<p>Please give reasons.</p>
<p>CMU's computer science is the best in the country. Why? because microsoft and google have set up stations right off campus to recruit comp science and ece majors. Also, microsoft has provided the funding for a brand new computer science building.</p>
<p>I know CMU's Phd. program is ranked number one along with Berkeley, Stanford and MIT. I imagine that trickles down to undergrads as well. Do you have any sense of where the various school's strengths lie? </p>
<p>I haven't looked to see what would be answered in the website - except in a very cursory manner - but I wonder about SCS class sizes, requirements, pre-requisites etc. CMU is likely to be son's top choice, though he still has two more schools to hear from.</p>
<p>Focus on artificial intelligence, robotics, programming,EE the mechanical side of it all. Top math kids in these 4 schools show up the competition. Word has it that Google is setting up shop in Cambridge.</p>
<p>And where else is good in computer science, in the eastern half of the country? Most of the lists I've seen have CMU, MIT, then a lot of places in California, but DD is trying to stay in the northeast. Thanks for your ideas!</p>
<p>You certainly must consider MIT as Eastern.......are you looking for schools less competitive re: admission? Is that the question?
University of Maryland.....Rutgers....there is a long list.</p>
<p>Yes, less competitive but still good. SCS and MIT would be reaches for my DD-- not impossible, just pretty unlikely. Like they are for everybody, I guess. She needs some matches.</p>
<p>University of Maryland, JohnsHopkins, NYU, Rutgers, Olin.......what area of CS is she interested in or do you know?</p>
<p>Software programming and game programming.</p>
<p>You know for a match, I'd just pick any school she likes and that has a department. This is a competitive field and more than in any field I know of what one person thinks of as career outcome versus another seems to tie back to math ability. That is all I can offer you. Gaining a good understanding of CS as a whole is imperative for you and your daughter.</p>
<p>RPI has a video game programming major. They are likely to offer merit aid to a strong applicant who is female.</p>
<p>I have friends that go to MIT, and have quite a bit of experience with CMU's CS department. </p>
<p>My sentiments:
1) MIT is mostly theoretical. Less homework outside of class than CMU>
2) CMU has just as much theory as MIT, but we learn to apply it as well. Class time is spent teaching theory, problem sets are used to apply the theory.
3) CMU is all about getting undergrads into research. If you're looking to go to grad school, this is a major plus.</p>
<p>Course catalog (to see the undergrad curriculum requirements, class descriptions, and pre-reqs for them):
<a href="http://www.cmu.edu/esg-cat/%5B/url%5D">http://www.cmu.edu/esg-cat/</a></p>
<p>Here's an example (this semester) of special topics courses, which are not in the catalog:
<a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/cathyf/www/s07relatedcourses.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/cathyf/www/s07relatedcourses.html</a></p>
<p>Here's the best way to access the course schedule if you're not an enrolled student (An online scheduler maintained by the newspaper. Courses for next semester are posted on Monday): <a href="http://scheduleman.org%5B/url%5D">http://scheduleman.org</a></p>
<p>Core classes like 15-213 (intro to systems) and 15-251 (great theoretical ideas of computer science) usually have lecture enrollments capped at 150-180. Some of the lower classes, like 15-111 (intermediate/advanced programming) are taught in the computer cluster and capped at 50, since that's the size of the room. Almost all of these classes have once-a-week recitation sections with an undergraduate or graduate TA. The sections are capped at 25-35, depending on the class. Upper level classes typically have smaller enrollments, but are much less likely to have recitations.</p>