<p>I was accepted for CS, but also to UT Austin, UC San Diego, and TX A&M for CS. UI Urbana-Champaign for alternate major of Chemical Engineering.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how the CS program at Rose-Hulman compare to the above schools? Particularly San Diego? As San Diego is the only school that compares to Rose-Hulman in terms of COA, all the other schools will be a minimum of $17,000+ I'd have to make up. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I have sent a request to the Head of our CSSE department. When I hear back, I will post his thoughts in answer to your question.</p>
<p>Here is what our CS department head said:</p>
<p>"A couple of quick thoughts –</p>
<p>• All the other schools listed are large schools and will have large classes, perhaps with grad students as teachers rather than faculty members in some courses.
• Our undergraduate students have many more opportunities to do research with faculty members, and it is easier to get independent study courses going.
• We have ~100% placement of our undergraduates by commencement, and above average opportunities for internships.
• Faculty can provide “meatier” recommendation letters for grad school and employment opportunities since they know the students very well."</p>
<p>The only thing I would add is the fact that our CS department has worked very hard to establish international collaboration on projects for our students. We have, in particular, worked extensively with CS programs in Sweden and Turkey. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Jared Goulding
Assistant Director of Admissions
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology</p>
<p>DS is also deciding between Big State U and RH for CS. I think students considering small schools have to overcome some bias from parents and peers who are more familiar with the large state universities.</p>
<p>RH has the best placement statistics that I’ve seen. I don’t know if as many big name software companies recruit there though perhaps due to the size of the CS program? Based upon the student numbers it does appear as if the program is growing.</p>
<p>Thank you for the response. Really appreciate it. Will certainly have more questions to come.</p>
<p>I’m a current CS at Rose-Hulman who came from Los Angeles and had the choice of going to UC San Diego, but chose Rose instead. </p>
<p>Here’s my list of pluses/minuses:</p>
<ul>
<li>Easier to get help because the student/faculty ratio is relatively low </li>
<li>There’s events to get to know the faculty on a personal level and this can help you in so many ways…(as Jared Goulding mentioned with recommendation letters and research opportunities)</li>
<li>The curriculum here is certified by ABET and does a very good job in training you for industry/graduate school </li>
<li>100% Placement at the end of the year with industry careers/graduate school </li>
</ul>
<p>-Locality. From my experiences, most (not all) of the CS firms that recruit here are from Indianapolis / some area of Illinois or Ohio. If you are looking to go back to the West Coast and work right after graduation, it’s not going to be anywhere as easy (unless you happen to be a star). Aside from Fog Creek Software, most CS firms (that don’t have locations in the midwest) in the coasts have no idea what Rose-Hulman is and may see it on a level equivalent to a lesser technical school. Perhaps, I haven’t been looking hard enough, but it takes significantly more effort in trying to score something outside of the Midwest. The UC San Diego name will definitely look consistently impressive across all firms.</p>
<p>Hmm… I prefer RH over San Diego easy. But I do intend on going for my doctorate after my undergraduate studies, so might not be an issue considering I will have to switch schools to pursue doctorate. </p>
<p>That said: How many RH graduates go on to earn a doctorate? And are there any numbers on their success rate in being accepted to different programs? Considering I was unable to apply to MIT for transfer (SAT requirements…) I’m hoping to go for graduate studies.</p>
<p>Roughly 17% go on for graduate studies if I recall the statistic from a year or two ago. It’s been pretty consistent. I’m guessing most people get tired of school by the time that they’re in their senior year and would be celebrating once they’re in the workplace since the workplace is easier than Rose (that’s how well the school prepares you). </p>
<p>If you really have the drive and can really make your time here doing impressive things, transferring to MIT shouldn’t be a problem at all. (i.e. Graduating summa cum laude, publishing several papers, extremely strong faculty recommendations)</p>
<p>Hi -
I’m the mom of a High School Sophmore who is interested in Engineering, and I believe he has the ability to do the work. We live in the NorthEast US, and I would love it if after school S gets the option to return to the NE to work. I like small, family type schools with lots of esprit de corps for him, so RHIT is on my Radar.</p>
<p>He isn’t so sure of what field of Engineering he will be interested in, but probably not computers - maybe Mechanical or Chemical?</p>
