<p>Cornell for computer science? Just 4 (MIT, Berkeley, CMU, Stanford) or is it more?</p>
<p>Cornell is among the best. At least within the US for undegraduate CS, only MIT, Berkeley, CMU, Stanford are arguably better than Cornell. For undergrad, I would go as far as to say Cornell slightly edges CMU since many other departments at Cornell are also just as strong as CS. I would say maybe Princeton is better (among Ivies) for the sole reason that the courses there seem even more theory-oriented.</p>
<p>For undergrad, I would say IIT’s in India, Tsinghua/Peking U, and Oxbridge are as good as Cornell for Computer Science. Foreign CS programs are often more theory oriented than those in the US.</p>
<p>For graduate study, it depends on which area but in most areas, Cornell is within top ten. You can’t go wrong with Cornell.</p>
<p>UIUC? UIUC is pretty much on par with the best of the best. It is usually ranked between #1 and #3 from year to year and has excellent reviews from employers.</p>
<p>Also, HAL 9000 was created at UIUC.</p>
<p>Any top 30 national Us should be fine. If you are picky, the top 30 that appear in the top 30 of Computer Science. I think at least 10-20 of them appear in that list.</p>
<p>For me, locally Stony Brook is pretty strong. Some CUNY schools here aren’t bad at all.
[Rankings</a> - Computer Science - Graduate Schools - Education - US News](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-computer-science-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-computer-science-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Beyond the ranking, I would urge you to check out the ACM programming contest that is held every year.</p>
<p>You can clearly see the ranking of the participating schools. For example, Cornell, Stony are always the top wining team in the Great New York area.</p>
<p>This kind of international competeion for computer science / computer engineering (for programming) reflects more than the ranking given by USNews</p>
<p>For Great New York Area
[2010</a> ACM ICPC Greater New York Region](<a href=“http://www.acmgnyr.org/]2010”>http://www.acmgnyr.org/)</p>
<p>For complete list
[ICPC</a> : Regional Results](<a href=“http://cm.baylor.edu/public/report/regionalInfo.icpc?cid=145897]ICPC”>http://cm.baylor.edu/public/report/regionalInfo.icpc?cid=145897)</p>
<p>Scroll all the way to the bottom - visit each area listed. The ranking is sometime hard to find on the website - give some efforts</p>
<p>These contests divided into several teams - comprised of lower division of undergraduate, with or without graduate student…</p>
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<p>I disagree with this. I think these rankings are all about research output, etc. LAC’s (esp those with good math departments) are great for preparing students for CS graduate schools. Less competitive schools are also OK as well since if you are a better student, you can get the research opportunities that are available (fewer research opportunities but fewer top students to compete with). </p>
<p>I attend a school which is not ranked top 50 by USNWR CS (turned down my state school which is good and ranked top 20 in USNWR CS, but I don’t really regret it) but I find the program here is quite good. In fact, two students here placed in the IOI (one gold medalist, one silver) including a friend of mine. Don’t get caught up by the rankings too much.</p>
<p>Well provided that I have another recommendation over USNews… if you actually read it.</p>
<p>But to the quote…
There is no right or wrong. One favor smaller school over larger school, yet the ranking is still higher (caltech!??)
Or some people perfer larger school over smaller school (like MIT, Cornell, Stanford!??)</p>
<p>True that smaller schools mean more attention from the professor and interactions between the professor and students. It is also true that fewer competition for joining a research. But any top 30 out there will give you good education. </p>
<p>I attended the 130-ish school and I think the program is just fine.
For CS, seriously, any top 30-50 will be fine.
The results from ACM competition reflects that ranking aren’t the end of the world. But still, the stronger schools tend to score higher. Stony and Cornell, not surprise at all, consider their CS ranking in the nation.</p>
<p>And true not every great students can afford to go to the top 30.</p>