<p>My son has been accepted to the CS dept of USC on half scholarship. He's also been accepted to UCB's and Carnegie Mellon's Computer science programs and has been waitlisted for Stanford's. These are all great schools, but he's concerned that USC's program might not be as challenging, innovative or well-regarded as these other schools. There are other factors involved that make USC his top choice, but would he regret turning down the other schools for USC's computer science program? He knows that the Games program is the strongest - what about the others?</p>
<p>They are ALL excellent!</p>
<p>Here’s some rankings to mull over:
[The</a> Best Schools for Computer Science Majors - 20 Top Colleges & University CS Programs Ranked For 2009](<a href=“GoDaddy Corporate Domains - Protected”>GoDaddy Corporate Domains - Protected)</p>
<p>[GRE</a> Guide - Computer Science Rankings](<a href=“http://www.greguide.com/comps.html]GRE”>University Rankings - Computer Science)</p>
<p>He will have terrific choices!</p>
<p>Best,
Wheaty</p>
<p>I’ve been considering doing a minor in cs. How are the professors once you hit the second class (data structures)? I haven’t read any good reports on the professors being easy to work with :/</p>
<p>USC’s CS can not compete with and is not well-regarded as the three other options you have. But it does exceptionally well in AI, Robotics, Vision, Graphics, and Game Design. Algorithm and Theory will be future strength since the new chair is a great theoretical computer scientist and mathematician, and they are hiring new people. So it should be challenging enough. </p>
<p>Academics only, it makes sense for you to choose other options. However, a USC degree is more than enough to get you anywhere you want in the industry. But if you want an academic career as a professor, or be the top of the tops, you should do a Ph.D. at that several top schools to significantly improve your chance. </p>
<p>Other considerations, such as tuition and college life, are up to you, and everyone has their own opinions.</p>