<p>I know someone who wants to study CS and is currently deciding between Yale and Columbia. The Columbia CS dept seems stronger and is larger than Yale's (~40 faculty at Columbia vs ~20 at Yale). Yale's CS dept is not weak but Yale is not known for CS or engineering in general, and it seems that there are very few CS majors. At the same time, Yale seems to have more general international recognition and more resources per student. Any thoughts, especially from current Columbia CS students, would be appreciated.</p>
<p>You’d do well to check out [the</a> other Columbia CS thread](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/1315613-columbia-computer-science.html]the”>Columbia Computer Science - Columbia University - College Confidential Forums) going on right now, as well as doing a forum search for past ones involving computer science.</p>
<p>I myself was a CS minor and was very impressed by the resources available to CS people, and the opportunities available after graduation. CS is probably the single most professionally-useful toolkit you can acquire as you head out into the Real World after undergrad.</p>
<p>He should probably go to Yale.</p>
<p>PunjabX, can you elaborate?</p>
<p>At the undergraduate level, it does not matter. The greater international reputation that Yale provides will allow him to go to a top graduate school for his major. Both are good choices though, its his call at this point.</p>
<p>Tough choice. Columbia has a pretty decent CS dept which is better than Yale’s, though both schools are not great for the subject. Yale has more prestige. The reason to go to Columbia is what’s outside the college. NYC offers tons of internship opportunities at emerging startups and connections with VCs. NYC is a growing tech hub (2nd to Silicon Valley. I believe it is even with Boston or has surpassed it now)</p>
<p>Personally, I would pick Columbia for undergrad CS over every school except MIT, Stanford, Princeton… maybe Harvard and Caltech too.</p>
<p>actprep54, thanks for your thoughts. I think both are pretty good for undergraduate CS, even if they’re not the strongest at the graduate level. I think I’m more inclined to go with Yale, because I feel that the greater overall resources and prestige of Yale overpower Columbia’s relative strength in CS. I think that a CS major from both can get the same opportunities, with the difference that Columbia’s location makes it a bit easier. However, if one wants to double major in another field, I think Yale may be better overall.</p>
<p>I think this is indeed a hard choice and I would be more than happy to hear any other thoughts.</p>
<p>Prestige, again??? Pick the school that suits you best, based upon curriculum and other such things. Columbia is famous for its Core Curriculum, the requirements of which will “eat up” a lot of your available credits. Go to the Columbia website, research the Core, look at its requirements. If you don’t like the Core or those requirements then, well, by all means DON’T apply to Columbia. </p>
<p>The obsession with the “prestige” of HYP to the exclusion of all other issues, such as fit between student and school, is so disturbing on CC. Those three schools are not the only places where one can secure an extraordinary education. I graduated from UCHicago. I received my Ph.d from Harvard, where I was also an award-winning teacher. Seeing Harvard first-hand, however, I came to believe that the undergraduate education I received at Chicago – like Columbia, UCHicago is known for a sometimes overwhelming Core curriculum – trumped what I saw available to Harvard undergrads. For me it was a better choice. Is Harvard more prestigious than UCHicago? Well, I suppose so. Was it better? Not for what I needed from college. I chose on FIT, not prestige.</p>
<p>The point is that picking college A over college B simply because of prestige is ridiculous, AT THE LEVEL OF THE IVIES!!! Point of fact: for the past few years Columbia has received MANY MORE applicants than Yale, presumed “prestige” be damned. At either school you can received fine education. But a very DIFFERENT KIND of education, based on the philosophies and requirements of the specific schools.</p>
<p>Look into the actual schools and decide based upon FIT.</p>
<p>This “prestige” talk on CC is just nonsensical to me. Isn’t there more to education than that? This may be a function of my age, I admit. Maybe to you “young uns” prestige really is ALL THAT MATTERS in the world. If so, it is kind of sad.</p>
<p>Rudess, please excuse MY rudeness. I have been looking at some of the posts and threads and am just somewhat overwhelmed by the obsession with HYP, and their perceived monopoly on “prestige.” You are clearly asking a different set of questions than the ones I addressed (ranted about), though the Columbia Core curriculum should factor into the decision-making process of the person for whom you are making inquiries. I would argue, however, that there is not much of a prestige-gap in the REAL WORLD between Yale and Columbia. It is the difference between US News & World Report’s 3rd ranked school (Yale), and its 4th ranked school (Columbia). The history of popular PERCEPTIONS, however, is another story. Your person will get into as many great grad schools from Columbia as he or she will from Yale. I graduated from UChicago and despite its popularly-presumed LACK of prestige, I was accepted for graduate school (Ph.D programs) by both Harvard and Yale. So, I do not think that a Columbia degree will in any way hinder anyone’s acceptance to the absolute top graduate schools. I would say that undergraduate curriculum, especially Columbia’s daunting Core, should be more of an issue than the non-issue of a prestige gap between Yale and Columbia.</p>
<p>Going to Yale for CS is like going to MIT for Art History…</p>
<p>Things are broken down by what the school is known for. Columbia is known for Engineering/Sciences…the Manhattan project happened there for Godsakes…Yale doesn’t have an environment for someone who is seriously considering a computer science major…there is some bad advice in these forums sometimes.</p>