<p>I'm looking for a school with a top computer science program, but more laid back and collaborative than the big ivies, where it seems students are scared to help others because they are afraid it will bring up the curve. I have a 3.8 UW/ 4.5 W GPA and I am scoring around a 2200 on my practice sats. My extracurriculars are probably underpar but ive clocked some volunteer hours, im a president of a club at my school, and been a track manager all four years. I also surf if that counts for anything, but havent played any sports. Im a male who lives in cali and fortunately covered in the finance department.</p>
<p>USC brah.</p>
<p>Why not UCSD, UCSB, UCSC, or CalPoly-SLO? They are all good, and surfer-friendly. </p>
<p>Thanks for the response. I didn’t know they had good cs programs. Which of the UCs is probably best?</p>
<p>dude, if you don’t know that about these schools, you really need to do a lot more research yourself so you can assess our recommendations. what do you want from a compsci program? are you certain it’s science and not engineering to which you’re pointed? have you talked to your family and family friends in the industry? do you have experience programming? how well do you work in groups? Most of the good CS programs are said to be collaborative, perhaps because of the project orientation of the field of study. There are so many good CS programs in Cali that you don’t have to leave the state. Many of the state schools, however, are impacted, so look into that, too. In fact, at the best schools anywhere there is often an overabundance of would-be majors and a scarcity of experienced faculty. So search carefully.</p>
<p>That’s why I’m on here 
I’m taking AP Comp Sci right now and just love the class. I will just have the experience from the class but I can teach myself other things if I need to. Im looking to just program in college and not much more than that. What are examples of the type of schools that have the problem you talked about?</p>
<p>Do the “big ivies” have top CS programs? </p>
<p>Anyway…how top does the school have to be?</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids:</p>
<p>Some of them do. Princeton, Columbia, and Cornell. You might be able to toss Harvard, Brown, and UPenn in there as well.</p>
<p>Though I think the OP has some misconceptions.</p>
<p>@woogzmama:</p>
<p>SLO isn’t exactly by the ocean, though I suppose that it isn’t that far away.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/04/20/1569920/cal-poly-named-a-top-college-for.html”>http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/04/20/1569920/cal-poly-named-a-top-college-for.html</a></p>
<p>I’m simply saying, OP, that you learn some things from sources other than us, like the Fiske Guide you can find in your school’s guidance office. And that you talk to your parents about money and the costs of these schools. You’re not going anywhere you cannot afford 
</p>
<p>Yeah I’m trying I’ve tried doing a little bit of research on some schools but can’t find much on cs programs. The Fiske Guide is good for general descriptions of schools, but I can’t really find much on specific programs. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It is only a few miles away… a lot closer than 99% of the other colleges in the US!</p>
<p>US schools: <a href=“Careers news, trend analysis and opinion | Network World”>Careers news, trend analysis and opinion | Network World;
<p>Cali schools: <a href=“http://www.hackcollege.com/school-finder/schools/california/computer-science/”>http://www.hackcollege.com/school-finder/schools/california/computer-science/</a></p>
<p>Now talk to your parents about money and run the net price calculators.</p>
<p>UCSD and UCSB fit the bill. Mine has been taking surfing lessons every year.
SD has a pretty strong program in CS, well respected.</p>
<p>OP, I think the state cali schools are where you should start. The reality is any of your UC schools will prepare you well in CS and if my family lived in your state, we would be highly sold on just staying in the UC system if possible for any engineering or CS major. </p>
<p>To research CS programs, sometimes you have to research the top graduate schools in computer science to see how robust their programs are. Those lists are out there on the net. Sometimes smaller colleges, including liberal arts colleges, offer computer science. If they don’t offer it through engineering, some employers will feel it is a less rigorous program. </p>
<p>The other problem is figuring out the size of the program. There are pros and cons–too small and courses may only be offered every other year at best. Too big could be impersonal and hard to get to know your professors. So here is one of my favorite tips: go on College Navigator. You can do a search of programs within a college and see how many students graduated in CS last year. One small problem with the data: If the person doublemajored, I <em>think</em> it only counts the first major. So confirm your findings with the college you’re interested in.</p>
<p><a href=“College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics”>http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/</a></p>
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<p>With the increasing popularity of CS, a CS department which cannot increase capacity (e.g. at LACs and other schools with no TAs and limited class sizes) may not be able to accommodate all students interested in taking CS courses. On the other hand, a CS department which can increase capacity easily (by adding more TAs) may end up with very large class sizes (e.g. 700+ at Harvard and Stanford, 1000+ at Berkeley) to allow all interested people to take at least the introductory CS courses.</p>
<p>The introductory classes at UCSD is 180 max and the teacher or professor is teaching them, not TA. I called the school and people told me when the session reaches the max another session will be opened. So last year for the introductory data structures class, there were 2 sessions, one had 179 and the other had 135. So check out individual UCs and try to learn more about each UC. Not all UCs are the same. I believe UCSB also has small engineering/CS department. Something like 300 max.</p>
<p><a href=“Student/Class Info”>https://act.ucsd.edu/scheduleOfClasses/scheduleOfClassesStudent.htm</a> indicates that the introductory CS courses for CS majors at UCSD (CS 8A and 11) are completely full with waitlists.</p>
<p>Those stuff online is not a good indication, not everything is updated, maybe last minute decision. The biggest auditorium it has only can hold 300 spots. Recently, UCSD hired 3-4 top notch professors recently. Successful alumni donation of $20 million helped with the hiring and more money for tutoring.</p>