<p>We live in NC and my son should have the stats to be accepted to UNC. He is considering majoring in Computer Science. I’m curious about opinions on UNC for Computer Science vs. NC State vs. Clemson (assuming IS tuition) vs. Univ. of Alabama with large merit scholarship.</p>
<p>I really can’t compare – but we were very impressed with CS department when my daughter visited. </p>
<p>They were really nice, sold the program wel, and the program sold itselfl, and made a strong push for daughter (admitting they really would like to see more females in the program).</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is the automatic yearly scholarship/stipend that comes along with the CS major (engineering).</p>
<p>We opted for MIS, but CS was impressive.</p>
<p>The person who might best answer your question is Dr. David Cordes. He’s not only the head of the Comp Sci dept, but he’s also the director of the Freshman Engineering Program. He’s very nice and helpful and does respond to inquiries.</p>
<p>[David</a> Cordes Web Site](<a href=“http://cs.ua.edu/~cordes/]David”>http://cs.ua.edu/~cordes/)</p>
<p>. I’m curious about opinions on UNC for Computer Science vs. NC State vs. Clemson (assuming IS tuition) vs. Univ. of Alabama with large merit scholarship.</p>
<p>We visited Clemson and really liked it…Bama actually has a similar feel without being quite so rural. Yes, your son would likely get instate rates for the school for his stats. however, the instate rate at Clemson is very high. I think instate COA is approaching $30k per year. The instate tuition (likely rising each year) will be about $13k this fall.</p>
<p>Do you think he could give me an unbiased opinion about the various programs? We are looking forward to our visit next month. I have contacted the Honors College and was impressed with how quickly they responded to me about helping with planning our visit. I’m sure we will meet with someone in the Computer Science Dept. while we are there.</p>
<p>Yes, Clemson is high even with in state tuition, but NC State and UNC are both closer to $20k for COA as an in state resident. </p>
<p>It’s nice that my son will have some very good options to choose from.</p>
<p>I think Dr. Cordes will tell you about the opportunities that Bama can offer a CS student. Would he compare School A to School B? Probably not. He’d tell you what Bama can offer.</p>
<p>I second M2CK on Dr. Cordes – he met with our daughter – very nice, very informative. He broke down different degrees (including CS), and what graduates could do with each.</p>
<p>@ OP - As a manager in an IT department with good friends that manage for other companies in the area I can tell you that the graduates coming out of the UA program interview very well and appear to be well prepared to enter the workforce.</p>
<p>I am a bit biased since DS will be attending UA in the fall, but I have had managers from other companies mention that they were impressed with no prodding from me, DS isn’t even going into CS and they turned the conversation to some of the interviews they have had with upcoming graduates.</p>
<p>BTW…I am not talking about small IT shops that don’t do extensive interviewing. These are major corporations that interview 100’s of graduates every year from a large number of Universities.</p>
<p>ClemsonProud, it is unlikely that you will receive an unbiased opinion on any forum throughout this website. </p>
<p>Additionally, I would like to make note that Computer Science and Information Technology are not the same field. Computer Science is the study of computations and the development of algorithms and software whereas Information Technology is the management and implementation of computing systems. While both deal with computers and share some similarities, their subject matter and challenges are different.</p>