Help from the Village - CS Programs

Parent Cafe
1

Son started search as an Engineer and is now most interested in Computer Science.

As May 1st looms, we are seemingly not much closer to deciding which school would be best fit for son. The schools to choose from are fine institutions, however, am uncertain which would be a good fit for him, nor how respected they are in the employment world.

His aim is to find a school with small classes, hands on learning and with room to explore classes outside his Program of Study (Computer Science). Our collective aim is to find a school that also does not stretch the budget too far.

That said, do any of the schools below stand out as a solid fit?

Schools that stretch the budget:

  1. UVA
  2. William & Mary
  3. Drexel University

Schools that fit budget:

  1. University of Delaware
  2. College of New Jersey
  3. Virginia Tech

Any insight on the schools above would be most helpful.

2

A niece went to VA Tech, and majored in CS but she minored in Spanish Lit. There were large and small classes. But you have an awesome list of schools to pick from.

I think most people agree that budget is a big part of fit.

Has your son visited these schools?

3

Let him pick one of the schools that fit the budget.

Are you instate for any of them?

4

I don’t see any bad choices there.

5

@3puppies Thank you for the feedback. Tech checks many of the boxes, but the size of classes and freshman curriculum offer us pause. We have visited all the non-VA schools and are in midst of coordinating trips to each. I wish we were VA Residents as the premium for living out of state is large.

6

@mommdc TCNJ would be only in-state choice - but merit money at some other schools help a bit.

7

@“Erin’s Dad” Thank you!

8

What does he want to do with CS? Ds19 plans to major in CS with a focus on gaming or AI. He has researched most of those and DE is on his short list. I can’t speak to class sizes but they are the strongest for what he wants to study.

I don’t know NJ but I don’t think you’d go wrong with Tech either.

9

I would knock Drexel off. UVA (and W&M) considered only if he may make a drastic turn away from engineering and CS. I believe W&M and TCNJ are the smallest.

10

Personally I would knock off the expensive ones and then let him make a choice.

11

University of Delaware was the choice.

Thanks to all!

12

Interesting, did he say what tipped the decision? I have a lot of friends who went to UDel and enjoyed it.

13

@ninakatarina Thank you for asking (and for the feedback from your friends experience).

  1. Size of the Program (most classes will be 30 -50 kids), 2) Course Offerings (can study Game Design, Cyber Security), 3) Cost of Attendance (generous Merit helped) 4) Central Proximity to major cities (Philly and DC are close and NYC not much further) 5) Proximity to home

Time will tell whether choosing to study there was a wise choice.

14

Congrats to him! We will be visiting U Del and Drexel this summer. It sounds like he had several great reasons for his choice!

15

Great choice! U Del has a well respected STEM program and other majors are also strong. Our town sends many kids to U Del and I only hear good things!

16

@momprof9904 Thank you for that feedback. Students (and their parents) seem to really appreciate UD, which means a great deal. Even more encouraging is hearing opinions like yours on the strength of their programs. The new President there has committed to growing the programs even further…hopeful all goes as planned and the students benefit from the additional resources.