I’ve been doing a lot of research into the breadth of the curricula of the LACs I’m looking at, because I don’t want to fall in love with a school that has an inadequate curriculum.
@ucbalumnus (feel free to tell me if I forgot anything if you feel inclined to read the whole post) so helpfully provided a list on some other thread I was looking at at “have to have”/important classes that a CS program should have. I also consulted the Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium’s guide to a complete curriculum in CS at LACs. Here are their requirements.
Ucbalumnus:
The school should have regularly-scheduled courses in:
-Algorithms
-Lang.
-Compilers
-Databases
-Networks
-Security
-Project course
-Electives (AI, graphics, etc)
LACS’ requirements:
Intro: A sequence of at least 2 into courses
Core: Computer organization, algorithms, software development, languages, theory
Electives: Language processing, AI, etc
All of the LACs fulfill the requirements between these two lists, except for security- several colleges did not have a course for security.
The LAC on my list that fulfills most of the requirements is Carleton. No gaps and tons of electives, considering it’s size. Really great curriculum. Just wish it was closer to the east coast or my mom in CO.
Colorado College has the smallest program of all the colleges on my list. It does not have a compilers course or a security course. However, the block system means that I will have plenty of opportunities to take all the classes I need to, since their are seven “periods” a year as opposed to two at colleges on the semester system.
Both Vassar and Bowdoin had an excellent curriculum and really, really interesting electives (nature-inspired computation, machine learning, etc). However, I want to look more into the frequency of course offerings, particularly at Bowdoin.
Amherst had a few gaps (notably operating systems; compilers was offered in Spring 2014 but hasn’t been since then). These are gaps that could pretty easily be filled with some upper level courses at Umass, which is a great opportunity. Amherst also has the standard electives (AI, graphics) and a gaming course (could be interesting).
I could get a pretty complete CS education at all of these LACs, but it would likely be richest at Carleton, Vassar, or Bowdoin. I’m doing some college visits this week so I’ll have plenty to think about. I’ve been to CC, and I’m trying to go to Tufts (again), Bowdoin, and maybe Vassar (it’s a heck of a drive, though- about four hours) before I go to Spain. Just wanted to put this out there for anyone unsure that an LAC could offer a complete or quality CS education. There are definitely ones out there with a better program (Williams comes to mind, as does Harvey Mudd, which of course would not be an option for me), but these ones have the best combo of fit & program for me.