We are considering how job opportunites are affected if our son gets a comp sci degree at Hofstra vs Stonybrook vs Stevens vs RIT? It breaks down like this-
Hofstra= free(tuition remission), 45 min commute
Stonybrook=$10 grand/year, 10 min commute, possible financial aid to help
Stevens= $20 grand, On campus
RIT= $20 grand, on campus
The better computer science schools will all cost him in student loans, but he wants a good paying job when he graduates. He doesn’t care about living home or away or the commute.
The name of the school on the diploma won’t matter. Only issue I can think of is it might be logistically harder to find a job if he’s in Rochester rather than near NYC.
How is Hofstra for job placement? Free is hard to beat. But - sounds like DS is a top stats kid - may benefit from the challenge of a top uni like Stony Brook. The again -may benefit from being a somewhat bigger fish at Hofstra. Has he looked into the program details and visited the departments?
I’d say Stevens if money is not an issue.
If you’re worried about finances, then Hofstra.
The SB program for CS is pretty good – I’d advise that over Hofstra, and I don’t think Stevens or RIT are worth extra over SB.
Among these choices, Stony Brook is by far the best known in the field of computer science - particularly when it comes to research. They were pioneers in logic programming back in the 90s and I hear that they have a good department of computational linguistics.
Another vote for Stony Brook. They have an excellent reputation overall and in computer science specifically, and it’s one of the lower-cost options on your list. I don’t see any reason to pay twice as much for Stevens or RIT.
And yes, proximity to New York means that if he arranges his coursework carefully he may be able to commute into the city one day a week to do an internship at a NYC-area tech firm. (But Long Island can actually be a long commute into the city, so it’s not super-easy.)
If he decides to commute, than Stony Brook.
If he decides to dorm, than Stevens.
You guys are very helpful. Thank you.
I think Stony Brook is worth the 10k difference - if you want to spend, I would actually recommend RIT over Stevens personally, but both are solid programs marginally better than Stony - the difference between Stony and Hofstra is much larger.