<p>My S is only a HS sophomore now but will probably major in CS with a possible concentration in Game Design/Development when he attends college. I've put together a list of colleges but see that some do not have the ABET accreditation. Is it absolutely necessary to attend a college with this accreditation? Will future employers really ask or be aware of that or just be interested if the person has a BS in CS. We are in state for NJ and looking primarily in NJ, NY, and PA. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>This must be an FAQ.</p>
<p>In general, ABET accreditation in CS is sufficient, but not necessary, to indicate a decent or better quality CS major. Many excellent CS majors are not ABET accredited, such as Stanford, CMU, Berkeley L&S CS. Others are ABET accredited, such as MIT and Berkeley EECS.</p>
<p>However, if the school is not well known for CS, and is not ABET accredited, you may have to do more investigation of the school’s CS department, to make sure that it offers with reasonable frequency the usual expected advanced CS courses, as there are some schools with very limited CS departments. The school’s general prestige is not a reliable indicator of the quality of its CS major.</p>
<p>Those considering eventually taking the patent exam from a CS background need either an ABET accredited CS degree or specific course work (including lab science) as listed in <a href=“http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/exam/GRB_January_2014.pdf”>http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/exam/GRB_January_2014.pdf</a> .</p>
<p>For game design, consider any school with a good CS major; in addition to taking the usual useful advanced CS courses like algorithms and complexity, operating systems, networks, databases, software engineering, and security, the student may want to take artificial intelligence and graphics in CS, and physics and art outside of CS. The game industry may seem enticing from the outside, but can be very stressful to work in, so one should be willing to work in other computer jobs as a backup plan.</p>
<p>^ What ucbalumnus said. Where I’ve worked and been involved in hiring decisions, I have made considerations similar to what is described above. ABET accreditation doesn’t mean everything, but it means something.</p>
<p>In the hiring decisions I’ve been involved with, accreditation means nothing.</p>