I have been reading the “Looking for suggestion - computer science” thread with interest. However, my son is in a different place than that OP’s daughter. He’s very bright, but not driven to succeed at things that don’t interest him. He has several semesters of college math under his belt (including multivariate calculus and linear algebra) and has Ivy-level SAT and ACT scores. He’s lead programmer for his HS robotics team and code he’s written is out there on GitHub if admissions folks or CS faculty want to take a look. But he also has several low grades in HS humanities courses that will hurt him at the most competitive schools.
He wants to continue to pursue programming but is interested in smaller schools, in contrast to where he’s taken college courses so far (flagship state school). Can folks out there suggest small-midsize schools with better-than-average CS programs that we should take a closer look at? We’re not focused on prestige, nor are we anxious that he get a fantastic offer from Google right out of college. We’re just focused on finding a school that’s best for him.
What is your budget and does he have location preferences? Also, what is his GPA and how low were those humanities grades – C low or F low?
General thoughts:
Schools like RPI or New Mexico Mines often have terrific CS programs. Silicon Valley firms look very favorably on both of those schools. Santa Clara University is also be a good place to consider.
Does he have other interests besides CS that he might want to explore in college? If so, then he might prefer LACs with excellent CS programs and flexible curricula.
Yes, Harvey Mudd requires something like 11 humanities, arts, and social studies courses to graduate. That includes a requirement to have breadth within the category, as well as depth in at least one subject.
Thank you for the suggestions, Keep them coming! It’s not that he hates humanities – he’s very musical, for example, and follows politics closely. He may do well at a liberal arts school where he can actually pick the subjects he likes. GPA is top 25% but not top 10%. No strong locational preference, though we live in the midwest FWIW… We’re not focusing on finances just yet, we’re still trying to get to the big list of 20 or so possibles, and then we’ll worry about that.
We’ve recently been looking at some of the schools already suggested. He had a negative reaction to Rose Hulman because the CS curriculum was too prescribed. And he was hilariously critical of WPI’s website, saying that he couldn’t imagine doing CS at a supposedly technical school that can’t get basic dropdown menus right. He looked more favorably at RPI and Rice. We’re also looking at liberal arts colleges. Lots have CS programs, but it would be nice to know about any that are particularly worth looking at.
Harvey Mudd would be fantastic, but I think he’d be especially fortunate to get in. (And he has to decide he really wants to go for it. He’ll have to write a hell of an essay.)
In lots of schools, the humanities and social studies breadth requirements give the student considerable choice within the general categories. He may want to look at the specifics of the schools’ breadth requirements to see if he can fulfill them with courses that he is interested in.
Finances should be an early screen, since doing a lot of research on a school (or applying to it) can be wasted if it turns out that there is no chance it will be affordable.
Each school has a net price calculator on its web site to estimate affordability. If it is not affordable in the net price calculator, check for large-enough merit scholarships and whether they would be realistic for him to get (in this case, reach/match/safety must be based on the scholarship, not admission).
I’ll echo what was said above finances should definitely be one of the first discussions unless you are truly saying you can be full pay at $70,000 a year.
Re: WPI’s website - I would make sure he gives WPI a good look still. The correlation between CS degree quality and school website is about zero.
I’d also second Rice and RPI, and dissuade against Mudd. If Rose was too prescribed I’d hate to see what he thinks of Mudd.
In the same vein of many of the schools mentioned I’d add in Northeastern. It’s a larger school but offers good undergraduate CS teaching focus and an entire college devoted to CS and related majors. The co-op program is a big focus, so make sure to check that out. Big positive for some, not for others.
Here’s a great essay on the program by the creator. Check the acknowledgments for other schools who use a similar curriculum. You’ll find WPI on there as well. Brown also seems like a great fit but likely too far of a reach it sounds like. Still, I would consider the Hail Mary application depending on test scores etc.
Check out RIT as well, especially if he is into robotics for beyond high school.
While there are some LAC’s that have good CS programs, it doesn’t sound like a LAC’s curriculum would be a match at all. I think tech schools are your best bet.
Agree that money is a primary consideration unless $70K a year is not a problem. If it is, then run some NPCs to see what you might expect in need-based aid and if that’s zero, look only at schools that offer merit aid or are public or low cost.
That said, an open curriculum like at Brown or Amherst would work well if he’s OK with the CS offered (in the case of Amherst there is the opportunity to take advanced math classes at UMass or elsewhere in the consortium though that might not be ideal). Both are reaches in any case.
Some schools have near open curriculums, Rochester I think?
Reed’s overall program is very comprehensive, rigorous, and demanding. But it is among the top colleges in the country in producing future PhD’s across a wide range of disciplines including math, physical sciences, life sciences, psychology, and the humanities. https://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html