<p>I've been admitted to both Cornell Engineering and Columbia SEAS. I'm wondering which school has a better computer science program that will get me into a top CS grad school (or job, should I somehow change my plans and decide to not attend grad school). I know that conventionally Cornell has a "better" engineering program than Columbia, but there's something very appealing by Columbia's smaller size and its integration with NYC with engineering projects. </p>
<p>I do not really mind giving up Columbia's Core for Cornell; I am satisfied with what Cornell offers in terms of liberal arts in my first two years. I am wondering where I can find a better CS/engineering and overall college experience.</p>
<p>Doc, you said the magic word - or job. If you are thinking job field then Columbia and its more hands on, project oriented and entrepreneurship programs are very compelling to consider. Both schools are okay CS schools, neither is a top notch, though Cornell is generally a bit more higher ranked. For grad school you have to do well at either school to be competitive in admissions and to do research. CU is smaller which means more hands on. Has easy connections with Silicon Alley corps for school year internships though I imagine Cornell may have solid recruiting work at COE. </p>
<p>I think it is close enough to be a wash. I’d go to where you think you want to live more, what place will excite you more. A lot has to do with priorities - urban/rural being a huge divide, more frat centered v. more intellectual/hipster mishmash. I think that SEAS at Columbia is a rocking place so I’d go if I could choose, but that’s up to you. Visit both if you have the chance and see what feels good.</p>
<p>And when you get on campus then worry about making sure your resume is storng enough to get into top CS programs. Hope you choose CU (the original one that is ;))</p>
<p>All i can say is that Columbia SEAS kids are as smart if not smarter than the kids at Cornell engineering. CS pulls in smarter than average kids at Columbia SEAS. They work really hard, tend to love programming / artificial intelligence etc. The top firms recruit on campus here. So Cornell has a more well known program, but that doesn’t mean its program is better than Columbia’s. Columbia’s CS undergrads hardly go into tech positions in finance, if you’re worried about that, they do not sell themselves short and are passionate about CS, they go to top grad programs, work at NASA, Google, MS, Amazon etc. You’ll see something similar at Cornell. For traditional mechanical engineering I’d say Cornell is better but for CS at an undergrad level: not really.</p>
<p>yeah, the CS program at SEAS is really great, the professors are really top researchers (especially in AI and in Graphics). you also get some additional advantages:</p>
<ul>
<li>The resources of a top liberal arts school right at your fingertips, and because everyone has to take the classes, there’s no competitive disadvantage to taking a more diverse curriculum.</li>
<li>Smaller classes with fantastic access to the professors. all of my CS classes, the professor knew my by name by the end of the semester. and not because i was the ■■■■■■ who came to all their office hours… at least, not always :)</li>
<li>Much easier access to top tech firms in the city, routinely visited by VCs, tech pioneers, CEOs, Google NYC’ers, etc. You can get a school-year internship at one quite easily.</li>
<li>Bernie Yee’s class on Video Game Design & Development. Most fun I had that semester with my clothes on.</li>
</ul>
<p>How competitive is it to get an internship for a CS major? Does Google/MS/Amazon take just one/two per year and are a lot of people vying for this kind of opportunity?</p>
<p>Hey, I’m a newly admitted student in a similar situation. (deciding btw Harvey Mudd and Columbia SEAS if I do computer engineering, or JHU BME if I decide to go medical)</p>
<p>I was wondering if there were any published statistics on job hiring rates for Columbia SEAS graduates (or, in particular, computer science/computer engineering/electrical engineering) graduates as well as matriculation rates to specific universities?</p>
<p>— I realize that statistics are only a small part of the bigger picture and that in all cases, it depends on the person and their accomplishments and personalities. However, I’m just curious and if such statistics exist, it would be of reassurance (see below).</p>
<p>I’m actually personally more inclined to go to Columbia over Harvey Mudd, but then again… I’m more or less certain from the information available to me that I can get a decent engineering job or get into a good graduate school from Harvey Mudd, and while I personally think it will not be a problem for me coming from Columbia, I was wondering if there was any information to support this opinion of mine.</p>
<p>(I’m considering patent law as a future possibility…)</p>
<p>Both programs are excellent. I know more about Cornell’s (I got my both my CS undergrad degree and PhD there). Cornell’s PhD program has traditionally been ranked significantly higher than Columbia’s but that, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean a lot about the undergraduate program. </p>
<p>I suggest
browsing the web pages of faculty in both departments
visiting both campuses and departments
and then deciding based on which place “feels right” for you. I don’t think you can
go wrong with either one.</p>
<p>Either school will be fine for you. FYI: I attended both Columbia (freshman) and Cornell (transfer). Give Cornell the slight edge for job placement because its a bigger school and thus more engineering/technical job recruiters will show up on campus. Give Columbia the slight edge for grad school placement, since most CS graduate departments want undergraduate “diversity”, and Columbia is a much smaller school.</p>
<p>In the end, its all about fit. That said, being at a school with smaller classroom sizes (Columbia) has its advantages. For example, the number of CS undergrads in a class at Cornell is roughly the size of an entire SEAS class. How’s that for perspective?</p>
<p>I graduated last year in CS and just discovered this site. IMO, the CS students at Columbia are incredibly smart (but I’m biased (- , and Columbia’s CS department is awesome, with the exception of their video game class taught by Bernard Yee. If you want to learn specifically about video games in a way that doesn’t feel like your head is being held into an oven, go to the New School, NYU or Stonybrook if you can.
