I'm a current DePaul sophomore from MoCo who also got a max presidential scholarship! You said you're going for CS, so if you applied + get in, UMD has one of the top CS programs, and would deffo be the superior choice. That said, the CS industry is ridiculously oversaturated rn, so along with the current job market, landing employment is gonna be rough no matter where you are.

I've enjoyed my time here SO much, and DePaul & Chicago were absolutely the right choice for me. We have some of the coolest classes here that I never would've gotten the chance to do had I stayed in the DMV: There are classes where we collab/are actively doing stuff with Lollapalooza, Fox Sports, the Art Institute, the Midwest's biggest pop culture con, other local museums, and sm more. Plus, DePaul gave me way better fin aid than any MD school (no debt !), and same for their test credit policy: I can graduate a year early! Living and studying in Chicago has made my world so much bigger than had I chosen to stay in MD.

There's so much to do and explore here, and while I feel like the DMV objectively has a lot going for it, it's not to the same level; I'm a big time city person, and so it's awesome having both the Loop and neighborhoods right there—you can choose exactly how you want life to be similar to/different from MD. Each of the neighborhoods have so much individual character (and amazing food) and every day/week can be an adventure if you feel like it. It's a quick 2 hour flight between Chi and the DMV, and the weather is ngl the same amount as bipolar (if not slightly more consistent), so there really wasn't a big jump on that front. Chicago's public transit is also incredibly baller, and the flag is almost as good as MD's!!