<p>Which, out of these three, do you think has the best comp Sci program (and why):</p>
<p>~Cal State Fresno (Fresno, CA)
~Eastern Washington University (Cheney WA)
~Marymount University (Arlington, VA)</p>
<p>EWU and CSUF appear to have a reasonable selection of computer science courses, with EWU appearing to be somewhat better based on a quick look at the course listing (you may want to inspect the course listings yourself on the web sites). EWU additionally has ABET accreditation, which is not a big deal in the field, but does indicate meeting a decent minimum standard (but there exist non-ABET accredited computer science degree programs that are good, as well as ones that are not).</p>
<p>You may want to ask the career centers of each school to see who recruits computer science majors there. But since both seem to be out of the way schools, you may have to be more aggressive at searching for companies to apply to for internships or jobs at graduation.</p>
<p>Marymount’s computer science major is under the information technology department, with a more limited selection of the more technical computer science courses.</p>
<p>How does net cost after financial aid and scholarships compare between your choices?</p>
<p>Marymount is offering me 15k (so I’m paying about 15k if I went)</p>
<p>Fresno: probably none, but I’d pay instate tuition… 10-15k? (not sure about fresno’s tuition tbh)</p>
<p>EWU: I qualified for the western undergraduate program (basically they knocked off 5k from my out of State Tuition). I’m not sure about the school’s financial aid itself, but I’m not expecting anything… So 17k-20k I believe.</p>
<p>I actually just got back from visiting EWU. I was able to talk to the department chair, and they definitely had more major options than Marymount (which I visited in March).</p>
<p>I was previously going to be a Crim. major, so that’s why I didn’t really apply for any schools with a major engineering/tech focus. I eventually want to go to grad school (UC?) so I’m looking for a school that would prepare me for that. Since two of the three are generally considered liberal arts colleges, there was not much I could find about their comp/tech program.</p>
<p>The good thing I found about marymount is that they do require you to have an internship before you graduate (and it usually leads to a job at said place). I know for sure that they are good at that. However, unlike marymount, the locations for EWU and Fresno are different, and i feel as if it might be difficult to find an internship around that area. So if I had to break it down, I’d go to these colleges based on these strong points:</p>
<p>EWU: program
Marymount: internships
Fresno: tuition</p>
<p>Marymount is offering me 15k (so I’m paying about 15k if I went)</p>
<p>While private school tuition is very low there, Marymount will cost more than that…plus you’ll have significant transportation costs. </p>
<p>Are your parents fine with paying about $20k per year?</p>
<p>Tuition and fees …$23,972<br>
Room and board …$10,580<br>
Books and supplies… $1000
Plus personal expenses and travel…another few thousand.</p>
<p>CSUF will cost you about $20k per year - not counting personal expenses.</p>
<p>The difference in price between Fresno and Marymount isn’t much.</p>
<p>Marymount may have more diversity since its student body is 50% out of state. It also has very good ethnic diversity. The male/female ratio isn’t great, though…but not bad either.</p>
<p>Marymount also has a high number of kids living on campus…that’s a good sign for someone who wil be coming from afar.</p>
<p>Plus…the Marymount campus is quite attractive…much better than a CSU would likely be. </p>
<p>Unless that third school is much better (are there a lot of commuters there?), I think I’d go with Marymount. A private school education for the price of a CSU seems worth it.</p>
<p>edited to add…since you haven’t always been strongly a CS major, I don’t think it’s a good idea to pick a school based on that. Likely, you’ll change your mind again. I really think Marymount is best. Lovely school , amazing price, and fab location!!</p>
<p>True, I may change again, but Comp Sci has always been in the back of my mind… I know quite a few languages.</p>
<p>They wouldn’t mind paying the tuition for any of these school, as long as I do my best and whatnot (which I plan to do :P)</p>
<p>Third school meaning EWU? Yes, they have a lot of commuters. They let you have a car, but they offer free transportation to surrounding areas, Spokane, (and Even Seattle I think)</p>
<p>Marymount has that same free transportation system</p>
<p>The problem with Marymount is that its computer science degree program is mostly composed of information technology courses for people aiming to be system and network administrators, not computer software and hardware developers (or graduate students in computer science). When choosing a school, it would not be a good idea to completely dismiss the quality of the major because the student would “probably” change majors.</p>
<p>Compare the computer science degree programs:</p>
<p>[EWU</a> | BSCS Current Java Program (2011 to Present)](<a href=“http://access.ewu.edu/Computer-Science/Degree-Information/BSCS/BSCS-Java-(2011).xml]EWU”>http://access.ewu.edu/Computer-Science/Degree-Information/BSCS/BSCS-Java-(2011).xml)
[California</a> State University, Fresno - Catalog](<a href=“http://www.csufresno.edu/catoffice/current/compscidgr.html]California”>http://www.csufresno.edu/catoffice/current/compscidgr.html)
[Marymount</a> University | Information Technology - Program Requirements](<a href=“http://www.marymount.edu/academics/programs/infoTech/programReq.aspx]Marymount”>http://www.marymount.edu/academics/programs/infoTech/programReq.aspx)</p>
<p>Another option to consider is to attend community college, then transfer to a computer science or other degree program at a four year school as a junior to complete your bachelor’s degree. Use [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to check course articulation with UCs and CSUs. The advantages:</p>
<ul>
<li>Lower cost for the years in community college.</li>
