What are the good reach universities for CS?
Stanford, CMU, Harvey Mudd, Caltech, MIT, Rice, UCB. That’d be some of the tippy top. It depends on what you’re looking for though, more info (like t and preferences, as always) would be helpful.
Which of the ivies are good for CS?
Princeton, Cornell are seen as the elite cs programs in the country
(Cornell has the stronger grad program but for undergrad, I recommend Princeton over it as Princeton is a fascinating school overall)
Followed by Columbia, Harvard, UPenn, Brown and the rest ~~
To be quite frank, all the ivy league provide fascinating education for CS. Sure most ivy are not as great in engineering but for comp sci, they are all top notch.
Many of my friends going through CS at Princeton, Upenn, and Columbia seemed to be able to get internships at places like facebook. So ya, for CS, ivy leagues offer top quality education
Now if u are considering also engineering… then I would state here that the ivy arent as great although still solid choices
Anyways, for CS, I say as college student, Carnegie Mellon hands down. This program is so fantastic that lets just say almost half the student body goes to Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft. Stanford is just as great but seriously, if u look at student ratio getting into these top companies, wow, Carnegie Mellon seems like quite far ahead at placing students to top places
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=2_BuVY6RA47z8QXJmoKACw&url=http://www.cmu.edu/career/salaries-and-destinations/2013-survey/pdfs-one-pagers/SCS%2520Post%2520Grad%2520Handout%25202013.pdf&ved=0CBwQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNEvXHEpsCKC6JwjwZOkWrTUDvLY2A&sig2=z_WrqZ-sljdKC30OP-hIxQ
Seriously, companies like Google, amazon, Microsoft are so crapshots that if you attend most state schools in the us, you pretty have 0% chance unless you win some hackathon and despite all this, Carnegie has no problems landing just with median salary of 100k right out of college and up to 175k starting salary (although the cally area is much more expensive… it still reveals how much of top quality carnegie mellon cs is)
anyways, for cs, all the ivy are fascinating.
However…I recommend if possible, stanford and carnegie mellon and MIT (ucberkeley oos is too expensive and financial aid at all ivy should make it more affordable) for cs undergrad
For ivy, mainly … well… all (not so sure anout yale and dartmouth but im sure they are just as fantastic)
and just so you know, for ivy, facebook has its office at princeton, brown, cornell so ya, ivy for cs are highly reputable.
Stanford (and Berkeley and San Jose State) students likely have more small company local options for employment, rather than depending on the bigger companies that recruit everywhere.
Note that the most common feeder school for Apple is San Jose State, and the most common feeder school for Microsoft and Amazon is Washington.
I don’t think the above statement is true. I’ve done research and Amazon is top employer for both state schools that I’ve looked at UCSD and UCLA. They are top 20 CS programs but not super top like Stanford and MIT.
Here’s a chart of feeder schools:
The idea of feeder schools is true, but going to any school and working at these companies is plenty possible. In one year at my school on the east coast that isn’t in the list of schools mentioned, I’ve met students who are now working at Facebook and Google. It’s certainly easier from feeders, but it’s a bit more than 0%.
Also, there’s plenty of other places to work besides these big name companies and make similar salaries.
DrGoogle, UCLA and UCSD are not what many call “most” state schools.
Those are fantastic state schools and not a good depiction of most “state universities” in the US.
Same goes with U of Washington CS (as it is regarded as one of the best and its proximity to Microsoft only helps this)
And with San Jose State… the proximity once again.
Yes, there are many good state universities for CS like UIUC, UCB, UWash, etc. etc.
However, if you are an OOS, these state schools for most people cost more than attending a top private.
Not everyone has UCB in their front yard. I know my in-state doesn’t.
In addition, if you live in places like Alabama, chances are, it is financially better for you to attend a top private (due to their generous financial packages) than a top public.
Anyways, pick a school that is respectable in the program and as an overall for undergrad. Most CS majors I know dropped out of CS after first two semesters. But if you are really really really into CS (and you are absolutely sure), I can’t help but only put forth praises to CS at Carnegie Mellon. I know a friend who attends there right now (third year who is focusing more on the discrete mathy side while doing CS) and he truly seems to be challenged to his wits. It is to the point that I am kind of embarrassed of how much I did not study for a top 10-11 CS program (public).
Post #8, thanks for the clarification regarding the state school comment. Why Carnegie Mellon is an excellent school for CS but if most people in CS drop out after The first two semesters, doesn’t it make sense to pick a CS program that is slightly nurturing while is still a top CS program. If one lives in California, then most if not all of the UCs are decent for CS too.
That chart only considers the top 5 feeder schools to each of those companies, so it’s not really informative on your chances if you go to any school other than those.