<p>Questions -
<p>1) It’s alright to not know what field of engineering he’s interested in, but many people who go to Rose have their hearts pretty much set on something. Surely, there are people who do change majors and such, but at Rose…you only can be in some sub-field of engineering or hard math/science (aside from Econ). If he/she is really unsure and thinks they have a good chance of just switching out of engineering when times get tough, it might be less expensive and better to look at other options.</p>
<p>2) I always got the feeling that getting a great job in the Northeast is tough, simply because you’re competing with the likes of Carnegie Mellon, MIT, RPI , WPI , Steven’s and many other well-known institutions well within the area. Perhaps it’s not so hard for traditional engineering disciplines, but as a current CS student, I find it rather challenging…because I’m always going to have that awkward moment during the interview where the interviewer is going to be like “Rose wha? Is that like Devry or ITT Tech?”. Perhaps that’s what graduate school might be for (since Rose prepares their students pretty darn well).</p>
<p>@ParentSparkle</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What redfedora711 says is accurate. The majority of freshman students begin their enrollment as “undecided”. However, they all know that they want to use math and science as the main tools in their career. That is all we emphasize: know you want to use math and science and we can provide you anything you want.</p></li>
<li><p>There is a bit of a “chicken or the egg” component to this situation that redfedora711 alludes to. Because of the good options in colleges located in the NE, not many students leave the NE to go to college and plan to stay in the NE after college. Thus, most NE companies don’t feel the need to venture outside the NE to recruit graduates. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Where I differ with redfedora711 is with his/her statement that an interviewer would not have heard of Rose-Hulman. If a student is to the interview process, the interviewer will know Rose-Hulman. Our Career Services Counselors are traveling all over the country in the summer and at other times to meet with company representatives to make sure Rose-Hulman is on their list of recruitment targets. Every year, around 700 companies and 50+ graduate schools will take us up on that.</p>
<p>What I have always told students is that no matter where you go to school, your dream job most likely isn’t waiting for you upon graduation. Everyone works into her/his dream job. If you son isn’t in the NE right after graduation, he certainly would be in less than 3 years or so.</p>
<p>While RHIT might not be known by many outside of the Midwest, I would argue that it is known to those in the engineering field. (I hadn’t heard of Rose before my son’s advisor recommended Operation Catapult for a summer program - which he attended and loved.) My son is finishing his senior year (and will be attending Rose to study physics in the fall!), so many friends/acquaintances have been asking him over the past year what he will be studying and where he will be going. Since we live in a somewhat rural area of VA, most people have never heard of Rose. However,my friends who are math and science teachers in schools have at least heard of Rose. In addition, when an engineer friend asked him last fall what he was considering and my son told him Rose was on his list, our friend was very excited. He said that he had just hired a Rose graduate and was very impressed with his skills. He spoke very highly of this graduate and said he would definitely consider Rose grads in the future. We are only a couple hours from VA Tech, so having this man (who is a VT grad and has had 2 sons attend VT) speak so highly of the Rose graduate he had hired made the decision to attend Rose a bit easier for my son. For the record, VT was not on my son’s list since their physics program is not as highly respected as their engineering programs. He did, however, apply and was accepted at UVA and easily chose Rose (although this mama would have not minded having him a bit closer to home).</p>
<p>I certainly agree that Rose is more well known to those in the engineering field. This thread specifically pertains to CS; Part of the matter has been that Rose has been graduating engineers in traditional disciplines for much longer opposed to CS/SE (Computer Science/Software Engineering) degrees. Therefore, it’s much more common for HR/company representatives that have not heard of Rose-Hulman to simply shuffle one’s resume (coming from CS/SE) into a less qualified pile. It’s this shuffling process that can put Rose CS/SE grads at an disadvantage (since it’s much more unlikely the Rose student would get the interview) if they seek to work immediately outside the midwest after graduation unless they scored internships with much more well-known companies during their tenure here at Rose opposed to a much more well-known school that opens doors for you with an equivalent CS/SE degree.</p>