Anyone know anything about University of Delaware’s Comp Sci program? It isn’t ABET accredited- should that be a dealbreaker? Are there other accreditation organizations out there?
http://www.cis.udel.edu/undergraduate/planned.html indicates that it looks like it has the usual expected upper level CS courses.
ABET accreditation per se is not all that important for CS besides some unusual cases like taking the patent exam. CS majors without it may be anywhere from very good to very poor, so an unknown school’s CS major should be checked carefully for its CS offerings.
ABET accreditation does not matter for CS… many of the top CS schools are not ABET accredited.
Thanks @ucbalumnus … so what exactly should we be looking for? Just curriculum? Any upper level classes in particular?
Also…why exactly would a CS take a patent exam???
Taking the patent exam would be for those who want to work in patents. Compared to CS graduates overall, that is a relative niche.
For CS departments, look at upper level technical CS courses like:
algorithms and complexity
theory of computation
operating systems
compilers
networking
databases
security and cryptography
software engineering or project courses
hardware courses
electives of interest like artificial intelligence, graphics, user interfaces, etc.
To work with software patents. There is a specialized type of consultant known as a “patent agent” who is licensed with the US Patent & Trademark Office, and who can help clients get their ideas patented or deal with other patent-related issues. There is an equivalent type of lawyer known as a “patent attorney”.
To qualify as a patent professional, you have to pass a difficult USPTO exam. To qualify for the exam, you need to demonstrate a certain level of technical proficiency. The easiest way to do this is to have an approved undergraduate degree. This can include a CS degree, but it has to be ABET. The rationale is probably to exclude less rigorous programs, such as the non-ABET CS or IT programs typically found at unselective for-profit schools.
ABET is generally important in technical fields where there is government licensing (particularly civil engineering), but is generally optional if licensing is not involved. In CS, there is generally no government licensing except for a small number of patent professionals, and so ABET is typically regarded as optional. There are alternative ways to qualify for the patent exam if your CS degree is non-ABET.
@Corbett That is so helpful- thank you!
https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/OED_GRB.pdf section III describes the patent exam degree prerequisites. There are ways to satisfy the prerequisite with a non-ABET-accredited CS degree, but it involves more requirements (e.g. course work that may not necessarily be specified by the non-ABET-accredited CS major) and paperwork. It is likely that the intent is to screen out “CS” majors that are mostly business-based IT majors and similar less technical programs.
The patent exam thing is an interesting little factoid, but it shouldn’t factor into your decision about what school to pick. Most software companies don’t even bother with patents anymore because they’re so expensive and easy to get around. You expose your intellectual property to potential competitors who only have to make little tweaks to be able to break the patent.
There are lots of CS programs that are not accredited, including Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and Caltech. Don’t worry about accreditation.
I’ve worked in software my entire life, including years of hiring developers. I never even heard of ABET accreditation until I had a child pursuing engineering. Employers are going to ask you about what you studied, what projects you did, and what internships you had. They’re going to look for someone who wants to continually learn as the landscape changes so drastically (web sites didn’t exist when I was in college, now that’s all I work with!).
I can see ABET accreditation for the specialized example of working in patents, certain gov’t jobs, or intense research positions - but overall it’s not an issue.
I got my CS degree in 1983, and it wasn’t until about three years ago on CC that I learned there was any kind of accreditation program for CS degrees. It’s never come up in hiring decisions I’ve been involved with.