<p>I am set up to transfer to a State college this fall to major in Computer Science. However, the program is not accredited. And the school has no engineering, it is part of the arts and sciences division. It is mainly an education majors school. So I'm wondering if I should transfer instead to a school that is more known for eng and comp sci, is closer to home, but costs more. And I've also been considering switching to comp eng because I am interested in doing more than just coding. Any advice out there?</p>
<p>Transfer to a different school. I was in a similar situation where I starting attending my local state college, found out I wanted to major in CS, and had to decide on going back to CC to transfer to UC, or keep on attending the state college. My local state college’s CS department was literally just a hallway with 7-8 rooms, so I chose the first option. The point is if you have an option of going to a better school, always take it for the experience, if anything. The cost isn’t important because you’ll be paying off any student loans you have within a few years with the salary you will be making. </p>
<p>Computer Science isn’t “just coding”, and the two majors actually share most of the same core classes. You should major in CompEng if you want to work with hardware vs. software. You can’t go wrong with either majors, but pick the one you will enjoy more. Both require programming classes though</p>
<p>Accreditation for CS programs does not matter. We had this discussion here a few months ago. I counted through the top 100 CS programs according to ARWU a few months ago, and only about 40% of the top American programs were accredited.</p>
<p>Lots of CS programs are run out of the arts and sciences department. My CS degree was administered by the math department. There is no need to transfer if that’s the degree you want.</p>
<p>Repeating what Simba9 said…“Accreditation for CS programs does not matter”. I live here in the Washington DC area and the top CS program here is University of Maryland-College Park. It is NOT accredited since the CS major is part of the “College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences”.</p>
<p>One more thing about Computer Science (especially if you are going into software), hiring folks care more about which courses and expertise that you possess. As long as you take the CS core courses and good marketable CS electives, your actual major becomes less and less important.</p>
<p>Me?..I was a Math major.</p>
<p>However, there exist some very inadequate or limited CS departments and majors. Check to see if the CS department offers the following junior and senior level CS courses:</p>
<p>algorithms and complexity
theory of computation, languages, and automata
operating systems
compilers
networks
databases
software engineering or project course
security and cryptography
digital design and computer architecture
electives like artificial intelligence, graphics, etc.</p>
<p>If your goal is patent law, then ABET accreditation per se does matter, although the patent exam does allow doing so from a non-ABET accredited CS major with sufficient science courses (favoring physics over chemistry over biology); check <a href=“http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/GRB_March_2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/GRB_March_2012.pdf</a> .</p>
<p>For top programs, CS accreditation does not matter. Moreover, for CS programs in Liberal Arts colleges, accreditation is much less important. For CS programs in the Engineering college at less-than-top schools, I’d contend that ABET-CAC accreditation is as important as ABET-EAC accreditation is for most other engineering majors (one exception might be civil, where accreditation may be especially important).</p>
<p>ABET accredited CS programs range from decent to really good
Non ABET accredited CS program range from really bad to really good</p>
<p>If your CS program is really bad then transfer to another school</p>
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<p>However, some smaller schools and LACs have very limited CS departments lacking some of the typical offerings listed in post #5 (e.g. Emory and Amherst, although a motivated student can use cross registration agreements to try to cover the gaps). Some others have a specialized focus but are less suitable for someone wanting a good general CS education (e.g. Georgetown, although cross registration agreements can help). Check the catalogs and schedules carefully.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the replies. I’ve basically decided to transfer. Not only because of the accreditation, but because I’ve done some research and I think the accredited program is just a lot better and I will have a better experience there. And I think I’ll stick with CS. I love coding, just got distracted by some of the other possibilities out there. But I know what I like so I’m sticking with that. Thanks again!</p>