<p>Hi CC - I'm trying to decide which Computer Science Universities to apply to next year.
I've seen plenty of rankings from magazines and such, but I would like to know CC's opinion.</p>
<p>Could you guys rank the following schools?</p>
<p>Berkeley
UT Austin
Rice
Cornell
CMU</p>
<p>I’m not into ranking schools or esp undergrad departments, but everyone knows those are very strong debts if not some of the strongest. There is no need to put them in any order by ‘strength’. They will all get you wherever you want to go as an undergrad–remember you aren’t applying to the grad school at this time. It is wiser for you to learn about the institution and the departments individual ‘flavors’ and rank them according to the best fit for you. Where you will be happiest and thrive.</p>
<p>@BrownParent you know I wish I could convince my dad of the same, but it seems that he is intent on me going to the “highest ranked” school… :/</p>
<p>So tiresome. I do feel sorry for kids of people like that. Firstly, there are no official rankings of undergraduate computer sci depts. There aren’t even any official rankings of colleges. So it is a false god he worships. Splitting hairs among excellent programs trying to pretend one is the best is willful stupidity. Unofficial rankings are always based on something, so you need to find that you agree with what that something is. Which factors and how much weight they have to make up any particular parties ranking, and keeping in mind their own prejudices. That’s why it makes sense to make your own rankings based on your own factors and prejudices. I would suggest to think more of what the goal is behind going to the top program as well, because you will find many other universities where that goal can be attained. Do you want to be a CS professor, work for a name employer, start your own business, have particular skills one university is known to specialize in? Don’t you think it makes a lot of sense to be in an environment that suits you so you do your best?</p>
<p>Here’s one ranking that kind of cuts to the chase:
<a href=“Careers news, trend analysis and opinion | Network World”>http://www.networkworld.com/article/2169992/data-center/top-20-colleges-for-computer-science-majors-based-on-earning-potential.html</a></p>
<p>@shinramen:</p>
<p>Tell them that they all tie for first for undergrad CS. I’d throw in Illinois and UDub and Stanford and MIT and CalTech and Harvey Mudd and Princeton GTech and Wisconsin as well. All tied for first.</p>
<p>BTW, this isn’t as ridiculous as it seems. USNews has 4 grad CS programs tied for #1.</p>
<p>In any case, it seems that your dad doesn’t understand, but each CS department’s strengths and culture (Illinois has a gigantic CS student body, UDub has a small one for a public, and the privates are going to be different from the publics in culture while Harvey Mudd is tiny, so has limited course offerings) as well as where you want to work after college makes a far, far greater difference.</p>
<p>It’s tough to rank them in a linear fashion because several of these programs have different approaches to CS. </p>
<p>Here’s an example: <a href=“http://www.quora.com/Artificial-Intelligence/What-are-the-main-areas-of-research-at-the-AI-department-at-MIT-UCB-CMU-Stanford”>http://www.quora.com/Artificial-Intelligence/What-are-the-main-areas-of-research-at-the-AI-department-at-MIT-UCB-CMU-Stanford</a></p>
<p>Fit comes into play here (although obviously you wanna look at undergrad info rather than grad info). The “#1” program is the one that takes the approach to CS that best fits you. It could be CMU SCS for its interdisciplinary nature, breadth, and the independent CS department; it could be UT Austin because of the proximity to Austin (a rising start-up hub, right behind Silicon Valley), the cultural atmosphere, and the Turing scholars program; it could be Berkeley due to its proximity to Silicon Valley, the rigor of the EECS program, and the school’s excellence in both systems and theory CS.</p>
<p>On that note, try to find out if the programs are more systems-focused or more theory-focused. But it’s all about fit at this stage, though I wouldn’t go with as broad of a “#1” list as PurpleTitan suggested. The 4 programs I would always consider tied at #1 (since they’ve been top 4 for as long as anyone can remember and move around a lot in rankings) would be MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of California at Berkeley (in no particular order). But don’t get caught up in that because Caltech or Cornell or Harvard could fit you better.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t know why Rice is on that list vying for #1. They’re not even top 10 when it comes to grad CS rankings- but you might enjoy the atmosphere there the most.</p>
<p>@divider:</p>
<p>Those are the 4 top <em>grad</em> programs in CS.</p>
<p>For undergrad CS, one program could be better for person A and another progam could be better for person B depending on where they want to work, what areas they are interested in, and whether they do better in smaller settings or huge classes. Maybe I’m biased because I’m in the Midwest, but you wouldn’t get a UIUC CS grad to say that they are below Cal/CMU/MIT/Stanford in CS (and pretty much everyone around here would agree with that). I didn’t go there, BTW.</p>
<p>I would think it’s better to narrow down base on your interest. I recently stumbled on the rankings where it goes into specific area of strengths and what cutting edge research for each CS department through my daughter’s college.
<a href=“https://cs.ucsd.edu/node/2553”>https://cs.ucsd.edu/node/2553</a>
</p>
<p><a href=“Best Online Master's In Computer Science”>Best Online Master's In Computer Science;
<p>@PurpleTitan Look at undergrad CE rankings. It seems highly probable that the grad stuff carries over. Other than that, we agree that it’s a question of fit and I think calling everyone #1 is kind of silly but ranks are pointless anyway. Just curious about Rice because that’s the one that I can’t see as anywhere near #1. Their grad program is weaker than the rest and their ugrad is research heavy so it should carry over more than the others do.</p>
<p>@DrGoogle that’s grad rankings. I can’t find any good ugrad CS rankings.</p>
<p>I use Facebook. The following colleges are on Facebook career for students:
Brown
Cal
Caltech
CMU
Columbia
Cornell
Georgia Tech
Harvard
Illinois
Michigan
MIT
Princeton
Stanford
Texas
UBC
UCLA
UCSD
UPenn
Washington
Waterloo
Wisconsin </p>
<p>Yeah, that’s a good idea for people planning to go into industry (as is Google placement). Exact numbers aren’t as helpful (even as a proportion of the graduating class) because some schools, like CMU, have a high portion of people choosing to go into industry right after getting their BS/MS.</p>
<p>A union of the 2 lists would yield a smaller list(17) if you want to save money in alphabetical order.</p>
<p>Cal
Caltech
CMU
Columbia
Cornell
Georgia Tech
Harvard
Illinois
Michigan
MIT
Princeton
Stanford
Texas
UBC
UCLA
UCSD
Washington</p>
<p>Yeah, in terms of US CS programs, that’s pretty much the top 16 or so. Maybe add Brown.</p>
<p>I might add UMD.</p>