<p>My son has been admitted to General Science at UW with a small scholarship, but his aim is to join the Computer Science Dept. He's also got into the Computer Science program at University of Maryland and got a fairly good scholarship/aid package (we're OOS for both schools). He likes UW more, but feel uncertain whether he can finally get into the CSE.</p>
<p>Would appreciate any advice on this!</p>
bump
Hi, I am in the same situation as @GardeniaGardener. Could anyone offer any advice about whether: (i) the department at UW or UMD is better (or which parts of the departments are strengths); (ii) whether the general education is similar or better at either university; (iii) if there are any professors or particular opportunities offered at either university which makes it worth going there?
It would also be really nice if @GardeniaGardener could tell us what your son decided on and why.
I’d say Maryland, if you’re dead set on CS. You have a higher chance of being rejected than being accepted to UW CS (I think the rejection rate for regular admit was 70% last year). Also, scholarships are really good - UMD is where you should go.
Both are excellent, of course. I’d like your chances of getting into CSE at UW if your stats are around the top 25% of the class (that is, 3.85+ UW GPA and 32 ACT (33 M)/2100 SAT (730 M)).
Here are some resources regarding Computer Science at Washington:
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-computer
http://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-be-a-computer-science-major-at-the-University-of-Washington
http://www.computersciencedegreehub.com/50-innovative-computer-science-departments/
http://qz.com/343521/18-universities-produce-half-of-us-and-canadas-computer-science-professors/
General university information:
http://publicuniversityhonors.com/rankings-academic-departments-private-elites-vs-publics/ (US News average department ranking in undergraduate business and engineering and graduate biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, economics, education, English, history, math, physics, political science, psychology and sociology; for historical perspective, see:
https://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc1.html#TOP60)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/02/23/collegerank.html
That last one contributes to the following:
NTU:
http://nturanking.lis.ntu.edu.tw/Default.aspx
URAP:
http://www.urapcenter.org/2015/world.php?q=MS0yNTA=
CWUR:
http://cwur.org/2015/usa.html
USNews:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings?page=2
THE:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2016/world-ranking#!/page/1/length/25
ARWU:
http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2015.html
Good luck!
UMD is nationally-known for its Cybersecurity program.
@UWfromCA I’m 99.9999999% sure that your SAT and ACT doesn’t matter at all in regular admit. They don’t look at high school transcripts, just college stuff. You’re probably thinking of direct admit.
@Grompe, I agree and was referring to the academic profile of the students most likely to succeed in the prerequisite classes and get accepted into the major through regular admission.
Thanks for all your quick responses. One thing I forgot to mention is that I don’t have scholarships from either university, which @GardeniaGardener did.
@UWfromCA I’m in the top 15% of my class and have a 2210 SAT (800 M), 800 Math 2 and 750 Physics, but don’t know my GPA since I’m doing the IB diploma (my predicted score was 39). I believe they use CSE 142 and 143 grades to admit you to CSE (among other subjects), and I’m fluent in Java and have been programming for the last 7+ years - it’s something that comes naturally to me (I don’t know if this gives me an advantage over other students or how competitive the applicant pool will be).
@colby559 , based on your academic credentials and computing experience, as long as you continue to apply yourself to your studies, it not be an issue for you. Congratulations on your great scores.