I was wondering if any current Oberlin computer science students would be willing to talk about their experience with studying computer science at Oberlin. How is the teaching? Is the program collaborative? Are internships available? What tech companies recruit at Oberlin? Is computer science integrated into other departments? How are the core curriculum classes that you have been taking? Anything else you feel is important to know? Thanks, in advance.
Hey, I’m a compsci major and I love our department! The teaching is excellent in my opinion and the professors all really want you to understand the concepts so are happy to help in office hours and lab sessions. And since there aren’t many of them (6 next year), you really get to know them all over the years. The program is pretty collaborative, with tons of opportunities to work in groups and lots of peer tutoring. The core courses are great in my opinion, and since they are often taken in a specific order (150->151->241->210->280->383, although there is flexibility to this), you get in the same track with classmates and get to know them really well. Additionally, with the increase in professors there are some really cool electives coming up which should be fun! You can see the full offerings in the catalog.
You have to take 2 math courses in addition to the 10 compsci classes, so that’s the only real integration into other departments, but many people double major in math, do double degree in the college, we have lots of dance/theater people, neuroscience, physics, econ, psych, creative writing etc, so double majoring or just exploring other disciplines is definitely an option with Oberlin’s open curriculum.
A lot of tech companies recruit from Oberlin. Google has been here twice this year, MongoDB and EPIC came, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, etc all contact our department for recruits as well. You can definitely get prestigious internships and jobs or go to any grad school from Oberlin’s compsci department.
Overall it’s a wonderful department and I definitely recommend it. If you have any other questions or if you visit campus, PM me and I’ll be happy to grab lunch with you and ramble on about the department 