<li>Smaller class sizes.</li>
<li>If you are undecided or likely to change majors, then the delay in progress caused by changing majors will be less costly at a community college compared to the situation of doing so at a four year school.</li>
<li>You may be able to “upgrade” your choices of four year schools by doing well in community college (e.g. get a 4.0 GPA, have a good chance of transferring to Berkeley or UCLA or any other UC or CSU).</li>
</ul>
<p>The disadvantages:</p>
<ul>
<li>Many community colleges have cut back course offerings due to budget cuts, so getting needed courses may be difficult.</li>
<li>For some majors at some four year schools, the prerequisite courses may be hard or impossible to find at many community colleges.</li>
<li>They tend to have commuter school environments, although that may be true to a varying extent at your four year schools.</li>
<li>Transferring is not certain, as particular combinations of campuses and majors are more popular and more selective at transfer time.</li>
<li>Private schools may be less friendly to transfers for admissions, financial aid, and course equivalency.</li>
</ul>
<p>Yet more options could be four year schools still accepting applications. You may want to check if any less expensive WUE schools are still accepting applications and have better academic and non-academic fits for you. If your high school record is good, you may also want to check for other schools with large merit scholarships even at this late stage.</p>
<p>Okays.</p>
<p>Considering that I want to eventually go to grad school (UC, most likely), would it be better for me to pick one of these three schools, or go to a JC in the fall?</p>
<p>I know colleges look at where you got your Bachelor’s for grad school (to some degree). I also know that these three schools are mostly considered liberal arts colleges (possible exception would be Fresno). Would it be a better plan (strategically) to go to a JC and transfer into a four year that is more well known for its comp Sci/tech program than the three I have been accepted to now? The goal in mind being that I attend grad school at a UC, that is.</p>
<p>You may want to ask the CS departments at the UCs you are interested in for graduate school about your question about choice of undergraduate school. However, if you want to go to graduate school in CS, you are least likely to get sufficient preparation at Marymount, due to its limited CS course offerings.</p>
<p>Whether a school is a “liberal arts college” does not say whether its CS degree program is strong or weak. EWU probably has the strongest CS degree program out of these three schools.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts On Fresno vs EWU?</p>
<p>EWU’s CS degree program looks somewhat stronger than that of CSU Fresno based on course listings, but you may want to ask the CS departments at your target graduate schools, and ask the schools’ career centers about who comes recruiting for CS majors for more opinions. But you also want to check the “total package” of each option before deciding. Obviously, the outcome of the community college option depends on how well you do at community college, which determines which four year schools you will be able to transfer to.</p>
<p>You need to consider your “non-academic” time at these schools.</p>
<p>You don’t live near EWU. </p>
<p>EWU is primarily a commuter campus in a rural area. That means that nights and weekends could be very lonely for you. I’m always concerned when kids are considering an OOS commuter school. It’s not unusual for them to be unhappy once they’re there.</p>
<p>Yes, about half of the frosh class does live on campus, but it’s very likely that they live close enough to home that they can frequently leave campus on weekends. It doesn’t appear that the school has much going on during the weekends to keep kids there.</p>
<p>Fresno, at least, does have weekend activities that keep kids around campus. Plus, depending on how far away you live, you could go home on long weekends when nothing is going on around campus.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus, does going to a school with an ABET accreditation in your major affect/increase your chances of getting into a good grad school (such as UC’s)? Or is it mainly good for finding jobs only?</p>
<p>For CS, ABET accreditation is really not a huge issue in employment or graduate school, but it is one of the ways you can be assured that a CS degree program meets a reasonably high minimum standard.</p>
<p>If a CS degree program does not have ABET accreditation, you do need to check its quality carefully. Some are good (e.g. Stanford); others are not (e.g. Marymount).</p>
<p>Is it true that it now takes 5+ years to graduate from a CSU with a Bachelor’s? My parents say this, but I’m sort of concerned that the refused/didn’t cite any reasoning/sources for this claim. Can anyone confirm or deny this statement?</p>
<p>There are claims that some CSUs do not offer enough sections or spaces of necessary courses (e.g. freshman calculus), causing some students to be delayed in taking them, which may cause them to delay other courses that depend on them. Whether that is true likely depends on the specific CSU and courses. You likely need to find students at the specific CSU who want to take or are taking the courses you would take.</p>
<p>Four year graduation rates at CSUs are low, although low four year graduation rates are common at schools that are not selective and inexpensive, and/or which have local commuter students taking light loads because they are also working. It may be hard to separate out the reasons for low four year graduation rates (i.e. things due to student voluntarily taking light course loads or needing remedial courses or having to repeat failed courses versus things outside of the student’s control like difficulty in getting required courses).</p>
<p>Hi, I have got an offer from CSU, Fresno for CS Program for fall 2013? Will you please suggest me about CSU, Fresno. How good is the CS Program for MS? I am waiting for CSU, Long beach, SJSU results also. Your help will be greatly appreciated.</p>