<p>Any current students who are majoring in CS at U of Chicago? Feedback on program? Internships? Job statistics post graduation?</p>
<p>Prospective student here… I’d like to know as well!</p>
<p>I’m a comp sci major. I’m a first-year so I’ve only taken 2 classes in the department, which means that there’s probably a couple other people here who can address these questions better than I.</p>
<p>The program itself, from what I’ve seen, is fine. The department certainly isn’t world-renowned and there are probably much better places for comp sci if you’re sure that’s what you want to go into. However, if the distinctive UChicago culture is attractive to you, it’s a fine place for comp sci, as long as you don’t mind learning a bit of theory along with the applied stuff.</p>
<p>I actually went to U of C back in the day when the computer science department was being formed. Chicago resisted for years to form the computer science dept because they didn’t view computer science as a pure liberal arts major. The resistance came from the math department which is world renowned. But eventually Chicago caved in and formed the department realizing that it would be completely out of the loop to be without such a department. From what I understand, the department is focused on the niche area of artificial intelligence and more of the theoretical side of computer science. Since the department is narrowly focused it is not ranked in the top 5 or 10 as is the case in most any other department. Will Chicago be content to be narrowly focused or will Chicago feel the pressure to pursue top rankings? I am not sure but there are signs that Chicago wants to compete with the big boys given some recent faculty hirings. Below is an excerpt from a recent hire of a big gun:</p>
<p>Andrew Chien, the newly appointed William Eckhardt Professor in Computer Science, projects that the 10-year future of computer hardware will be “wildly different” from the past 10 years. Chien, who was vice president of research at Intel Corporation from 2005 to 2010, believes the coming changes in computer science, in general, will be the result of shared research. He’s especially optimistic about the possibilities at UChicago.</p>
<p>“Concentrated excellence allows people to work across disciplines in a way that often doesn’t happen at big institutions,” said Chien, who also has taught at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “And I believe the most important discoveries of the next few decades will be made in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations.”</p>
<p>Chien is one of a handful of new members of the University’s Computer Science faculty who are changing the face of the department as it expands beyond its theoretical foundations. He specializes in systems applications, software, networking, and computer architecture, an applied form of computer science.</p>
<p>“This is a game-changing appointment,” said Robert Fefferman, dean of the Physical Sciences Division. “Chien is a top systems person who is well known for organizing outstanding groups of faculty in systems, and we want to pursue that here,” he added.</p>
<p>Badgerdad1
Thanks for the insight. You make a good point. From the Wisconsin web site, you also make a strong case for Wisconsin (which my son loves). Thanks for sharing how your son via soccer went through the same process. My son attended many football camps with the Ivies last summer as well. Not sure where his head is at the moment. Just trying to complete the process. In terms of Chicago, still not quite sure if they have many connections for internships and jobs for the undergraduate degree. I understand their reputation as a school–and they are moving in the right direction with the CS program overall --and that goes for the graduate degree. I just think students should try and work prior to grad school–if possible in this economy. Maybe Chicago has the network–just not sure for this major. Yet, I agree the Chicago experience is definitely a unique one. And I think their football coach is special–which is a real plus if he goes that route.</p>
<p>In fact, Chicago’s networking/career services for the comp sci major (and for all majors) are very strong. Last quarter, I sat in on a Google recruitment event and heard a talk by Stephen Wolfram (and even personally spoke with him for a half hour or so after the fact).</p>
<p>Prospects after graduation aren’t something I would worry about immensely, because a UChicago comp sci degree is still a UChicago degree, and competent comp sci majors are in high demand anyway.</p>
<p>Great point–thanks for the feedback.</p>
<p>I’m a 2nd-year majoring in CS at the UofC.</p>
<p>The department is good: wide selection of classes, good professors (although there are also a few bad/unhelpful ones… do your research before taking a class). However, I will say this: the CS major here is difficult and demanding. There are not many CS majors here, so your classes (when you get past the intro-level courses) are filled with very smart people you have to compete with. I’m not sure about job placement, but the department does do a good job at informing students about internship and research opportunities.</p>
<p>2nd year in CS as well. There’s a great student community here with computer science and what not, and it’s growing at a nice pace at the moment.</p>
<p>It tends to be one of the more time-consuming of the majors, but most of my peers find the work enjoyable and even practical at times - more or less if you like programming or more generally computer science as a whole you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>You can sort of focus where in comptuer science you want to learn more about - you can take more theory if you like - which of course is excellent - take more systems course, or AI, etc. The department is growing, especially in the Systems area</p>
<p>Job placement is probably good. You end up making friends with 4th/3rd years who know people, professors know people, etc. As long as youre a little active about it you can find stuff.</p>
<p>The students on the forum have been very helpful. Thank you. I do have another question for the CS majors. It relates to the Chicago core requirements. I have read a student- perhaps a freshman- will have 300 pages of reading per night. How does that load work with CS courses where programming or sciences and math with problem sets work per a manageable workload. Son is more of a math and science type. though he does enjoy a class or group where they discuss critically all topics. It is simply the balance of a CS load with a heavy reading load that concerns me. and he is a recruited football player- which will add time in the fall. He is absolutely academics first, just wanted some clarity on the reading load.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>300 pages per night is completely unrealistic. The reading load can be heavy, but it all depends on the courses you choose, and it’s almost always manageable with good planning.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Wondering, how strong is UChicago on the theory of computation/algorithm side? I’m talking about things like complexity and P = NP and what not.</p>