<p>Two important factors I think would be important internship opportunities and education quality. I would think it would be just between uncc, chapel hill, and nc state.</p>
<p>Pretty sure that the three schools that make the corners of the Research Triangle are heavily recruited by employers seeking CS graduates.</p>
<p>According to US News, it would be UNC-Chapel Hill by a nose over Duke, with NC State a respectable third. NRC ranks Duke slightly ahead of UNC, with NC State trailing farther behind. Close enough that I wouldn’t choose between Duke and UNC on the basis of relative strength in CS, and NC State is a reasonable alternative if, e.g., financial considerations weigh in its favor.</p>
<p>Other considerations besides cost that some students may be interested in when choosing between the schools for CS:</p>
<p>a. If any school offers a specific subspecialty in courses and research opportunities that you are interested in that the others lack, then that may be in its favor.
b. If you want to go into patent law, ABET accreditation is desirable. NCSU has it, but UNC-CH and Duke do not for CS. Some other NC schools have it (ASU, FSU, NC A&T, UNC-G, UNC-W, WSSU).</p>
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Duke and UNC offer cross-registration and a bus that runs between the two campuses every 30 minutes, so any difference is especially negligible. </p>
<p>NC State is also a member of the consortium, but it is much more difficult to get to without a car.</p>
<p>From the little I know of UNCC, mostly through friends who’ve attended, it’s been attempting to beef up many of its STEM programs. If not a reasonable alternative to State for CS yet, I think it very well could be in the relatively near future.</p>
<p>Really? Duke ahead of state?</p>
<p>LOL at the idea of state students trying to figure out how a computer works.</p>
<p>I’ve always thought ncsu had a decent computer science program.</p>
<p>NC State has much more than a decent computer science program. Its graduates, like those from UNC and Duke’s programs, do very well. I know people in several well-regarded computer science companies in North Carolina who recruit almost exclusively at NC State and UNC. Look at the specifics of each program, as ucbalumnus has suggested. If you get in both State and Carolina, you will have two excellent choices.</p>