<p>Give me the lowdown, the 'straight dope' if you will.</p>
<p>Underrated? Overrated?</p>
<p>Assume I have no pursuits that vastly outweigh the others. Just your average Renaissance man. Come sophomore year I could see myself majoring in visual arts or psychology just as soon as computer science or physics. Should I eventually settle down on computer science would Harvard be a viable option for me?</p>
<p>I'm still a prefrosh, so I don't have any anecdotes from experience to give you, but I did have a chance to chat with a computer science professor when I visited the campus last month.</p>
<p>Basically, he gave me the impression that Harvard's big advantage in computer science is that it's a small "department" (though note that it's not technically a department, but it is for all practical purposes). That is, it's easy to get to know the professors, there's more personalization in classes than at, say, MIT, and there's a better chance that you'll stand out in your classes. He also told me that Microsoft and Google give him annual calls to ask for stellar students for hire. ;)</p>
<p>Personally, I'm a bit like you, and that's why I chose computer science at Harvard. Although right now I'd like to pursue comp sci, I didn't choose MIT because I want the flexibility to change my mind, and the comfort of a real liberal arts education.</p>
<p>Google hires a lot of Harvard grads - and not just in the computer part of the business!</p>
<p>My impression is that the department is small, but big enough. If you have other interests and like Harvard and what it has to offer by all means apply. If you want MIT's offering are also available, when Harvard changes its calendar their courses will be easier to take.</p>
<p>My son turned down computer science for Carnegie Mellon, but he's obsessed with computer science. His idea of a social life is to take part in computer contests with other kids like him.</p>
<p>Definitely shop (and take) CS50, the intro CS class in the fall. The professor, David Malan, is one of the best I've had at Harvard - dedicated, enthusiastic, great lecturer, etc. And, you have a chance of getting me as a teaching fellow :-P.</p>
<p>I know a few CS concentrators, who on the whole tend to love the concentration. I also know a lot more people (including myself) who have taken a few CS classes, and wish we had taken more.</p>
<p>hello!</p>
<p>can you please tell me anything more that you know? Does jen or mathmom son have any more reasons for their choices? Any regrets? Why would you choose harvard over other American universitys like mit. I heard most harvard computer science people go to wall street banking after. Is this true.</p>
<p>your interesting advice is welcome.</p>
<p>I'd be happy to hear more follow-ups to these interesting questions as well. Thanks to the participants who have already replied.</p>
<p>In comparison to most, Harvard is strong in computer science, but in comparison to many of its peers (Stanford, Cornell, MIT, etc.), it lags. Of course, you can take courses at MIT if you're going to Harvard, and we all know that MIT is tops for CS, but IMO that isn't ideal--I want to go to the college itself, not to its neighbor. (This actually was one of the reasons I ultimately choose Stanford--its superior CS department, and of course you can't beat the proximity to SV.)</p>
<p>Harvard's professors in CS, to me, seemed much less "inspiring" than those in CS at Berkeley and Stanford (who were very impressive). Not to mention Harvard doesn't really seem to have a "track record" in CS like schools like Stanford (Google, Yahoo, HP, etc.).</p>
<p>On the whole, though, Harvard's CS department is good.</p>
<p>Mathmom's son just finished his freshman year at Carnegie Mellon. He has no regrets turning down Harvard. He liked having a department (school) with 200 professors instead of 20. He's gotten away with taking one required freshman writing course, and one history course. He's done with requirements except a technical writing course and one more breadth course in something like psychology. Most of his schedule has been computer, math or physics. He was involved in a class/EC that worked on computer contests for several hours once a week. His social life revolves around a Linux computer cluster. Kids hang around, play games, talk, go out to eat all based on computer operating system preferences! :rolleyes: </p>
<p>All of the top computer programs send a number of students off to Investment Banking - it's where the top money is, very hard to resist I think. I don't think the placement from Harvard is notably different from Carnegie Mellon or MIT, but they were unwilling to share exact numbers. Because CMU has a school not just a department they are more intense and pay attention to students in a different way. I wouldn't recommend CMU unless you are a serious computer nerd. </p>
<p>I agree that small departments can be an advantage. I think both I (majored in VES) and my roommate who majored in Comparative Religion had more intimate experiences than my roommates who were government and history majors.</p>
<p>You choose Harvard because of the House system, because of Cambridge, because of the variety and the intensity of your fellow students. I went to Harvard with two people who later became McArthur fellows - Naomi Pierce (who studied butterflies) and Peter Sellars (who produces opera, and is the most brilliant and charismatic person I have ever met). YoYo Ma was also there when I was there and we got treated to many fine concerts at no or minimal cost. Oh and the guy who wrote Memoirs of a Geisha was in a class with me freshman year. If you attend Harvard you may have equivalent experiences.</p>
<p>^^ funny story--I know someone who knew James Gosling, the creator of the Java programming language, when he was at CMU, no less. :)</p>
<p>Oh for sure, you can meet famous people anywhere. And I'm sure my son would be much more interested in James Gosling than the people I mentioned. :)</p>
<p>I went through a week of formalized comparisons this year for
personal reasons as I sifted through HPMS:</p>
<p>(If you look at the Grad school ratings, CS at H overall is relatively
not rated too high. The Computational Theory specialization- due to the Math dept- is rated very high;
The grad ratings does not have too much bearing on your UG
education directly though given that you can piggy back on Cambridge
area research ops)</p>
<p>The biggest attraction (if you are a renaissance person and are at
Harvard to sample the smograsbord) would be the fact that CS at H
requires only ~12 credits compared to almost double that if you were
engaged in 6-3 at MIT or CS at Princeton. CMU of course would be for
the hardcore CS applicant- not recommended for someone exploring options
in their UG years.</p>
<p>The only issue is that if you start comparing courses, Harvard comes
out quite weak overall in terms of CS</a> offerings. The H Computational
Theory offering is very deep and world class however anything else at
H would be not satisfying for the CS focused person.</p>
<p>You will have to take courses at MIT if you are interested in non-comp.
