Hi all,
Currently I am a first year student at a top 50 university. Originally I was planning on majoring in film, but I have flopped to computer science, which I highly enjoy and have no intention of leaving. This school was a good film prospect but has a questionably small CS department. I am in sophomore level classes right not and I am doing very well and am, at most times, even bored with the material - most of which I have learned previously. Nearing the end of the first semester, I have found that the intro to computer science class to be quite slapdash (non-rigorous). My current school’s curriculum is very relaxed and not very thorough. Other schools beat object oriented programming into the students’ heads (this is a good thing).
The issue that I’m faced with is to stay or to transfer. Certainly a more thorough curriculum would be better. I have applied to high level CS schools like Cornell and BU but my question is: would it be better to go to a place like Cornell (high tuition, cutthroat atmosphere, terrible weather) or to stay where I am? At my current school I am an honors student which allows me to take any classes I chose (no general education requirements). I also have enough AP credits (29) to be considered a junior by the end of the year. I can tack on a +1 year masters degree to my undergrad and graduate at the end of my four years with a Masters of Science in Computer Science, and I can do all of this at a steal (about a half-off-tuition scholarship).
At an Ivy League such as Brown, Columbia, or Cornell, I will be forced to stay for 4 years to get my B.S. in computer science and the cost would be exponentially higher, but the CS education will be much more high quality.
I think about this all the time and I would love to hear some input from others. Thanks!
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