<p>After researching through the forum on whether or not ABET accreditation matters for computer science majors, the answer always seems to be " it depends". I am currently looking into a school right now called Georgia College and State University that is NOT ABET accredited, however, the curriculum seems pretty similar to most accredited schools. Would going to a school like this severely hurt my chances for jobs and a decent graduate school? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Computer science, both the industry and graduate programs, take in many individuals from different majors. Since many CS departments are part of math departments, ABET accreditation means very little. Believe it or not, one only needs 4 or maybe 5 core CS courses to be admitted into a MSCS program.</p>
<p>ABET accreditation in CS can be a positive in assuring that the CS major degree program meets a decent minimum standard. However, non-ABET-accredited CS major degree programs can be good, although one should inspect the course and curriculum offerings more closely to ensure that they actually are good.</p>
<p>It may be difficult for an individual to assess the strength of any computer science program before choosing which one to attend. The criteria used by ABET for making such a determination are established by professional member societies such as ACM and IEEE-Computer Science and represent current and anticipated needs of industry for graduating students. One might safely assume that the unaccredited CS program at MIT meets those requirements, but employers can and do rely on the quality of graduates from ABET accredited programs at lesser known institutions.</p>
<p>It depends on what companies you want to work for after college.</p>
<p>For example, for top private companies like Facebook, Google, ABET matters very little. In fact, GPA, surprisingly, matters very little. But good luck surviving those interviews…</p>
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<p>MIT does have ABET accreditation in CS for the “Computer Science and Engineering” (course 6-3?) and “Electrical Engineering and Computer Science” (course 6-2?) degree programs:
[Accredited</a> Programs details](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=41]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=41)</p>
<p>Examples of generally-considered-good CS degree programs that are not ABET accredited in CS include:</p>
<p>Berkeley (BA degree in CS in the College of Letters and Science; BS degree in EECS, CSE option in the College of Engineering is ABET accredited)
Carnegie Mellon*
Cornell*
Princeton
Stanford
Texas*
Washington*</p>
<p>*Has a degree program with ABET accreditation in Computer Engineering, though it is not necessarily the “Computer Science” major degree program.</p>
<p>However, when getting beyond the generally-considered-good for CS schools, a CS degree program without ABET accreditation should be checked carefully for course and curriculum offerings.</p>