Does anyone have any experience with majoring in Computer Science in a small liberal arts school? I see that the highest rated comp. sci. schools in our area are UMD, U Delaware, U Pitt, V Tech, UVA but I think our son (4.0 GPA, 1400 SAT) would do better in a smaller setting. I see Muhlenberg, Gettysburg, F&M, Elizabethtown, Ursinus all offer computer science programs but am concerned they won’t be as rigorous and job opportunities might not be as good. Any opinions? Thank you!
D20 attends another LAC but visited many of those you mentioned. She isn’t a computer science person (has friends who are) but she was very concerned about fit. She wanted a small school with small classes and a more intimate experience. Her school has a very, very robust career services office and a very strong alumni network. While some larger schools may have a deeper array of courses, if your son is looking for a different kind of experience, that matters!! If he is not happy with the campus culture (or would prefer smaller classes), there is no substitute for that.
That being said, if he feels his skills are beyond what a LAC offers, that matters too. Having access to graduate level courses one can potentially take as an undergrad matters to some students. Having to compete with graduate students for research opportunities or other resources is a potential trade off. I guess I would suggest spending some time reviewing the course offerings and descriptions at the various colleges and see what he feels about the breadth and depth available. If he decides the fit of a smaller environment suits his personality better, that’s fine too.
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For colleges with small CS departments, take a look at what upper level CS courses are offered and how often.
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Thanks so much. Any thoughts on how to determine if a school has a strong career services/alumni network? With the larger schools it’s very clear that it’s a huge benefit with students getting job offers in their junior years even.
Will do thanks!
I went to the website for Gettysburg, since it was what I was least familiar with. I can make some basic comparisons between what I saw there and what D’s school offers. Both offer the Handshake system, which is great for networking. I was pretty impressed with the various career exploration programs at Gettysburg, too. D’s school has sophomores return a week early after the holidays for a series of alumni-led industry specific presentations, which is unique.
In terms of evaluating the alumni network, look for various fundraising campaign results. Happy alum love to give back, both financially and with opportunities. Not plugging Gettysburg specifically (it was not on D’s list) but just giving examples of things to look for. I’m sure you can find similar info for the others you listed, too.
https://www.gettysburg.edu/offices/center-for-career-engagement/students/
Wow, thanks so much - that’s incredibly helpful!
Looking over course offerings is a good idea, but be careful to make a distinction between what courses are in the catalog, and what courses actually get offered. Most departments have multiple courses in their catalog that never actually run.
Also, be aware that undergraduate students can be enticed by highly-specialized and sexy-sounding electives, but since most curriculum will only have room for a few electives, sometimes more “basic” sounding classes are more useful to a career in the long run.
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Also consider the middle ground of LAC’s that have engineering programs: Lafayette, Lehigh, Bucknell, Union, Trinity, Clarkson.
LAC’s definitely vary in terms of the strength of their STEM programs. F&M is known for strong STEM. So is College of Wooster which could be worth considering. Juniata, Allegheny, and Denison are worth a look. Maybe McDaniel as well. Check out the course offerings and the faculty (how many, and what their backgrounds are).
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S18 is a CS major at a small LAC (Colby). He did not intend on majoring in CS, and never showed much interest in the subject in HS. But after taking a couple of CS classes that he really enjoyed, he decided to change his major to CS and will graduate with a CS major and Econ and Math minors.
His school has CS alumni working at some of the big tech companies (Microsoft, Google, Amazon), financial companies (software development for banking, etc.), and consulting firms. He just completed an internship in Artificial Intelligence at a major game design company and will be staying on to do remote work during the school year. He was offered internships in software development in the banking and medical device industries as well. So there are opportunities out there for CS majors from LAC’s. (More than I thought there would be, to be honest ).
Colby has just received a major gift to fund the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which may be of interest. https://artificial-intelligence.colby.edu
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Ask where recent CS majors have gone. If you like the answer (esp more than one answer), it can be done from there.
I’ve seen CS majors get hired from all sorts of schools and usually with very decent salaries. Small religious to super sized state schools are generally fine (but still check to see where recent grads have gone just to be sure). What matters is the talent of the student for the career, not the name of the school.
Sometimes I’m not even sure college is needed for CS jobs if the student is motivated and does a bit of learning on their own. Many jobs want the box ticked though.
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As with universities, LACs would be worth considering individually. In Colgate’s favor, for example, “it was one of the first colleges to introduce an independent computer science program” (The 10 Most Wired Colleges In The Country: Unigo Ranking | HuffPost College).
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But be careful about “STEM”. A college strong in biology may not be strong in CS, and vice-versa. Note that most LACs do not offer the E in STEM*, and the T in STEM** is not all that common generally.
*Engineering
*Technology (engineering technology)
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Perhaps the wrong shorthand but I hoped it would be clear in context. And sure, there can be finer granularity, such as Lawrence’s particular strength in physics, Allegheny in enviro science, and so on. If you want math and CS strength then look for that.
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Wow, it’s so interesting you say that. It’s actually certain electives (bioinformatics for example) that got my attention at one school! I’ll def. look for that. Thanks!
My son graduated from a lesser known LAC and majored in computer science. The department was on the smaller side, but offer a good number of courses. He graduated in 2020 and had a job lined up before graduation and during Covid.
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Thank you for sharing - that all sounds incredible. Am not sure my son would even get into Colby but unfortunately it’s also over ten hour drive for us. But I see how that would translate to smaller schools closer to us.
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Thank you - I’ll check that out…
That’s great to hear, thank you for sharing and congratulations to him!
I have a kid at a lesser known LAC (Hope) majoring in computer science. A factor to consider is how advanced is your kid coming into the program and does your kid already have well defined goals about what to do with the degree. My kid only took one computer science class in high school, and the teacher had never taught it before. So my kid came in needing to start with the most introductory courses and is not going to outstrip the offerings at Hope. Also my kid wants to take the minimal amount of math needed for the BS degree, so no worries about math offerings. And my kid is still very much exploring and undecided about what to do with the degree.
Also look at how your prospective LAC ranks in terms of undergraduate research opportunities. The ranking isn’t specific to computer science research but is informative about the general research offerings. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/undergrad-research-programs. You can filter the rankings by size to look at smaller schools (I set it at 0-4,000). Some smaller schools fare very well in this ranking. CalTech is #2 and Harvey Mudd #13 which is no surprise, but Wooster is right behind Mudd at #14. Grinnell #21 and Alleghany #22 beat out Williams #25, and my kid’s school (Hope) is tied at #37 with Oberlin and Pomona.
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