CS Curriculum Comparison Request

I’m far from a specialist so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
It looks to me that Denison’s program is more versatile and is both complete and well thought-out. While among 109, 110, and 111 not all would interest your son, the fact they have three “entries” into the major is good, because it shows they’ve mapped out paths for people who already know they want to major in CS, people who are interested in digital media and haven’t thought about CS, and people who are into other hard sciences and could add a CS minor/major. In shows their department is inclusive and isn’t a killing field for kids who haven’t thought of themselves as possibly trying CS - and ultimately, that enriches the experience of all students, including those like your son who already know what they want to do (and can skip the 109/110/111 level if qualified, another example of inclusivity).
I also looked at opportunities to study at a highly specialized level - and it’s quite possible: they have semester programs for CS majors at the Budapest institute ( for strong math majors), at Queen’s Belfast, Glasgow, and Edinburgh (all three Russell Group - ie., the British “Ivy League”) including a possible internship in Edinburgh.
http://denison.edu/academics/off-campus/accepted-programs?field_off_campus_program_tid=1220

I think Trinity has an advantage in location (I know, you didn’t ask :p). Trinity’s study abroad program seems very broad, but I didn’t see anything specific for CS - you’d need to ask where CS majors who have studied abroad in the past 5 years attended, if a specialized CS program abroad is possible, if it’s common. It also has different entrance-to-major classes, but only one sounds like a gateway course (ie., “computers and society” includes some hardware/software work but is apparently the equivalent of an elective for non majors, who would take the very different-sounding “Principles of Computing”.) Can be a plus for your son - no newbie who discovers CS in college will join the specialized courses. Can be a minus if he enjoys diversity. The Software Design Project, over 3 semesters sounds great. Ask Denison whether such a thing is possible there.

Thanks for all the very helpful and thoughtful responses. Keep it coming if anyone else has an opinion. These are the two finalists…

You will learn practical skills while doing substantial programming assignments and projects in CS courses where you apply the important foundational concepts. Also, use of several programming languages through the curriculum is preferred (better if such use is distributed across various courses, rather than in a single programming languages course while all other courses use the same programming language).

Of course, some CS departments may have more substantial programming assignments and projects in CS, and a broader view of choice of programming languages in various courses through the curriculum. A student considering that level of detail may want to dig around each CS department’s web site to see if there are public web pages for the CS courses to compare programming assignments and projects and use of programming languages. More substantial programming assignments and projects will be more work while you are in school, but you will gain stronger foundational knowledge that will help you continue to self-educate through your career.

Are they looking for IT people to manage computers and their software, or CS people to design and develop computers and their software? IT seems to be much more focused on skill certification than CS is.

Employers do prefer hiring people with specific skills. They know they’re not going to get that with new grads, though.

The Trinity program came off as a little bit more rigorous, but both programs look perfectly fine. Have your son choose the school he’s most comfortable with.