College - Moving to Seattle from Nashville (Redmond, Edmonds: apartments, rental)

[uhhleesha]

I'm going to be attending college this up coming Fall or Winter quarter and I had some questions about Seattle Washington

How many years do I have to live there to escape out of state tuition? My plan was to go to community college for x amount and then transfer to four year to save money.

What college has the most prestige in terms of CS majors? I plan on going for a Computer Science major, not sure what I would do with it. That should come in time. I have researched this, and was just wondering what the locals/people who have lived there think.

How hard would it be to find affordable housing in the Edmonds area with animals? I have a male maltese/poodle mix who is well trained, well behaved, and knows to heel. I also have three cats, but are unsure about bringing them. My mom said I could keep them with her. I can't just bring one, because they're all "buddies" and constantly cry if one is missing [or at the vet for altering surgery].

Considering the animals I am/might be bringing and the house slump would it be best to rent or to buy while being a college student?

Does Washington or any of the nearby cities have leash laws? Do they have Dog parks? Are people there generally well receptive to dogs?

[Ira500]

There are a ton of dog parks in the Seattle area, including a waterfront dog park in Edmonds, the doggie disneyland of Marymoor Park of Redmond ( 44 off leash acres!), and a whole bunch in Seattle.
Every city in WA has leash laws, but in Seattle they tend to have the most enforcement, where there's a 500 dollar fine for allowing your dog to swim, except at Magnuson Park's offleash lake access.

[chrisstie]

Uhhleesha, do you have any current programming experience? I'm just wondering if you're coming to college for the first time or transferring from your current location. Unfortunately I can't answer many of your questions because I don't live there - yet - but am planning to move there this year too from Florida.

I graduated in May 08 with a computer engineering degree and am currently looking for a job that would be willing to relocate me (otherwise, yikes, the big move on my dime!). While i'm not straight CS I know a little of the degree and what it involves and my husband and other friends work in the field. If you have any questions of that regard about what you can do when you get out I'd be happy to help and maybe we can learn more about Seattle together here. This forum has a lot of fantastic info!

[cellogurl23]

I have no idea what the rules are in Seattle, but as a rule, you need to be careful; if you want to establish state tuition, you have to prove that you came to the state to work, NOT to go to school, and you have to live there a year, prior to enrolling as a student.

So, your notion of attending a tech school, and then enrolling in university is not wise; you need to work a year first. Get a driver's license and a rental agreement, first thing, a full year before you intend to go to university. If you go to school first, right away, you'll never get in-state tuition rates.

[uhhleesha]

Ira500: Thank you! I was hoping I could find a place there for Odin to run around in off leash.
Chrisstie: I don't have any formal training, but I know bits and pieces from reading and helping someone with their VB.net class. I'll be coming from Tennessee to my first college. Florida is a nice place, I usually vacation around Destin in the panhandle.
Cellogurl23: I plan on working there as well. I have no idea how I'd support myself otherwise. I do plan on living there and attending school. I do plan on moving there a month or two before I enroll in class to get settled in with a job and a lease. Even with that I'll have to pay out of state for four years even if I'm living there? I'd prefer not to wait a year because then I'd be a year behind in schooling, and education is important.

Thanks for the help.

[dangster]

The University of Washington is THE premiere school in the Pacific Northwest for Computer Science. It is consistently ranked in the top 10 CS programs in the country. Most of the major tech companies recruit heavily there. A B.S. in Computer Science (or Computer Engineering, the two majors are housed in the same department) from UW is an excellent thing to have on your resume.

I should know, I graduated from UW with a B.S. in Computer Engineering in 2005

But I should warn you, admission into the program is NOT trivial. Once you have applied and are accepted into the University of Washington, you need to complete a set of prerequisites before applying to the CSE department, which takes roughly 2 years. I'm not sure what the acceptance rate is, but I'm guessing roughly a third of all applicants. Your chances increase slightly if you are female, but I wouldn't count on that.

That said, it would suck if you attended UW on the hope that you would get into the CSE department, only to find yourself rejected and not having another plan. So this is something you'll need to think about.

And as for gaining residency for in-state tuition purposes, it takes year.

[uhhleesha]

I just sent a letter to UW asking about in state tuition and the admission process to CSE. Hopefully that will clear up things.

Also, what would be better as a student rent or buy an apartment or house?

[Ira500]

As a student it's MUCH better to rent than to buy. In some cities, mortgage payments are as low as rents, but in Seattle mortgage payments are much, much higher than rents. Also, Seattle area prices for houses and condos have been dropping, and nobody is really sure when the price dropping is going to end. So if you bought now and prices kept dropping, and then you wanted to sell in four years, you could be out a whole lot of money.
If you really loved it here and wanted to stay for 5 or 10 years or more,and you really wanted to own something, and could afford it, then the decision becomes less easy.

[uhhleesha]

Well, I do plan on living there even after school. I was thinking of staying in Edmonds area or the surrounding area. I'm not exactly sure if I would be able to afford it because I don't have a job there yet, so I'm not sure how much money I would have to make payments and such. However, I do have money saved up for after I move out and I could have a room mate that pays rent. My mom said she'd pay for my college as long as I have a job. So, that would crunch out a lot of numbers.

[dangster]

Why are you considering living in Edmonds? Traffic on I-5 is terrible, and you will spend roughly 2 hours a day commuting.

I grew up in Lynnwood (which is next door to Edmonds) and lived with my parents during most of college, and let me tell you, I wouldn't recommend living that far away from campus. If you do manage to get to CSE, you will certainly find yourself working in the labs late at night (midnight is not uncommon). Living nearby, either on-campus or somewhere in the U-District, would be really helpful, not mention a lot more fun Also, while rents in Seattle may be higher than in the surrounding suburbs, it's not that much so. Find yourself a roommate (not hard) and split the costs of a 2-bedroom. I paid $400/month (4 years ago) for my share of a 2-bedroom that was a 10 minutes walk from campus.

One caveat is that most apartments in Seattle (well many apartments, period) do not accept pets, or at least do not accept dogs. Others have breed requirements.

You can still establish residency while attending school, so you could attend classes for a year and pay out-of-state tuition while establishing residency (driver's license, employement, voter's registration, proving financial independence from parents, etc), then pay in-state tuition for the rest of your time once residency has been established.

Computer Science Admission process in nutshell:
1. Complete prerequisites:
1st-year calculus series, the 2 introductory programming courses (these are the "weed-out" classes), english composition, and either engineering physics or chemistry
2. Essay
3. Transcript - your grades in the prequisites are very very important--no one gets in with less than 3.5 (out of 4) in the intro programming courses.

Actually, I need to take back my previous statement about it taking roughly 2 years to complete the prerequisites. This should take you about a year, if you cram everything in. It took me nearly 2 years, but only because the requirements for admission were different back then.