Is wisconsin a good computer science school. Also, how hard is it to get into?
Yes - it’s excellent. And how hard to get in really depends on what you want to do. Computer engineering is offered in the College of Engineering which is going to be more selective than College of Letters & Science which houses the Computer Science major (two tracks, BA and BS, depending on how specialized you want to get).
Read all about both:
http://guide.wisc.edu/undergraduate/letters-science/computer-sciences/
YES! Also excellent for math- an excellent field to take many classes in for CS. Some classes are cross listed in math and CS, btw. L&S would be the software choice and Engineering for the hardware types. Son did Honors math which included grad level math courses to meet honors requirements and added the CS as a second major. I have read articles where math knowledge (ie advanced classes) is helpful/useful for CS and I can see why.
Computer Science and Computer Engineering are two different fields- decide which most interests you. Think software versus hardware as a broad generalization.
The BA or BS in L&S is entirely dependent on breadth requirements met (some of us met both with a STEM major) and NOT major dependent- one can have just as many courses in the major and related fields for either. You make the choice by the time you graduate. Other schools may only offer one or the other based on your major but at UW (in L&S) you can show you have more breadth while still taking tons of classes in your major. Later companies won’t care if it’s a BA or BS, they will know a UW degree means something.
So far getting into UW as a whole is the major decider, then L&S is the default for all those not in other schools/colleges. CS majors need to take certain courses with freshman or sophomore standing to be able to take the others in the major so it is not a major to attempt from a start as a junior.
@wis75 I want to transfer 1 year later as a sophomore.
Be sure you do well at your first school to be prepared. If possible why not start at UW to get the UW versions of all of your courses???
Can you transfer after one semester cause the deadline is feb and you are technically a freshman when applying?
You can’t transfer after one semester.
@Madison85 I wanna go to the Fall 2019 term but I will be in second semester when transferring .
What? Do you mean go to a CC first then transfer to UW in spring?
1 year a regular university because the deadline for the FALL 2019 is Feb, i would still be a freshman. I wanna go into the fall
You’ll have to read their rules. Many colleges classify students who’ve attended another colleges as transfers. Transfers don’t usually get the same aid as students who didn’t attend another college.
what about compared to Maryland College Park? Are they the same level?
All ratings will have flaws. A good place to look at quality, however, is the grad school rankings in the field that interests you. US News and World Report has had these rankings for many years. Useful for seeing who’s in the top twenty versus who’s below the top fifty. Your undergrad experience will be influenced by the grad school, especially if you are in the honors program and take any grad level courses. UW has ranked highly for both math and computer science. Math is important to CS- higher level courses well beyond calculus.
Also- do not be swayed by which schools rank a bit above others. There are many good schools who will teach the same level courses. Look at what is offered, required and available in the major and related departments. It is your job, not ours, to do that research. Just as easy for you to look things up on your computer as it is for us to do so.
Aside from the specific major look at the overall school’s academics. Every flagship will include the best/brightest as many will not be able to afford to go OOS/private. Look at honors classes available in related fields.
Once you attend college you are a transfer student for any other college. Do not expect any merit aid from UW. Consider the financial burden of transferring- and that all credits may not transfer, your classes may not cover all of the material of a UW one and other factors.
csrankings.org is an excellent resource for evaluating or selecting computer science programs. Its not based on any subjective measures and instead it uses faculty publications and research. That’s obviously not everything but it does provide an idea of a department’s strength in a certain sub-field.
Wisconsin is highly rated and just behind the top tier and ahead of Princeton, Columbia etc.
CS at Wisconsin is a very strong program.