<p>I have just begun my college search. I like many of the LACs (Carleton, Wesleyan), but many of them aren't too strong in CS, and many people say it is harder to find jobs after school, compared to a larger school (Wisconsin, University of Washington). Schools like Brown and Cornell are probably a reach for me, but I am looking for somewhere with the same feel and close in CS strength. If any of you have any insight on this topic, please reply!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My son just completed his first year in computer science at Trinity University. We live in Texas and he was planning on attending UT or Texas A&M since they both have very strong reputations in engineering and computer science. His visits convinced him that despite their reputations they were not right for him. When we visited Trinity the chairman of the CS department spent two hours talking with us, and three to four other families. We were able to get all our questions answered, and it convinced my son that Trinity was the best school for him. Trinity has great ties with the San Antonio business community. USAA hires many Trinity CS grads each year (they are a top 20 place to work according to Fortune). Valero and RackSpace hire Trinity grads. San Antonio has the 2nd most IT security jobs in the nation thanks to the 24th Air Force being stationed there. Other Trinity CS grads have gone to the usual suspects (Google, Microsoft, IBM, consulting firms). My point is not to convince you to visit or apply to Trinity (although I think it is an absolutely tremendous school), but that you should give small schools a chance. I bet if you reach out to schools like Carleton and Wesleyan they will have similar stories to Trinity. My son had a great first year and feels he made the best choice. He received a Mellon grant this year, and is currently in Turkey providing programming support to his Nautical Archaeology professor to map artifacts in a debris field of a Bronze Age shipwreck (remember he just completed his freshman year). My son was also impressed by SMU (they have been pouring money into their engineering school). My son also considered Carleton, Colgate, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Rose Hulman and Colby. Big schools he considered were A&M, UT, Virginia Tech, U of Washington, U of Wisconsin, Cal Poly, UCSD, USC and UCLA. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Thank you very much CanuckHorn ! That was very helpful!</p>
<p>You might be interested in Brandies, Santa Clara University, and University of Tulsa (though the latter might not fit someone interested in Wesleyan).</p>
<p>Ask on the engineering majors forum too.
And look for other times this topic has been discussed, such as this -
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/332329-good-cs-small-schools.html?highlight=small+cs[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/332329-good-cs-small-schools.html?highlight=small+cs</a>
How small are you looking for? I don’t consider Cornell small…</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd immediately came to mind, and I saw it was mentioned in the thread BeanTownGirl linked to.</p>
<p>Another vote for Santa Clara University, right in the middle of Silicon Valley. They have a very good CS program, and I have worked with lots of excellent programmers from there.</p>
<p>might try Holy Cross-very good school 1 hour from Boston.</p>
<p>Lehigh University
Grove City College
BYU-Provo
Yeshiva University</p>
<p>Look in the catalog and schedule at each school for the availability of upper division CS courses like:</p>
<ul>
<li>algorithms and complexity</li>
<li>theory of computation</li>
<li>operating systems</li>
<li>compilers</li>
<li>databases</li>
<li>networks</li>
<li>security and cryptography</li>
<li>software engineering</li>
<li>computer architecture and other hardware courses</li>
<li>electives like graphics, artificial intelligence, etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some LACs and other small schools do have cross-registration agreements with nearby research universities, so that may be an option to expand the courses available (but check how convenient the nearby research universities would be from a commuting standpoint).</p>
<p>Cornell and BYU are not generally considered small schools.</p>
<p>Check out Rose Hulman.</p>
<p>Any cost restrictions? What is your home state?</p>
<p>I very much like CanuckHorn’s advice about reaching out to various schools to see what is on offer in their CS departments. Along those lines (and given your interest in Wesleyan and Brown), check into the offerings at Tufts. D1 is a CS major there, and says that graduates from the department are finding jobs (and good internships while undergrads).</p>
<p>I’m from Minnesota. Not too sure about cost restrictions, pretty open right now.</p>
<p>Probably a number of the smaller [Association</a> of Independent Technological Universities: AITU](<a href=“http://theaitu.org%5DAssociation”>http://theaitu.org) schools would fit the bill.</p>