Yee ran his class like it’s a nasty corporation and the fun quotient was basically gone by the third week. He’s a hard core practitioner of tough love, except there were never any rewards throughout the semester, only criticism. It wasn’t conducive to the kind of relaxed freedom necessary to be creative in and many of us were too intimidated to talk back in a way that challenged him on any level.
It’s a class I wish I never took–what I learned I could have learned elsewhere–and most of us were miserable and dying for it to be over.
But hey, other than that–it’s a great department!</p>
<p>Columbia is not known for Computer Science. Take a look at their college rankings for Computer Science over the past decade; it serves as a good heuristic. Cornell has always been ranked among the top while Columbia is second tier at best.</p>
<p>Columbia is a top school, but it’s not one in Computer Science. Go to Cornell if you love Computer Science; otherwise, if you want to go to Columbia then I would research other major options at Columbia.</p>
<p>The Columbia Computer Science students in this thread that are stroking themselves full of hot air. In my opinion, the fact that they chose to major in Computer Science at Columbia is evidence that they aren’t as bright as they think they are (at least at decision making). If I went to Columbia as an undergrad then I would have major in something that would put me in good position to be placed in one of their prestigious graduate programs like Law or Business.</p>
<p>duediligence, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Columbia’s CS department is excellent, with top notch faculty and students. It might not be quite as strong overall as Cornell’s, but it’s still extremely good and in some areas within computer science it’s better.</p>
<p>the rankings are just that, a heuristic, a good rule of thumb, that’s a rule of thumb because it isn’t a rule. Seems like that’s all you are using to backup a pretty long winded argument. Columbia seas takes in some of the smartest students of any college anywhere (Columbia’s SAT scores are higher than MIT’s and Columbia’s SEAS sat scores are higher than the college’s), on other metrics as well seas students are incredibly qualified. There is great research and great teaching at Columbia’s CS department, and the kids are very successful. Many don’t want to be in environment as lop sided as MIT’s or as remote as Cornell, there are many reasons top applicant opt for Columbia and Columbia CS in particular. All I can say is that a ton of my CS friends have worked / are working / doing summer internship with google, facebook, apple, NASA, MS and other, and these are in large numbers. I don’t know of the single CS student who hasn’t landed a kick a$$ job or grad school. If you are around smart kids, with great teaching and great jobs at the end of it, it’s doesn’t matter how USNews rates the department, noone cares. </p>
<p>As an indicator check out which unis Facebook goes to:</p>
<p>Speaking of Columbia vs Cornell in computer science, the ACM Great New York competitions can be another resource. In the recent years, Columbia is competing against Cornell and Stony for the first three places. Last year Cornell finally took down Stony and made it the first place. Columbia scored second highest.</p>
<p>But this does not mean that Columbia is not as good as Cornell. They are pretty much the same. I go to City College, only two stops away from Columbia; sometime I go visit my friends there. They have great laboratories there. </p>
<p>If you want to learn more about the CS @ CU, you really should check out their seasonal engineering booklet. Very interesting. </p>
<p>PS: Columbia’s CS Internet Real-time laboratory is amazing. I heard that the telephone system @ CU is based on the work of the laboratory.</p>
<p>The result of 2009 ACM Great NY competition also surprised people, because Queens College (CUNY) bombed the NYU and Poly-NYU. So sometime the US-News ranking is not everything. Facebook/Google would probably hire this QC team over the NYU guys.</p>
, and Columbia’s CS department is awesome, with the exception of their video game class taught by Bernard Yee. If you want to learn specifically about video games in a way that doesn’t feel like your head is being held into an oven, go to the New School, NYU or Stonybrook if you can.