Liberal Arts School with strong CS/CE program

College Search & Selection
1

I am an admissions counselor/educational consultant at an elite private international school in Shenzhen, China. Our students typically aimed for UK colleges (about 15-20 get into Oxford/Cambridge ever year), but the market is trending strongly towards US colleges. As an alumni of UCLA, it’s part of the reason why I was brought onto the team.

Anyways, I am responsible for 40-50 students, and somehow I ended up with a vast majority of students who intend to major in CS.

The thing is, when I was applying for college, I didn’t really even understand what a liberal arts college was. But now that I’m in this field and I’ve come to know many alumni of elite liberal arts colleges such as Wesleyan, Smith, Pomona, etc., I have come to learn and really appreciate the value of a liberal arts style education.

Once in a while, I’ll identify a student who seems like a better fit for a liberal arts style college than a large national university. However, since the student usually wants to major in CS or Computer Engineering, I have a lot of trouble identifying a reputable liberal arts school that offers a liberal arts style education with a strong CS program outside of Harvey Mudd and the Claremont McKenna colleges (through affiliation with Harvey Mudd).

I have already mentioned 2+2 or 3+2 joint programs for those who do drift towards liberal+CS. 2 years at top liberal arts school X and 2 years at prestigious university Y such as Case Western, Columbia, Georgia Tech, etc. I’m pretty sure I actually found that list of schools on College Confidential as well.

However, my knowledge and experience with those programs is extremely limited. So, my question is…outside of Harvey Mudd and associated colleges, which liberal arts colleges offer the best CS and CE programs?

And also, what are the joint liberal arts+CS/engineering programs like?

Thanks in advance!

2

I wouldn’t put a lot of faith in combined programs. It’s hard to break away from the friendships you’ve forged in a small college environment in order to attend another college after only two or three years. IMO, if you want an engineering degree, the best approach is to “bite the bullet” and attend a place that offers one.

For students who are not quite so sure of what sort of degree they want, an LAC is an excellent place to explore different subjects in depth. Almost every LAC will offer ample opportunities for coding. A few will offer advanced courses in algorithms and other examples of what they call, “applied math”. Apart from that, it is a matter of “getting into the weeds” of each college’s CS curriculum to determine the extent of other offerings such as operating systems, compilers, databases, artificial intelligence, cryptography, graphics and courses having to do with the actual construction of computers. Be aware, that courses that are typically offered at much larger research universities, may only be available in alternating years at a LAC.

3

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19190340/#Comment_19190340

4

A few ideas of schools might be Lafayette, Bucknell and Union. These are LACs with engineering programs.

5

2-1-1-1 programs, which quite a few LACs make available, may be the best of the combined programs. With this pattern, the common educational structure remains essentially intact. (The first “1” would parallel those students studying abroad junior year; the second “1” would be post baccalaureate.)

6

The 3+2 or 2+1+1+1 programs are five total years instead of four, so that may be more of a cost concern for a presumably full pay international student.

7

@ucbalumnus : Could you say from your experience/knowledge whether students enrolled in typical “four year” engineering programs commonly graduate within four years?

8

Four year graduation rate is higher when the entrance selectivity of the college (or major) is higher, which is a rather obvious observation.

On the other hand, with a 3+2 or 2+1+1+1 program, the nominal time to graduation is five years, so whatever can cause a student in a four year program to take more than four years would cause a student in a 3+2 or 2+1+1+1 program to take more than five years.

9

OP, have you looked at Rose-Hulman? Not an LAC, but it might be a good fit for some of your students who are looking for a smaller, undergraduate focused education.

10

@circuitrider I never considered the “breaking away from the friendships” aspects because international students are so purely focused on the pure academics (and prestige) of a school that the friendships forged is often not really considered heavily. But that’s a really good point. The way you describe gaining a CS/CE education at a liberal arts college though is kind of like building your own major, which is cool, but at the same time…TOO liberal if you know what I’m saying. That takes a lot of planning, creativity, initiative, and self-awareness. I suppose at an elite college, you might expect such qualities.

11

@astontsui

I think that’s a fair assessment. A lot depends on how the individual department is packaged. For example, the Wesleyan CS department is combined with the math department, so it is very math oriented. Typically, someone who burns through all the available courses would, by his senior year, have hooked up with a faculty mentor. As the website states:

12

I’ve lived in China for years and quite familiar with Chinese parents and students. Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend an LAC with a CS program for them, unless they know what an LAC provides and they want that kind of education. Very few people in China have ever heard of LACs, and even if the students have, the parents’ haven’t.

The vast majority of Chinese families want their kid to study abroad because of the prestige that a US diploma provides, and LACs - even the best ones like Williams, Amherst, Pomona - are virtually unknown in China. A degree in CS from UCLA will be of much more use to them in the China job market than one from Pomona.

Having said that, if they’re planning on going to grad school in the US and/or work in the US, and they understand and value an LAC education, then it’s not necessarily a bad choice. But in most cases, particularly for CS, a regular university would be more suited to their goals (and their parents’ expectations).

Mudd would be the exception to the above, but it’s not a typical LAC. I can’t think of any other CS program that I’d recommend to a Chinese student over CMU, MIT, Cal, UCLA, UCSD, UT-A, Stanford, GT, Mich, Cornell, Caltech, Rice, USC.

Also, I don’t see the 2+3 being beneficial to students studying CS.