<p>These are the schools I am looking at (in no particular order):</p>
<p>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
Purdue University
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RH)
Iowa State University</p>
<p>Maybes:</p>
<p>Baylor University
Indiana University (IU)
University of Alabama</p>
<p>Specific questions:
What is the computer science program like at IU? I've visited campus and I still am not sure how their "Informatics" approach works.
What's the climate like at Baylor and Alabama? I kind of just put them on the list because I like the general sound of Baylor and someone recommended Alabama to me.
What are your opinions on the schools I listed?</p>
<p>Additional Information:
I'm an Illinois resident.
In the top 10% of class.
ACT English and Math scores both 35.
I'm currently not interested in grad school, maybe after I get a job.
I would like a great program and atmosphere.</p>
<p>Well I was unaware that IU even had a computer science program. They don’t have any type of engineering department, and aren’t exactly known for producing mathematicians, so I guess I would have to say I bet it has the worst CS program of all the schools you listed.</p>
<p>UIUC would (probably) have the best purely from the program’s standpoint, with Purdue coming in 2nd, but from the standpoint of where you fit in the best, I can’t really answer that. Personally, I don’t know why you would want to go somewhere OOS for CS when you have what looks like solid stats and live in state for UIUC. It is considered to be top 3 or 4 nationally in CS.</p>
<p>Here’s another note:
I’ve spoken with each school, and here’s an approximation of the costs from low to high:
Alabama
Iowa State
UIUC
Baylor
Purdue
Rose-Hulman</p>
<p>Strictly speaking form rankings, UIUC is the best on there. It is also a solid option when it comes to price. The only real reason not to choose it is if you don’t get in, if you really just hate it there, or if you just really love it somewhere else. Other than that, it is the beset CS school on that list in terms of prestige and perceived quality of program (I am not going to attempt to go any deeper than the rankings on this one).</p>
<p>I’m just bumping to hear more opinions.
I know UIUC is the highest ranking.
Everyone says UIUC, but with so many monetary offers from ISU, UA, etc, I’m not sure if it’s the best choice. I like them all.</p>
<p>There will be pros and cons for most schools. If UIUC doesn’t give you as much money as ISU or UA, that is a con. Its quality is a pro. It’s up to you to decide which pros and cons are more important.</p>
<p>For me, I would say go to the best school you can which won’t put you in more than $50k of debt (I would seriously consider even $20k of debt, if you’re talking about a full ride elsewhere).</p>
<p>gah. a Poly student posted without recommending NYU-Poly? hey, we send out Dean’s applications to certain students (the ones who excell) where your application fee is waived, you get a decision in 2 weeks, etc. Did you receive it and/or check it out? Or is the east coast/Poly just not for you? It would offer you a lot of financial aid if you get into the Honors program…it sounds like something you might be interested in. No idea. lol</p>
<p>On the flip side, UIUC is pretty godlike yeah. And it’d be cheaper for you, correct? Did you visit it, and if so, how’d that go? :)</p>
<p>Does everyone from NYC say “yeah” at the end of their questions frequently? I have a friend here who is from NYC and went to Cornell and he does that a lot.</p>
<p>lol…actually…yeah. a lot, yeah. I’ve noticed that too. They also say things like “mad chill” or “legit” but that may not be just in the metropolitan area. :p</p>
<p>But yeah ISU and UA offered a buttload of money. I’m visiting ISU on Saturday for the second time.</p>
<p>I’ve visited UIUC 3 times, and though I like it, nobody is nearly as friendly as the people from every other school I’ve visited. I’m not sure if that’s just my experience, or if the personality of the school is actually like that.</p>
<p>As an IU CS department alum who went on to Stanford for his Ph.D. in CS, I feel compelled to defend my alma mater. Between the mathematics and CS departments, I received an excellent education. Not having an engineering school does have an impact, and the CS department at IU clearly has certain areas in which it is stronger than in others, like most departments. (30 years ago, I remember it being strong in languages and foundations. It was probably strong in others areas, but those are the areas I was aware of as an undergraduate). This may be part of the reason for the rebranding as a school of informatics, allowing leveraging of IU’s strengths in life sciences and chemistry, among others. Given all that, I do not know all that much about the department these days. I do know some of the faculty at IU (and at Purdue and at UIUC) and there are excellent researchers at all three institutions. The president of IU is a computer scientist, and he was involved in the creation of the School of Informatics in his earlier position as vice president of information technology. IU has also been quite successful in acquiring computer systems and networks and NSF research projects is CS the last few years. All told, there appears to be strong institutional commitment to computer science at IU.</p>
<p>This does not answer the question of how strong of an undergraduate department it is. I’d just say that IU has its strengths, and you should look at what they have to offer and not reject them out of hand. By the way, the mathematics department is no slouch - it is ranked as equal to that of Purdue in recent rankings.</p>