College stuff

Hey everyone, I've been thinking a lot about colleges lately and I've so far narrowed it down to a couple of colleges and was looking for some input.

Basically what I've picked out is MIT, Waterloo (in Canada), RIT, and a couple other smaller tech colleges around the US and Canada.

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and btw, in case you are wondering, I believe i've got a 3.6 or 3.7 or something like that, so there's a chance I won't get accepted in to either of the colleges, but I'm hoping that my extra-curricular stuff and some of the projects i've done in the past will make up for that somewhat
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I'm looking for a computer science degree so I can work with software design and most likely work with applications, or really whatever gets me working with software. I always wanted to do game design, but it's seeming more and more that game design is a very stressful job and I recently read in a report from IGDA that they published a little while back about the "Quality of Life" of a game developer, and it basically said that it sucks :)

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to make games and stuff, I just don't want to get burned out right away in my programming career.

So yah, I'm going to be a senior in high school this next year, and I was mainly wondering which would be better, MIT or Waterloo? I've heard lots of great things about each of them, and I'm not even sure if they'll accept me yet, I'm just wondering which one I should focus on more, if at all....

Thanks for any input, and if I said anything stupid in this post, just forget I said it, heh.

I hear that Carnegie Mellon is also a very good Computer Science school. You should definately check them out as well.

Just as a side comment... this is a lot like "which compiler do you recommend?" they all have their plusses and minuses but it comes down to preference...

Look at each one, then see which one comes in line best with your goals... and if you aren't sure.. then either outline your goals pick the more general of your possible list...

I know nothing about any of those colleges with the exception of MIT's reputation... but if you get into them many kudos to you; that is something I never had the drive to do.

Lets see Waterloo is in canada and canada is bad so... :)

Apply to all the schools you can and then worry about which to go to once you get the responds.

well, i'm actually a canadian citizen :) So waterloo might be the best choice, but yah, I'll have to see what they even say first I guess

i thought you lived in south dakota..

i do, doesn't mean i can't be Canadian. It's a long story.

Go Waterloo! I'm headed into co-op CS there next year.

RIT ist basically one of those schools that if you apply, you will most likely get in.

MIT is basically one of those schools that if you apply, you will most likely not get in.

MIT: Very Intense. A lot of work. If you can get in, congratulations.

Definately take a look at CMU though. They have an amazing comp sci department.

It just makes me so mad seeing people go to MIT and then look at myself and think "I'm smart enough to make it, I'm just too lazy to get good grades to get accepted."

I used to want comp. sci, but I switched my interests over to math and physics. I'll probably get a math major and physics minor. I've been really looking at Rhodes College in Memphis.

Do some research on all the schools and compare the profs. Reputation alone does not make a school. I'd also recommend actually visiting the places you want to go. I think this was the most valuable thing I did when I was applying. Also, one of my high school teachers said this:

"Apply to 5 colleges:

1 you can get into and pay for
1 you can get into but can't pay for
1 you can probably get into and you can pay for it
1 you can probably get into but you can't pay for
1 you have no chance of either getting into or paying for"

Reason? You can always get money to go to school and there are always exceptions to the rule as to who they let in. I believe whole-heartedly that several of the people that got into my school were let in to meet quotas, because they certainly didn't belong there and they didn't last long.

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I believe whole-heartedly that several of the people that got into my school were let in to meet quotas, because they certainly didn't belong there and they didn't last long.

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yeah, I know a few people who got into schools they shouldnt of, that is the problem, too many of the good schools let in people because of socio-economic-ethnic-gender driven concerns instead of the all important : intellectual and ambition concerns.

basically, good luck at getting into those colleges Jeff, I think we can all agree here even the smartest people need luck with atleast a couple schools(MIT and CMU specifically).

CMU is doable. MIT needs extreme luck and intelligence. I was rejected from there w/a 1500 and 4.0. Mind you I was one of those "athletes" that supposedly gets advantages in admissions.