<p>Can anyone give me some info or personal experiences on NU's Computer Science Program? I am only a junior next year, but I am almost certain I want to go into Comp Sci. I have been using Best</a> Computer Science Programs | Top Computer Science Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools to get an idea of what schools I might be interested in. NU is only 61, which in the scheme of things is really good, but I could probably get into some of the higher ranked schools. The list is from 2010, and from what I can find out about NU, they are only going up.</p>
<p>The Co-Op program is definitely a plus, as well as it being in Boston. I love the campus as well, which makes me think it would be a perfect fit. </p>
<p>How good their computer science program really makes or breaks it for me, though.</p>
<p>That list is a list of graduate programs… graduate programs are not undergraduate programs. Don’t rely on those rankings. Maybe you can check out the Shanghai rankings. </p>
<p>I assume that because Northeastern has the only Computer and Information Sciences School in a university (something along the lines of that), the CS program is probably well structured since the school has its own set of core requirements that are of use to CS majors. That’s a good thing cause for example, some schools have CS under the engineering school or the College of Arts and Sciences school and the core requirements are sometimes irrelevant to the CS field.</p>
<p>And most importantly, the Co-op program. NU has good relations with big name companies like Google and Microsoft and probably lots of startups in Boston. Also, during your Co-op you do not pay tuition and you usually get paid during your Co-ops. For a field like CS, it’s good to have lots of work experience. Usually you don’t need to go to grad school if you’re doing CS unless you want to be a professor. So right when you graduate you’ll be applying for jobs. Obviously employers want to hire those with experience. So out of a pool of job applicants, you would have a huge advantage with your work experience in NU. </p>
<p>Anyway don’t take this for grant but you get the idea - NU is good for CS. However this is CC and the internet… don’t take this post for granted. :)</p>
<p>I’m only going to be a freshman at NEU next year, but I did think that Northeastern had the right CS program for me, and that’s why I chose the school. In addition to CO-OP, I found that Northeastern had a great variety in the college of computer science. Computer science is its own college, and there are combined majors with computer science and a lot of other majors. I thought it was great because although I like computer science, I also like media, so I will be majoring in CS and interactive media. We also have BS/MS and BS combined CS and math with MS in CS. I’ve been told that since CS is its own college we get a lot of individual attention when it comes to advising for classes/CO-OP. I also checked the faculty list, and almost half the faculty have PhDs from MIT. We also have clubs for game design and hackathons. In addition there is a concentration in cyber-ops/security that is certified by the NSA if you’re interested in that kind of thing. I don’t know much about rankings, but my researched seemed to show that CCIS at Northeastern was strong and regardless of rankings, CO-OP will help me get a job anyway.</p>
<p>As a CS minor, I’ve found Northeastern’s setup a bit different from what’s “typical” in the very beginning, but I think it’s actually really beneficial. Instead of starting out teaching you something like Java or C++ or another “real world” language that you’ll use in co-ops and jobs, you start out learning Racket, a functional programming language. The goal is to teach you how to design programs, not just write them. Learning the syntax of a new language is relatively easy, but the design concepts are much more universal. Having learned more languages and done more programming outside of classes since then, I think they have the right idea, and it has served me well on my co-ops. The program is very well-organized and feels personal. It’s not so huge that you get lost in the CCIS college, but it’s big enough to have a lot of fantastic classes, professors, clubs, etc.
And of course, I’m going to second the answers saying co-op wins.</p>
<p>If you want a challenge, go for the honors track. If they’re still doing it the way they used to, you don’t have to be in the Northeastern honors program to take the honors CS courses. As someone without CS experience, it was very challenging, and I learned a ton.</p>
<p>Also, if you are not Honors but really excel at it, you can talk to the professors and if you demonstrate that you’re up for the challenge you can take the honors sections of the fundamentals classes.</p>