<p>Does anyone know what kind of LACs have a strong computer science program on the East Coast? I'm talking about PA, NY, NJ, DC, DE area. I know that some standard places like Swathmore have good programs, but what about Haverford, Muhlenburg, and some of the other areas?</p>
<p>In that region, I doubt any LAC is going to have as strong a program as Carnegie Mellon. Or Hopkins, or Maryland (College Park). Especially not if you want to focus on software engineering.</p>
<p>If you really want a strong foundation in computer science, then look more broadly at Math and Physics as well as CS programs. In that case, by all means include LACs in your search. Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr or Barnard if you are female, Bucknell, Colgate, etc. If willing to venture out of the mid-Atlantic, consider Williams, Dartmouth, or (if female) Smith.</p>
<p>If you are female and would consider New England, I suggest starting with Smith. Strong engineering programs, a tad less selective than Swarthmore or Williams, and the freedom to take courses at the other 4 consortium schools in the area. </p>
<p>Among schools less selective than the ones above, you may be better off choosing a larger school including state universities. Check out UMBC for example. If you do want to consider smaller colleges, you may want to be aware that the IEEE publishes curricula recommendations for CS programs. So you can download them and check course offerings against those recommendations to see if any program of interest seems to cover all bases.
([Curricula</a> Recommendations — Association for Computing Machinery](<a href=“http://www.acm.org/education/curricula-recommendations]Curricula”>Curricula Recommendations))</p>
<p>Muhlenberg for example seems to offer a fairly standard variety of CS courses. One issue though with some small LACs is that not all courses are offered every semester or even every year. Something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>I’m a graduate of a SLAC computer science program in the south. One of the things that you can look at to determine the “strength” of the program at any particular LAC you have an interest in:
- Is the CS department the same as the Math department? If so, how many of the department faculty have Ph.D.s in CS vs. Math? Mine was a Math department that offered a CS major, and typically only had 1 CS Ph.D. on faculty at any given time. Also, while they were on the tenure track, none of those CS faculty were ever actually tenured. You might note that at this point I don’t recommend my undergrad alma mater for CS.
- You need to have four or five majors graduating in a discipline every year to generate a discernible culture in the department among the students.
- Computing facilities are important in CS. Ask if they have a number of development environments - MS, some variant of Unix, Linux, others. They don’t have to be fancy, they just have to exist.
- Experience is very important to getting a job, so make sure the college is somewhere that will offer some local internship or co-op opportunities. Ask what outside-the-classroom experiences studes typically have.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you for your imput. In all honesty, I would NEVER be accepted into Carnegie Mellon. I love the school and hope to pursue graduate study there, but I would never be accepted as an undergrad. My SAT’s aren’t good enough. I am looking at other non-LAC schools, (Villanova, Drexel, Lafayette, Lehigh) so if you wouldn’t mind, can you recommend me some other non-LAC schools in that area that have good computer science programs? My only issue is going to a large school, i’ve been to a small school most of my life, and going to too large of school really isn’t in my sights.</p>
<p>There is a class of small masters universities out there that might fit your desires well. Christian Brothers University in Memphis (right down the road from Rhodes) is one example. I’m not as familiar with that group of schools, so I don’t have any others I could suggest by name. But, you’re likely to find some that aren’t very large and have good CS departments.</p>
<p>William & Mary has a very good computer dept. Recent grad won a Gates scholarship to Cambridge.</p>
<p>Holy Cross.</p>
<p>My S wanted to major in CS in a small LAC too. Here is my pick for East Coast: Trinity (CT), Williams, Vassar, Wesleyan, Bucknell, Union and Lafayette. I will recommend that you look at Midwest LAcs, Macalester, Oberlin, Grinnell, and Carleton. They have decent CS program for LACs.</p>
<p>Hmm, I have recieved information about Trinity, and my school sends a lot of students over to Lafayette. I’ll have to look at the others, since I haven’t heard much about them. If possible, could anyone recommend a general list of schools that have good Computer Science programs in PA alone? I’m not as worried about distance, but its almost impossible that I would be able to afford to go out of state.</p>
<p>These schools in PA have computer science departments that are accredited by the Computing Accreditation Committee of ABET, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.</p>
<p>Bloomsburg University
Bucknell University
California University of Pennsylvania
Drexel University
Gannon University
Lafayette College
Lehigh University
Millersville University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
Robert Morris University
University of Scranton
Shippensburg University
Slippery Rock University
Villanova University
York College of Pennsylvania</p>