Computer Science/software engineering- Which College ?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Son, 30 ACT (math 32), SAT 740m/660/650, midwesterner, 4.1w/3.75uw,
honors & AP, above average EC's, Heavy science load, strong computer skills,
took AP computer science, expanded his study, taking C++ or C+ programming
thru independent study.</p>

<p>21 out of 300 ranking</p>

<p>Reviewed US news rankings for years.</p>

<p>Any thoughts or colleges which we can eliminate. Nerdy type, quiet kid, doesn't care about sports:</p>

<p>Computer science: Looking for best program and a good college experience,
maybe interships. good recruiting, want to take via an enginneering dept as it seems to have more challenging science classes, etc. Son also likes Physics.</p>

<p>Any help ranking or elimination- say pick one over another, etc ?
Any opinions ? Anyone getting any good aid from these places ?
Any comments would be helpful.</p>

<p>Univ. of ILL- We were very impressed with U of I per our visit, we would be out of state, high tuition for state college, some large classes, large univ,
although engineering seems smaller, they said Microsoft hires more comp sci from U of I than anywhere else, Gates visited campus last year. Clean campus, brand new $30-$40 million CS building, curriculumn looks pretty good,5 year combined Masters program, 3 1/2 hrs from home. Good US news rankings. Out of state engineering tuition is $24K plus housing. Impressive day on campus, large school, clean engineering campus, but what does a day visit reveal. </p>

<p>Univ. of Mo- Rolla: Everyone (we are MO resident) seems like they are going there for almost free, havent visited, son not too excited as he is setting goals higher- although I hear this is a good school.</p>

<p>WUSTL- Getting mail everyday, some posts say they have a good comp sci program, son seems to want to go away (hopefully not to far) for school- WUSTL is fairly local. Wouldnt need housing.</p>

<p>Rose Hulman- US rankings impressive, normal people have not heard of it.
Co-workers kid )EE- I think, landed a great job and internships, talked to her extensively about the school, says it is much more challenging than a state school, longer school year, better teacher help, a closely knit campus.
Not a research university- as they say. They claim they have good job placement and career fairs. We had a nice visit there, in some respects like the size, concerned about whether employers really know who they are for comp sci once you get out of school. 3 1/2 hrs from home. ANyone with info would be helpful on this school- much different from others. Size and lack of social life non-issues for nerdy kid. Any experiences with them ? $27K plus ousing is sticker price.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon- Good reputation, havent visited, they are coming locally at end of month to visit, seems like his reach school. Any prospects of getting in this place ? I'm guessing his computer knowledge for a senior is above the average for a CMU student, but a lot of that is self-taught and doesnt show up on paper. Is this school really that good compared to U of I- see rankings fairly close ? Over/underarated school.</p>

<p>Georgia Tech- I wish we could get instate tuition. Many bad comments on
quality of Life, etc. Great reputation- Haven't visited, cheaper out of state tuition, $18K plus housing.</p>

<p>Purdue- a nice clean campus per our visit, friendly, traffic bad on roads around campus, parking an issue, new comp. sci facilities. Same price as GA tech, notranked as high in comp sci as GA tech, ILL, Purdue is 4 1/2 hrs from home. $18K tuition plus housing. SOn seems to like U of I better, we only had a short cmapus visit</p>

<p>WOuld like to eliminate a couple of schools or at least put them on the bottom of the list. ALso, any merit aid comments from these schools.
We are really struggling with the list,especially since we like RIT and they are hard to compare on the list. </p>

<p>Any other suggestions welcome. Thanks</p>

2

<p>The name is recognized in the circles where it needs to be.....employment and graduate schools. The lack of metropolitan social life is not significant to the student body and it is a nerdy student mecca.....they love it and do well.</p>

3

<p>I'm a Rose freshman, and although I've only been here for a week, I can attest to most of what's been stated thus far.</p>

<p>The small size is a great advantage. My introductory Physics class only has 31 people in it. At places like UI or Georgia Tech, you're going to have MUCH larger classes. Almost all of the professors here (I think the number's something like 99%) have Ph.D.'s and teach the courses. TA's don't teach. I haven't had much classroom experience yet, but so far I'm loving my math class, and my physics and CS classes have great potential.</p>

<p>The mandatory laptop program is great, for we're introduced to engineering software (Solid Edge, Maple, Eclipse, etc.) early.</p>

<p>We have MANY, many opportunities for learning help. We've got a learning center that has tutors available for students every weekday. There are Freshman Peer Study groups held every afternoon/evening, as well. Many professors will give out their home phone numbers to students in case of some sort of emergency/problem. I'm currently enrolled in a help session for people who did poorly on a 3D rotation test we took during Orientation. It'll supposedly help those who have problems with spatial visualization.</p>

<p>It's true that social life can be a bit slow, but there are still many outlets. Clubs are a big part of campus life, as is the Greek system (about half the students go Greek). And there are plenty of events that our Student Government Association puts on. So there's always something to do if you're looking!</p>

<p>I hope you give Rose a good look!</p>

4

<p>I was told by someone in the CS department at MIT that for "pure computer science" the CMU school of computer science was as good as, if not better than, MIT. It's also incredibly selective, and you have to apply separately to the SCS.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the responses thus far, Rose is definately a college we will consider</p>

6

<p>If your S is planning on a career located in Silicon Valley, then I suggest he look at schools that are known to employers in CA. I live, work, hire in CA, and of the schools listed above, the only one that I've heard of with respect to CS is CMU.</p>

7

<p>Purdue has a large alumni group in CA composed of engineers working in the CS industry....someone in CA has heard of Purdue and hired their engineers.</p>