CS is a very marketable major. You don’t need to attend a top research university to have excellent job opportunities after graduation. Many LACs should meet basic career preparation needs just fine.
Still, there are definite pros and cons. LACs do tend to offer smaller classes. However, they usually can’t offer the same breadth/depth of courses you’d find at a major research university. Also, many LACs are located in small towns, where the local internship opportunities may be relatively limited.
I tend to like LACs very much but in my opinion, CS may not be a major that plays best to their strengths. I think their weaknesses may be most salient for some students who plan to pursue doctorates in CS or mathematics. But if you can get into one you like, with decent FA, I wouldn’t necessarily rule it out even if that is your plan. Do survey the course schedules and faculty bios carefully to see if the program meets your needs, and ask about recent alumni outcomes.
As for teaching quality, it’s hard to generalize. LACs do focus exclusively (or almost exclusively) on undergrads, usually don’t use teaching assistants, and tend to place more emphasis on instruction over research (compared to research universities). On the other hand, at a top university you’re probably more likely to find professors working on cutting edge research projects, possibly in partnership with other universities, companies, or the federal government. You may want to ask, though, about how much exposure undergrads get to those projects.
Both are excellent. My son considered both schools and we looked carefully at their CS programs as that was one of the majors he was thinking about. I’m a software developer and looked at the programs from an employer’s point of view.
I suppose this may be a problem at research universities as well as at small liberal arts colleges, so it would behoove OP to look into this issue at any particular colleges under consideration. But computer science is a “hot” major right now, and at least some colleges may not be hiring enough CS professors to offer enough class sections to keep up with the demand.
This weekend at a small LAC I was visiting, I heard about how there were students who want to major in computer science but were dropped from the introduction to computer science course because the demand for it was far greater than the number of available places. They were, understandably, quite upset. I also heard this weekend that Google is currently the number one employer for grads of this college, and students place well after graduation in CS in general, so it seems like a good place for a CS major from that perspective… but not from the course availability perspective.
This is something a prospective CS major should ask about while exploring colleges.
While LACs may have to limit enrollment in intro CS courses, RUs often just make them bigger…
But capacity limits still often impact prospective CS majors at RUs, in that the major is limited by needing to meet a minimum GPA or apply to a competitive admission process to declare the major.
If a LAC or RU must ration space in CS courses or the CS major, it is best if it is transparent about how this is done.