Computer Science Recognition?!?!

<p>Hey guys!! I have been researching WashU and have visited there and love the area and atmosphere. I didnt have time to ask specific questions. I believe I hve strong chance at being accepted but there is a minor problem. Although it is characterized as a very prestigious business school does anyone know much about the engineering department primarily the computer science. I have researched this tpic online but of course like many schools they try to sell it to you online so that you definately want to got there.
Anyways I would love the feedback on my question.
Thanks for all your help</p>

<p>I’m a CS student so…my personal thoughts are that the department is decent, but not a top notch one that you find at a specific engineering school, or places like MIT/etc. which is probably obvious. I believe in rankings from a few years back, the CS department was ranked 41st … which isn’t as high as say the BME department, but not horrible either (I don’t place much weight on rankins).</p>

<p>So with that said for undergrad you are really enrolling in a university, not so much a school or department. You won’t just be taking CS classes…half or less than half will be CS each semester. You want to be in an enviornment you like and are happy in, not just one that has a top level XYZ department.</p>

<p>As for my personal experiences, I’m satisfied with it. My only gripe is that because it’s not really a large department, there aren’t that many courses offered a semester (theres about 8 upper level undergrad courses/semester, and 8 grad level courses which are open to juniors/seniors). </p>

<p>I could probably go on much longer about pros/cons but still have two finals to study for. If you want more info feel free to private message me or respond here with more specific questions.</p>

<p>the following links are for engineering in general. washu did not appear in the top schools for computer engineering sub specialty of 2010. I cd not find the 2011 sub specialty rankings.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/769210-complete-usnews-2010-undergrad-engineering-rankings-phd-granting-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/769210-complete-usnews-2010-undergrad-engineering-rankings-phd-granting-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/981759-us-news-undergrad-engineering-rankings-2011-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/981759-us-news-undergrad-engineering-rankings-2011-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Complete USNews 2010 Undergrad Engineering Rankings for PhD Granting Schools
Enjoy. I don’t have the complete rankings for schools that only grant a BS/MS though.</p>

<p>USNews Undergraduate General Engineering Rankings for Schools offering a PhD:</p>

<p>Rank, School, Peer Assessment Score
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.9
2 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.7
2University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.7
4 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 4.6
5 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.5
5 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 4.5
7 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 4.3
7 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.3
9 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 4.2
9 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN 4.2
9 University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX 4.2
12 Princeton University Princeton, NJ 4.0
12 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI 4.0
14 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD 3.9
14 Northwestern University Evanston, IL 3.9
14 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 3.9
17 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA 3.8
17 Texas A&M University–College Station College Station, TX 3.8
19 Rice University Houston, TX 3.7
19 University of California–Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 3.7
19 University of California–San Diego La Jolla, CA 3.7
19 University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 3.7
23 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY 3.6
23 University of Maryland–College Park College Park, MD 3.6
23 University of Washington Seattle, WA 3.6
26 Columbia University New York, NY 3.5
26 Duke University Durham, NC 3.5
26 Harvard University Cambridge, MA 3.5
26 North Carolina State University–Raleigh Raleigh, NC 3.5
26 Ohio State University–Columbus Columbus, OH 3.5
26 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 3.5
26 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 3.5
26 University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 3.5
34 University of California–Davis Davis, CA 3.4
34 University of California–Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 3.4
34 University of Colorado–Boulder Boulder, CO 3.4
37 Brown University Providence, RI 3.3
37 Iowa State University Ames, IA 3.3
37 University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 3.3
40 Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 3.2
41 Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA 3.2
41 Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 3.2
41 Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO 3.2
41 Yale University New Haven, CT 3.2
45 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 3.1
45 Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 3.1
45 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick Piscataway, NJ 3.1
45 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 3.1
45 University of California–Irvine Irvine, CA 3.1
45 University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 3.1
…</p>

<p>the only specialty that washu shows up is BME…</p>

<p>Undergraduate Engineering Specialties: Biomedical/Biomedical Engineering
1 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
2 Duke University Durham, NC
3 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA
4 University of California–San Diego La Jolla, CA
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
6 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
7 University of Washington Seattle, WA
8 Boston University Boston, MA
9 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH
9 Rice University Houston, TX
9 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
12 Northwestern University Evanston, IL
13 Stanford University Stanford, CA
14 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA
15 Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN
16 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI
17 Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO
18 University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA
19 University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX
20 Cornell University Ithaca, NY
21 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
21 University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
21 University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA
24 University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT</p>

<p>Roderick look at #41 on your list…its Wash U. Which is what it was the last time I looked (3-4 years ago).</p>

<p>steady as she goes.</p>

<p>I’m also looking at Wash. U for computer science. I love the school but I want to make sure it’s really good for C.S., since other places I’m looking at like Berkeley and MIT are very well-known.</p>

<p>Can anybody else who is in the program please describe their experiences? Was the teaching satisfactory? Could you easily get involved in research?</p>

<p>As someone before said, you are more enrolling into the university than you are into a specific school. In college, you have more pride for your university than your specific major. In grad school, all you do is study one thing, and you have pride for your certain program. Of course, you still will be studying CS to a great deal in undergrad so the program does matter to some extent, but I think the other “plus factors” (feel of the campus, dorms, extracurriculars, location, and whatever else is important to you) far outweigh the strength of one individual department.</p>

<p>Someone on my floor is a CS major, so most of the following information is from him, as well as what I’ve found while exploring the EN website. The department is pretty small, which has it’s pros and cons (mainly that there won’t be as many CS courses offered at Wash U than MIT, for example). The main pros are that the class sizes themselves are small… you’re not going to find classes that have more than like 25 students. Research opportunities are abundant, which is a major plus factor for Wash U – the CS department and really every other major, too. </p>

<p>These are the main research areas: [Research</a> Areas](<a href=“http://cse.wustl.edu/Research/Pages/default.aspx]Research”>http://cse.wustl.edu/Research/Pages/default.aspx)</p>

<p>WU just announced a new minor in nanotechnology, which obviously will have opportunities in the CS program. WU is also part of this multi-university consortium called National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, and has a nanotech lab on campus. There are a bunch of other labs and research centers, which you can find by exploring the website. A few undergrads won an entrepreneurship grant one or two years ago for a student run project. </p>

<p>A lot of the other engineering majors are integrating CS into their curriculums… BME, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical and Systems Engineering all have tracks or minors that build on CS concepts. So, CS is one of the majors where it is doable to double major or minor in another EN department. CS also has relatively few requirements compared to the other EN departments, so it is not uncommon for CS majors to have a second major in Art Sci. </p>

<p>There’s a few very prominent faculty, like Jonathan Turner. Finally, there’s a push in CS to have the classes be more interactive and team-based than lecture style, which is great. [Grant</a> helps WUSTL computer science faculty emphasize active learning | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis](<a href=“http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/13629.aspx]Grant”>Grant helps WUSTL computer science faculty emphasize active learning - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis)</p>