Ms In Us, Help Needed To Decide Which College.

Are any of these places offering him financial aid? Living expenses will be higher at University of Southern California than the other places, if that is a concern.

 

Usually, I give this advice to my family-
Go to the university which has a better support system appropriate for your brother's needs--

Support System---

1. Family/ Friends- If your brother is a family/ friends person and thrives well if he is around family and friends. Advice him to pick a university which is closer to your family or has more number of people from his state. EX- my cousin solely picked her university based on people from my city- coz her personality is to make a tons and tons of friends. Friends and family can basically help land a job after graduation. She did land a job before graduation.

2. Focus on Academics in his field- If he isnt a social butterfly and leaning more towards academics or landing a job in his field. I would suggest him to pick a university based on which is good in his field. Like my sister- she is not a social butterfly. Her sole focus was landing a job after graduation and she chose a university based on this criteria. She landed an internship and OPT before she graduated. My sis is a mech background and she could have got into mech schools closer to where I live. However landing a job in mech field in my state is very hard with less pay and cost of living is quite high. So she went to the university closer to where mech jobs are highly concentrated.

3. Focus on weather- Winter can be brutal in the US. Many people like my SIL couldn't handle winter although she got into a top notch school + she had GAship. After first winter she moved to a warmer place with no GAship. She was very upset at my husband for not considering weather as a negative thing when she was helped to pick the university. She too landed a job right after graduation.

4. Focus on University which will offer you scholarship/ GAship/ TA/RA- Not all universities give out these positions. If funding education is a bit difficult. I would go for a school which will support your education through these programs. Like me almost a decade ago, my sole focus was not to keep asking my parents for money. I did my Masters on GA. I too landed a job right after graduation.

 

UPenn

 

1. University of Pennsylvania (private)
Upenn is private Ivy league school, possibly, higher in tuition cost. Closer to east coast, good job opportunities for those who are qualified/flexible.

2. North Carolina state University (state)
NC state fee could be less. Raleigh,NC - Research Triangle is popular among Indian crowd for jobs, kind of isolated/stuck? in that area.

3. Arizona state University (state) - could be cheaper than other schools? Not familiar with Arizona! Other than, it is a desert.

4. University of southern California (private), not a bad choice. West coast, endless small companies.

I would pick east coast or west coast for future opportunities!

 

All of these are very good universities. UPenn is an Ivy League school so it will be more expensive than others. However, all are big schools so he should be able to get an RA ship in second semester. If I were him, I would look for financial aid. It is okay to reach out to the graduate coordinator/director and ask if it is possible to get RA.
All these places will have plenty of Indian students. Arizona state in Tucson will be comparatively cheaper to live in and is an excellent university.

 

Arizona is pretty good university and has good Indian community....but look which university is offering hin financial aid and part time job prospects all are worth considering....

 

RA - research assistance, financial aid. Some master program may have research assistance support.