Utah vs. NCSU vs. TAMU for computation

[ParsleyX]

Hey everyone,

 

I have a really hard choice to make -- I have great offers from each of these schools and seem to be evenly split between them.  I am leaning Utah, but it's perhaps more isolated and academic than the others.  I am leaning NCSU, but they seem more software engineering than computation, I'm leaning TAMU, but they don't seem to have many people working in computation (plus no google fiber).

 

The bottom line is that I want to go to school to gain some technical skills so I can get an interesting and exciting job, ideally doing something involving math, programming, and fast computers.  What are your thoughts? 

[scarvesandcardigans]

Hey everyone,

 

I have a really hard choice to make -- I have great offers from each of these schools and seem to be evenly split between them.  I am leaning Utah, but it's perhaps more isolated and academic than the others.  I am leaning NCSU, but they seem more software engineering than computation, I'm leaning TAMU, but they don't seem to have many people working in computation (plus no google fiber).

 

The bottom line is that I want to go to school to gain some technical skills so I can get an interesting and exciting job, ideally doing something involving math, programming, and fast computers.  What are your thoughts? 

 

I might be incredibly biased, but the external research and experience opportunities that NC State offers are invaluable. Many students that I know in similar programs have internships and jobs with places like IBM and SAS (one of those students is a math undergrad). RTP is also an excellent place to look, in general. 

 

If a program doesn't have many people doing what you want, then maybe you should look at the job placement of the graduates in that program and compare to what you want to do. 

 

What kind of funding are you looking at? One thing that someone else told me was to go where the funding was best. The last thing you want to be worrying about is trying to find a job or paying off loans. If the funding specifically is about the same from each school, then I would look at the faculty list and see what program can offer you a wider pool of faculty members to collaborate with. I would not want to be stuck in a school with only one professor in my specialization even if they offered me the best package I could have gotten. 

 

I might not have a lot to offer aside from the fact that I have seen a lot of people have success at NC State, but I wish you the best of luck in your decision!