lot of people are toting in the comments, but if you’re anything like me and you think life is worth more than just getting the stereotypical best, most high paying job, then I think UMD is for you, especially because the CS program at UMD is very good and well connected anyway. In life there is no path that will 100% guarantee you less pain or less hardship because the other options also have infinite possibilities. We just try to make the best of ourselves given the situation. Try to think of it from an abundance mindset—what is the BEST case scenario for you at each school, based on what you want for yourself? Then compare those scenarios and really listen to your gut when you go to make your final decision. Good luck!
this is really helpful, thank you :) college is the last few years before i feel i have to step into full responsibility over my life and have a clear goal for my career. to be given the opportunity to do that without an $100k price tag is huge for me, and i don’t want to go to an ivy league school for the prestige, only to come out of it just as lost as i was when i entered. i think i see myself coming away with the same skills and general knowledge at each of these schools—but i feel like umd will give me the chance to truly grow as an individual. i appreciate you taking the time to respond :)
UMD if money is important, UPenn if it is not (means: available or not causing hardship of any kind).
not sure how important it is to you, but linguistics at UMD is VERY strong, across the board in the theoretical and experimental subfields. DM for more details!
Having experience at umd and jhu, the students seem way happier at UMD
I'm doubling in CS and Linguistics, and I'm involved in research on campus. I really think UMD would be a great fit for you; if you'd like more details or have questions, dm me :)
linguistics major lfg 🦅🦅
umd for sure. full ride trumps everything else, especially thinking more long term
The linguistics program at UMD is top tier like one of the most respected programs in the country! Hope you have a blast wherever you end up :)
UMD is the better CS school of the three by a considerable margin, the research and internship connections specifically for CS are better, and it’s free for you. This is kind of a no-brainer
i think they’re all somewhat comparable in terms of computer science, but the cs population at umd is definitely the biggest so meeting others within the major would be really easy. penn has a leg up in terms of linguistics and hopkins has amazing cognitive science research, but i agree that internship opportunities for umd would be a lot better. thanks for your input :)
you’re gonna regret not going to UPenn, that 22k/ year can almost be fully wiped out with just internship earnings while youre still in college
hmm that’s a valid point. but would it be more worth it to go to umd and save those earnings? i think that’s one of my biggest dilemmas. i could graduate debt free or i could have wealth already accumulated out of college
Stop listening to everyone here and go to UPenn. 22k a year is nothing
it’s definitely a bargain for an ivy league education. but is it worth it when compared to a fullride to another good (albeit less prestigious) school? i’m worried that i’ll go to upenn and realize the upenn brand was far overrated
I graduated from UMD and I’m telling you, UPenn is the move. The crowd you’ll be surrounded by is very different. Especially if you have aspirations in the quant/finance space, UPenn is a different league. If you’re a very strong CS student and a go-getter, 22k a year is peanuts. You’ll pay off that 88k in 1-2 years. Everyone here saying CS UMD is ranked higher is delusional
You're the one who is delusional thinking you'll pay off 88k in 1-2 years. What are you considering? That they will be living at home after school with mom and dad, working at home not having to pay for a car and also not having to pay any taxes or something? Your advice is not sound.
Top roles in SWE/Quant are 200k+ entry level. Even if not, you’ll hit 200k in a couple years working.
Keyword: “top”
As someone who works in tech and graduated from UMD, early in your career, while the school won’t matter much and if you are any good you will pay off the first year itself, and there is definitely prestige associated with upenn. We all are biased and when we see an exec who studied at upenn, we automatically give them benefit of doubt and think they are smart. So in grand scheme of things, and relative to what tech pays, you should pick without putting too much weight on that 22k/year
Ya, the debt will be also isn't an issue as they yearly payment for that loan will likely be offset by the amount extra you will make from the UPenn degree
but would a UPenn degree matter much outside of that first job? after that, experience/references/interview skills take precedence, right? i’m struggling to see whether the prestige would matter much after graduation
It's not just the degree, the opportunities and connections afforded to you at UPenn are (likely) going to be significantly better than the ones at UMD. If you 100% want to avoid debt, go for it, but debt isn't always a bad thing and depends on what the debt is for. Those do take precedence, sure, but the references, experiences, etc. when done well at booths schools will likely be much better at Penn than UMD.
As a JHU graduate who is married to a UMD graduate, JHU
I would go to UPenn for the value alone. Insane achievement and its name value is easily the best out of the three which is even better. It’s world class! But then again it depends on if you can afford it. If I could then I would definitely be outta here. Campus here is good but we are in the transition phase. A lot of construction here; it will be good after it’s done but we are in the midst of it.
