Brandeis vs Reed vs Rochester for Computer Science/Linguistics

College Search & Selection
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Hi,

I am trying to figure out which one of these schools would be best for me. At Reed I would pursue an interdisciplinary degree in computer science and linguistics, and at Brandeis and at the University of Rochester I would pursue a double major in computer science and linguistics and plan to take advantage of 5 years combined bachelor master program. I plan on going to graduate school and eventually earning a PhD, this prestige in academia is quite important to me.

Which would you recommend? I am quite unsure which to pick, I know Reed can give a better undergraduate environment and may have higher prestige for grad schools due to its status as a liberal arts college. I also like the location and campus of Reed the best. However, I am worried that these other schools may be better due to my specific academic interest.

Additionally, if it came down to Brandeis and Rochester, which would be the most prestigious for this discipline? Rochester seems to be higher on most rankings however that is primarily for graduate school, and Brandeis seems to have a very big focus on computational linguistics in their computer science department.

Thanks!

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Reed is a good school, but you might do some investigation into their CS department. I don’t know if this situation has been resolved now, but we keep hearing about understaffing issues.

When we visited Reed, we saw flyers posted all over the school by CS majors who were very concerned about their department, and then I saw this public letter that had been posted by Reed students: https://reedquest.org/articles/2022/2/25/a-letter-from-concerned-computer-science-juniors

My son also just attended an event over the winter break where he overheard some Reed students talking about the same problem. The students were saying to one another that Reed salaries are too low to hire qualified CS teaching staff.

I’m aware that these concerns are at the level of rumor, but if I were interested in CS and considering Reed, I would check it out thoroughly.

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A check of the faculty roster, course catalog, and course schedule should give an indication of whether the CS department has enough instructional capacity.

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I meant to look a little closer than that, to try to determine whether needed courses in the catalog are actually being scheduled and taught, faculty members aren’t stretched too thin, faculty listed on the roster are actually teaching (and will continue to be there), etc. Some of the student complaints (such as in the letter linked above) are that the faculty members are overworked and not able to adequately give feedback, for example.

Repeatedly hearing these concerns about Reed CS has actually made us look more closely at all the departments my son is considering, which is a good thing, I think.

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Any chance you can visit the places making sure in advance that you can talk with people in those departments? Most students I know come back from such visits with preferences.

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I wouldn’t consider prestige among these three – they are all well-known, quality institutions.

You claim to prefer the location and campus of Reed. Definitely delve into their course catalog – check the last couple years, if possible, to see if an adequate CS path would be available to you. There is no sense in going there if their CS offerings are inadequate (whether by number/type of courses or calendar frequency).

If it then comes down to Rochester and Brandeis – both are great, but there may be adequate differences in setting/curriculum/cost to help you decide.

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How do you know this? Brandeis and Rochester are arguably much better known but forgetting that - I think your grades and GRE will impact your grad school more.

I don’t see how a liberal arts college would give you any greater ability to attend grad school than a research university, etc… It may have more kids who aspire to that - but you could go to Boise State and likely have as good as odds.

If you look at Reed’s published career outcomes, they show 23% of last year’s grads pursuing additional education vs. 22% of all reporting colleges (not just LACs). So more - but marginally more.

Rochester is showing 46.7% - so blows Reed away - as far as continuing education.

Brandeis is showing by race - 35% white, 32% POC, and 65% international - attend grad school.

All that being said - I don’t see how it’s relevant. What I see as relevant is - where is best for you to spend the next four years. You have to be there, day after day after day.

Now some other posters brought up some concerns with Reed’s CS program - and those should be investigated as well as the curriculum at all three schools.

But not only is your assumption false (according to the data), I don’t think it matters. If you told me you thought University of Kentucky or Northern Colorado was the best place for you, I’d say go there- and you’d still have that opportunity to get into grad school (which you plan for now but you’re 18 and are likely to change your PHD desires at some point.

So find the best fit - desire, curriculum, affordability - you’ll be happier when you wake up each day. And a happier student equals one who does better in the classroom and in life.

Good luck.

First Destination Survey - The Center for Life Beyond Reed - Reed College

Career Outcomes & First Destination – Greene Center | University of Rochester

Class of 2021 Outcomes | Class of 2021 | Find Where Brandeisians Go | Hiatt Career Center | Brandeis University

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Undergrad research is quite the culture at Rochester so it almost surprises me to see this number that low - but plenty get jobs post grad too when I think about it.

I can’t compare to Reed or Brandeis because I don’t personally know any students who went to either of those places. This isn’t due to either being bad, but simply distance. Most students actually stay relatively close to home.

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