I’ve heard back from every university but MIT and Caltech. Since I really don’t have a whole lot of interest in going to either, it looks like the graduate admissions process is at an end. I’m nothing but pleased, both because it’s over and because the choices I’ve got are so good.
I’ve basically got three choices. Here they are, in ascending order:
UCLA: It’s a great location, close to my parents and many of my closest friends. It’s also a very respected program and has a number of Cal alumni on the faculty. It’s not my top priority overall, but it’s definitely got some strong things going for it.
UCSD: One of the best computer science programs in the country, not to mention the beautiful weather. Their financial aid offer is pretty attractive as well, although I’m not sure they’re as well-funded as the next school on the list.
University of Washington: Next to MIT, Cal and Stanford (the bastards … I’m not bitter or anything), this is the top CS program in the country. They just got a new CS building which is supposedly fantastic. They have generous funding from M$, which will help my research I’m sure. Let’s not forget that everybody I’ve talked to at Cal has said that UW is “the obvious choice”. Seattle isn’t the best in the weather department, but they say that it’s not much worse than SF has been in the last couple years, so I’ll probably be able to handle it.
So, there you have it. I’m not staying in the bay area (although I will probably come back here to work, what with the Silicon Valley being here and everything). I might not even be staying in California. At this point, however, I’m not ruling anything out.
When I was applying to colleges not so many years ago, visit days made my decision easier. That’s why I’m going to them … all of them. This means I’m not going to be in Berkeley for about 60% of March. In fact, between the 8th and the 18th of March, I’ll be at Cal for a grand total of one day. Thankfully, this being my last semester, I’m hardly taking anything. As I go to visit days, I’ll be streaming photos to Flickr, which means they’ll show up in the Photos section. Stay tuned.
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Congrats amigo. With those choices, it doesn’t really seem you can go wrong. Have fun on your whirlwind trips. Looking forward to pictures.
Other than the weather and the awesome CS program at U dub… the music scene is prett amazing (so I hear).
Good to see you’re hanging in there and doing well. Cheers.
My sister Eliza did her masters degree in library science at U-Dub… it was distance learning so she wasn’t actually in Seattle, but she liked it! Go Huskies.
Wow, what a great choice of schools. But, hey we vote for UCLA. (For obvious reasons.) We’re proud of you. We don’t want to lose touch with you. (My computers don’t care though). Good Luck choosing.
UW! My dad went to law school there! And I applied there for undergrad, based solely on the city of Seattle, which I really really liked. I mean, sure it rains most of the year, but it’s a really mellow, musical culture.
I wish I knew what I was doing after college…not grad school, that’s fer sure.
Congratulations!!!
Keep us blog-readers updated on what you decide!