Everyone knows that not all colleges are the same, but what are

>>8765203
For undergrad, there's no difference in the quality of education being offered (within reason).The "top" schools are research institutions, not teaching facilities. You'll get the same level of education for CS (kek you fucking brainlet) at penn state that you would at Berkeley. I mean, there are only so many ways to teach the pigeonhole theorem and how to compute permutations to undergrads.

Prestige of course differs, and the Berkeley grad will symbolically outrank you, but at the end of the day, you were both taught by an overworked grad student and probably Pompous phd who view your education as nothing more than a nuisance.

>>8765287
This. The level of education you'll get is virtually identical. The difference mostly comes from having a good name on your resume, it will open more doors for employment.

>>8765287
/thread

>>8765287
>>8765290
that's why i'm getting my associates degree in trigonometry at the local community college instead of going to an expensive state school

>>8765287
Berkeley sucks shit for undergrad. Way too big and pc.

You'll get a better experience at a private university (Princeton/Cornell/CMU are reasonably easy to get into CS for non-brainlets) and will give a better quality education by virtue of more teacher interaction and smaller classes

>>8765296
>degree
>trigonometry

As someone who attended a top 25 school and a top 50 public school for undergrad, and a lower ranked public school for grad school:

There wasn't much difference between the rigor or coursework of the two higher ranked schools, there were, I guess more prestigious professors teaching sophomore level math classes, and I guess more extracurriculars, at the top 25 school, and there was much more personal guidance and access to administrators and professors, but the content and difficulty of the normal courses was similar and if anything the public school had a better structured math program.

However there was a noticeable step down at the lower ranked public school, I TAed and while the content covered by the undergrad courses is the same, the difficulty level and the rigor demanded were significantly lower, most of the students were allowed to pass with fairly low standards.

That being said the top 25 school cost me (well, my parents) 20k a year with a scholarship and the public school paid me to attend. So if that's at all a factor you should consider it.

None of this really matters compared to grad school, BTW, and in grad school all that matters is the strength of your department, I ended up at a school that's low rated for undergrad but was one of just a few offering my degree program.

>>8765330

Cornell is great. If you are for some reason compelled to go to an ivy for undergrad pick Cornell.

>>8765379
Are you a cornell student? If so could you give some reasons why cornell is better for cs or undergrad in general than the other ivies?

>>8765398
dont go to cornell you will freeze your literal balls off

>>8765398
Not that guy but I graduated from Cornell.

Cornell is hardcore. One month, when I was a sophomore, three engineering students committed suicide in a short span of time off the same bridge. I'm proud of myself for making it through and it really helped my career but those were some of the most miserable years of my life. Don't go to Cornell unless you're mentally stable and capable of long stretches of uninterrupted focus.

>>8765416
That's literally all engineering schools though (princeton, MIT, and berkeley all have their fair share of suicides)

>>8765203
>for cs

You're making a horrible mistake.

>>8765373

My undergrad experience was similar in a few ways. I started at Penn state due to poor grades out of high school and general lack of work ethic. I left after a year due to personal reasons and worked for a few years while taking classes at a community college. After which I transferred to a top 25.

In terms of material the three schools I attended were indistinguishable. The community college I attended even used the same general physics book as Princeton. The expectations on students tended to vary widely between classes though. My differential equations class, for instance, had an incredibly soft professor. He'd hand out ball busting homework, but then expect a minimal understanding on exams. Whereas my professor for linear algebra was exceptionally rigorous through and through.

The expectations on students at the community college was, in general, significantly lower than the top 25, as one might expect, but the caliber of student was obviously quite different.

The really important bit is that the community college was paying me close to $10,000 per semester to attend in grant and scholarship money. And as I was quite interested in the material anyway I was always thorough. And in that sense I'm not sure it's fair to say the top 25 was any better an educational experience than that no-name CC that payed me to take an associates from them.

Frankly I'd have gotten the same education had I just pirated the books and worked through them myself. But then I wouldn't have this fancy degree on my wall.

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>>8765296

Wew

Somewhere like UIUC will be cheaper than say, CMU or Cornell and the quality of the program will be just as good. However, the name-recognition and prestige of the other schools will get you into places, just depends on how much you value that.