theory coursework. If you are interested in CS and have a hankering
for the humanities and do not want to face the rigors of a joint H-M
future then Princeton is ideal. You get to be taught by the likes of
Kernighan! Stanford is another cool option though personally the
quarter system killed it for me as a chocie.</p>
<p>If you consider it attractive that late into the soph year you can
change your mind, switch to CS and still comfortably complete the
degree requirements on time attending H with a CS conc would be
perfect!</p>
<p>What is interesting at H is not necessarily the CS concentration but the
readiness of this institution to allow you to do "Special</a> Concentration".
If you can convince them that a conc in "Tea-leaf patternology" involving
CS vision and para-psychology is a viable concentration in which you have
an academic sponsor to support your inquiry- H will let you get a degree in
that! Now how cool is that? !!! </p>
<p>(I just pulled that example from thin air but you get the flavor- you can
combine almost anything with CS and have a fun and productive time at
it)</p>
<p>For what it's worth, here's the Gourman undergrad ranking for CS (which ironically doesn't even rank Stanford!--speaks to its credibility):</p>
<p>MIT
Carnegie Mellon
UC Berkeley
Cornell
U Illinois
UCLA
Yale
Caltech
U Texas Austin
Wisconsin
Maryland College Park
Princeton
u Washington
USC
SUNY Stony Brook
Brown
Georgia Tech
U penn
U Rochester
NYU
Minnesota
U Utah
Columbia</p>
<p>I'd say they're pretty close to right on the CS rankings. Ableit, Stanford should be in there.</p>
<p>When I was deciding last year, picking between, Harvard, MIT and Cornell, I realized that I wanted a good liberal education in conjuction with a computer science degree. I thought I might get into English, Political Science and Economics along with CS, so I chose to go to Cornell. Harvard, I noticed doesn't have as great of a focus in CS as is does the liberal arts and that is really damning for them. They might say that you can take classes at MIT, but that's logistically difficult. Also, you don't get the same resources as you would at Cornell or MIT. I would strongly suggest applying to Arts and Sciences at Cornell if you are interested in CS along with other fields, or are having difficulty making up your mind.</p>
<p>Taking classes at MIT if you are at Harvard (and vice versa) is not particularly difficult. I wouldn't let that be the deciding factor.</p>
<p>^^True but most people want to be able to take classes for their major at their own school. Taking classes at MIT is a better option if there are just a few courses that they do better than Harvard that you want to take (for example, combinatorics if you're a math major).</p>
<p>Harvard CS classes: HERS</a> Output</p>
<p>I don't really know enough about CS at this level to contribute to the discussion, but I do know that if you're a bit more casual about learning to program + dabbling a bit, the Harvard CS department is very friendly.</p>
<p>The list: </p>
<p>MIT
Carnegie Mellon
UC Berkeley
Cornell
U Illinois
UCLA
Yale
Caltech
U Texas Austin
Wisconsin
Maryland College Park
Princeton
u Washington
USC
SUNY Stony Brook
Brown
Georgia Tech
U penn
U Rochester
NYU
Minnesota
U Utah
Columbia</p>
<p>is not that great. Yale, Penn, and Brown should not be there. Harvard and U-Mass at Amherst should be there. Of course, Stanford should be #1 due to its huge contribution to CS. Harvard and Princeton should also be very high. There are lots of big-name computer scientists graduated from Harvard and Princeton.</p>
<p>Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft)
Wang Ann
Bob Metcalf (inventor of ethernet)
Michael Rabin (Turing award winner)
Richard Karp (Turing award winner)
Frederick Brooks (Turing award winner)
Andrew Yao (Turing award winner)
Allen Emerson (Turing award winner)
Edmond Clark (Turing award winner)
Dennis Ritchie (Turing award winner)
Ken Iverson (Turing award winner)</p>
<p>Ok, having "great" computer scientists associated with those schools, doesn't correlate to great departments. Additionally, Harvard gives out a lot of Honorary Degrees. While I don't doubt that the people you mention are accomplished in CS, I question your conclusion that they automatically become suggestive of a good computer science program.</p>