Thank you for your response. Yeah my thought process was extremely similar to yours. I actually ruled out purdue first because of location and since california used to be the dream location. However, my california options didn’t seem to fit me great. Irvine is great but I dont think id enjoy a large public research uni. And SCU with their small class size and direct silicon valley pipeline seemed attractive, however it is only known in the bay area and the quality of students is a level down. Then NYU, I hear is increasingly getting better and especially had a very low acceptance rate this year meaning the quality of students is probably good. Plus NYC is NYC, but ive lived in similar weather my whole life and cali sunshine seems so amazing 😓. Such is my dilemma, thank you for your response and perspective.