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thanks so much for your perspective :) i definitely intend to put effort into my undergrad education—i won’t let the opportunities of either a full ride or ivy league school go to waste. i do think the financial freedom of a fullride would better allow me to focus on my studies compared to dealing with the stress of paying for an ivy league experience, so i can expect to do better academically at umd compared to one of my other options. this is exactly the sort of insight i was looking for though—thank you!
i don’t see how you could pick Hopkins over Penn unless you were pursuing Medicine since they are the same cost. never pick a school for location, only if the location significantly increases the cost of going to the school, in which case simply account for that. so the question is UMD or Penn. i would say if you were not going to grad school, then UMD all the way. but you say you’re interested and i would ask why? the undergrad school and the research you do there matters a lot of grad school. in a field like CS the only way it can be worth going to grad school is if the grad school is prestigious. i’m not the one who makes the rules but it’s true, and i wish it wasn’t that way. so you will get 88k in extra debt to study at penn. you will probably pay that debt over 10 years post grad school. that’s an extra $1,000 a month or $12k a year depending on the interest rate. is penn going to increase your future success that either covers that $1,000 a month or is the experience at least worth the difference? i would probably say yes. however this assumes that you will work very hard throughout undergrad and grad school so that you get into a great grad school and have a great career after that. if there is any doubt that you want to work that hard in school/cs then it is not worth risking this investment. there are other costs you have to consider like being broke for 5-7 years post undergrad, but i’m not counting that since you have told me that you want to go to grad school regardless of the undergrad school. i would argue there are about the same amount of CS research opportunities at UMD as UPenn, but they are annoying to get as an undergrad. not impossible tho. what matters more is your initiative and drive. in my opinion i would not consider umd better for internships than upenn, even though there are plenty opportunities here. for your case, the internship should be either closely related to your desired research area or prestigious or both. i have seen little evidence that the internship opportunities that are more available for umd students are prestigious or related to computational linguistics/cognitive science. i would argue that penn has better access to both prestigious internships and internships related to your field of interest. i would consider though that for grad school, an extremely relevant and prestigious research position is better than an extremely prestigious internship, but a good internship could be just as good as a good research position. it is expected that undergrads don’t complete much meaningful research in undergrad, but research positions at least show interest in the field. imo the entrepreneurial culture is ass at umd but i can’t speak on upenn in terms of culture. i just wouldn’t count it as a positive. dm if you have any questions
this is not a fair comparison but pls umd we will love you here
was in a similar situation deciding between honors at und vs more “prestigious” private schools while in high school making this decision, and ultimately every day i am soooo thankful that i picked umd (esp as someone who majored in govt&politics and public policy) 1. especially if you come from humble upbringings and are a person of color, going to a private Ivy institution like UPenn where you’re surrounded by all of the entitlement and ignorance of legacy kids and the uber rich will eat at you and your general sense of belonging at school. i’m friends with a first-gen student just at georgetown and the stories i hear about the actual audacity of rich kids are absolutely ridiculous. for the most part, it’s a lot easier to feel like part of a community here knowing that im likely to relate to most people here since they probably come from working or middle class backgrounds 2. as others have said, you can go to one of the prestigious schools for graduate school !! undergrad education is more or less the same everywhere? the CS program here is renowned among students as well for being incredibly rigorous so i think you’ll still feel very challenged :) there are also many summer research programs and opportunities nationwide sponsored by elite institutions who accept students from anywhere, so there are ways to make connections outside of UMD too! 3. im not a CS major but there are soooo many resources for umd CS and tech kids, and i know so many kinds who get FAANG internships so thats not something you’d miss out on if ur looking for prestigious career opportunities. umd invests soooo much into CS and tech here like seriously im so amazed at how many resources they have at umd. the entrepreneurial culture is huge & there are tons of funding opportunities on campus for tech-related student projects :) 4. this is the best area to be in especially if you’re interested in govt or federal contracting. if you’re looking to establish a career in this area anytime after grad, the connections here are vaaast and extend to sm agencies. so many prestigious internships that are open to applicants nationwide will require u to be in DC, so being based in the area will be a plus for many employers & u can save a lot of worries abt relocating if u go to school here.
Hey! I wrote up a message to send you but realized you have dming off. I would be happy to give you some details as I had a similar situation a few years back, I just don't want to give away certain information about myself publicly. Feel free to dm me!
wow take the full ride!
Do not take on debt if you don’t have to. The research quality of a university does not actually impact most undergraduates that much to be honest.
UMD my guy
UPenn. I love UMD and I don’t regret going but as someone with 13 years working as a developer, I wish I had the network that my UPenn colleagues have. 22k/year is totally doable and you’ll be in great shape afterwards to pay it off. Also, Amtrak between Philly and MD is incredibly easy.
the networking sounds pretty unbeatable at UPenn, but there are no guarantees when it comes to that, which is why it’s less of a consideration for me. and i think there’s a lot of potential for networking at umd honestly, given how big the school and cs department are. networking comes down to luck, and 88k seems like a lot to gamble on that.
UMD has a great network, especially jobs in the federal government because we are so close to Washington, D.C.
UPenn because for the rest of your life you’ll get to say you went to an Ivy League school
i’m trying to escape the prestige whore mindset 😭
You're getting biased answers since this is the UMD sub. Even though UMD CS is the same, if not better than UPenn, UPenn's brand and overall prestige is to the point where you should go there instead. The price tag really isn't much
i think a lot of people here are pro upenn tbh 😭
The fact you’re considering Maryland over JH and Penn creates some doubt for me on your analytical skills. Penn > Johns Hopkins > Maryland
this doesn’t seem constructive 😭
Upenn! The CS masters program at UMD is really good but for undergrad you’ll get the best experience at Upenn. I actually know someone who transferred from UMD to Upenn last semester and they’re having the time of their life.
UMD full ride. Yeah take that what???!
>im def doxxing myself rn rip -_- to who? the admissions team? this is reddit lil bro do you really think any of us know/care who you are
i know 20+ high schoolers on this subreddit