<p>ok so there's this one liberal arts college i'm interested in (i'm a high school senior btw), and it would be the perfect 4 years if i went there. however i want to major in computer science, and their program isn't accredited at all, and in fact i'm not even sure u can get a degree in computer science. i think they just give you a Bachelors of Science. but i will still have computer science classes etc. So lets say i did go there, but after dad i did a masters program in computer science from a traditional accredited school, then would i be able to get a good job right out of grad school, or would employers look down at my undergrad? i'm not sure if i should go to this lac, or just go to a normal college with ABET accredation. Thanks</p>
<p>go to a normal college. Many grad schools won’t accept you if u don’t go to an ABET accredited undergrad.</p>
<p>Employers wouldn’t care as long as you had a real CS grad degree from a real CS school. As the previous poster astutely observes, however, graduate schools may be even more reluctant than companies to accept a student from a sketchy program at an unknown school, for a variety of reasons.</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters one bit. I’ve never heard anyone ever mention it in school or in the industry.</p>
<p>ABET accreditation usually matters little to nothing in CS employment or graduate school, but it can serve to “validate” that a particularly obscure or unknown school’s CS degree program meets some minimum standard of quality.</p>
<p>Which school is it?</p>
<p>it’s hampshire college. and another thing i’m worried about is that they don’t give a gpa, they only give written evaluations. thx</p>
<p>They dont give a gpa??</p>
<p>o_O</p>
<p>I remember reading about hampshire college before and its unconventional approach to higher education seems really cool. Unfortunately, unconventional may not be a good thing if you plan on working in the industry after you graduate.</p>
<p>One of the reasons why engineering/computer science majors are able to get jobs in their fields with just a bachelor’s degree is because the curriculum for these majors are pretty well established and don’t vary too much from school to school. Therefore, if a college graduate has earned good grades at a school with respected science and engineering programs, employers can safely assume that he or she has an adequate technical foundation. If you come from a school with an unconventional academic program where students are allowed to more or less design their own curriculum, all bets are off.</p>
<p>On the other hand, that sort of school may be better equipped for producing students who go on to grad school. Grad programs prefer students who know what they want to focus on, but the typical undergrad from a conventional school doesn’t really have a good idea of what he or she wants to do, having spent the last four years simply following a script and chasing As and Bs.</p>
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<p>[Computer</a> Science](<a href=“http://www.hampshire.edu/admissions/computer_science.htm]Computer”>Computer Science | Hampshire College) and the course listings and schedules indicate that the computer science offerings are rather limited, and do not include much of what is normally expected in a computer science bachelor’s degree program. It appears that the “native” courses at Hampshire College have a heavy emphasis on graphics, animation, and artificial intelligence, to the exclusion of almost everything else, including core concepts like algorithms, operating systems, networks, databases, security, compilers, etc…</p>
<p>Some of the more usual courses are found in the list as being offered through the consortium. Of the consortium, none has ABET accreditation for CS, although University of Massachusetts Amherst has it for computer systems engineering. Its CS offerings appear to be greater than those of others in the consortium, but less than at schools either well known for CS or with ABET accreditation for CS.</p>
<p>I don’t think ABET accreditation matters, but what you know, the depth of what you learn and the level of competition in which you learned it does matter to employers and to graduate schools. </p>
<p>Hampshire seems like a school that appeals to unconventional, independent thinking creative types. </p>
<p>I suspect it’s CS graduates are mostly either self-employed or unemployed. </p>
<p>If you’re already a crack programmer, then what you learn there may help develop your more creative side. However, if you are not brave enough to go out on your own at the outset, you might be better off with a more conventional option where actual recruiters actually recruit.</p>
<p>ABET accreditation matters only in some cases. Heck, in the software field most employers doesn’t even care if you went college if you have demonstrated ability to get the job done. There are other ways to demonstrate your ability other than that piece of paper (hint: github profile full of open source contribution, stackoverflow profile with high 2000+ reputation w/ an invitation to stack overflow career)</p>
<p>Of the few cases where it does matter…grad school…as stated above and patent law. If you want to advance your career by going into patent law, law schools require you to have a technical BS degree from an accredited university before allowing you to study in patent law. And with all the patent trolling going on right now…I’m sure those patent lawyers are making loads of cash.</p>
<p>@lightblade: Wow, awesome. Could you share your reputable, generalizable source citing data from recent history so that the rest of us can read it? There probably aren’t thousands of other people with >2000 SO profiles and github accounts to compete with.</p>
<p>The Federal and state governments will be looking for a degree from an ABET accredited program as well as large government contractors. Oversees employment will be easier with such a degree as many countries recognize ABET accreditation through a number of mutual recognition accords.</p>
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<p>I cannot comment on State “gubments”, but at the Federal level, you do NOT need to have an ABET-accredited CS degree. Hell, most of the time, all you need is just a BA/BS degree and the technology knowledge (like Java, Oracle, C++, C#, etc). Once you get into the “cleared world” (read: security clearance jobs), then the clearance is the #1 attribute then the degree.</p>
<p>Even when a certain DoD client wants someone with a technical degree for a CS-related job, they will ask for an EE, CompE, CS, Math or Physics major…and may even allow and IT/IS major.</p>
<p>It really boils down to: “Do you know Oracle RAC?..Do you know encryption?..etc”.</p>
<p>It is definitely not true that government contractors require ABET accreditation.</p>
<p>@aegrisomnia 
Thanks for the bait, but no thanks. You’re right there are thousands of other people with > 2000 SO rep, but most of those people are in a comfortable job and are age 30+. If you’re an high school grad that can achieve this, send me your resume.</p>
<p>Come on, I earned 2000 rep on SO in a month. Any high school kid who knows how to program and who’s on the site for a year can do the same…</p>
<p>@aegrisomnia Are you looking for a job? :)</p>
<p>@aegrisomnia</p>
<p>Agreed. Having over 2000 rep isn’t hugely impressive, even as a high school student. I had over 3000, and an invite to Careers, before I was even a junior in high school. I’m sure there’s a huge number of other high school students out there who could do the same.</p>