I am in 11th grade and working to narrow down my list of colleges to apply to for a computer science degree. I am interested in applying to some schools in the northeast and am wondering which will provide me the best overall education. Ideally I would like smaller class sizes (don’t really care about the size of the overall university) and to be in or near a big city although this is not absolutely necessary. I do like the idea of a co-op program, but summer internships would also be ok. My list is:
RPI
WPI
RIT
Stevens Institute of Technology
U Rochester
Northeastern
Drexel
Lehigh
I am not from the northeast and would ultimately like to land a job on the west coast. However, I want the experience of living there for at least 4 years. Do any of these schools have good job placement in Seattle or San Francisco? Ultimately I will probably only apply to 4 of these schools, so any help with making my decision would be greatly appreciated.
Thats a solid academic list. unfortunately, I am not familiar with CS programs specifically at the schools.
I think most of those schools are recognizable to some extent and can get you a job on the west coast.
Drexel definitely has the most enthusiastic co-op program and you can probably gain relevant job experience that will land you a solid job in the west coast. But that might extend the 4 year degree or reduce the time you actually live in Philadelphia depending where you go on your co op. If you opt out of the co op program, it is still a good school with a good reputation. They do have an expansion college on the West coast now in days I am pretty sure. So it is probably a name at least remotely familiar on the West Coast. The school is pretty nationally recognized though in general. Smack dab in Philadelphia.
RPI/WPI are very niche. They have highly accredited science related fields. With that said, the reputation is very niche. The names aren’t entirely recognizable out side of those areas. If you graduated from there, you would have graduated from very prestigious school programs. However, if your goal is to work in the West coast, you would want to contact their admissions office about specific connections the schools have with companies in the west coast because the reputation is so niche. RPI is way away from significant urban centers. WPI is 45 out from Boston.
I don’t know anything about Stevens.
University of Rochester and North Eastern, both great schools overall. I would recommend talking to their admissions offices though at the CS departments and ask about west coast connections. These are very North Eastern based schools and I would bet most of their connections are also in the North East, but I could be wrong. NorthEastern is near or in Boston. University of Rochester is in Rochester, so not the best but not the worst as far as looking for Urban living.
Lehigh - Another solid nationally recognized school. I can’t imagine their CS program being held any higher than the other schools on this list, especially not RPI/WPI. You would know more about that than me though. It is about an hour out from Philadelphia I believe.
Overall my advice to you would be: If it has to be only four schools, look at the CS rankings for these schools. Call their admissions departments about West coast connections, ask them for specific companies they have sent graduates to in previous years that could be on the west coast. After that you can probably take out a few picks. After that I would say pick 1 highly selective, 2 mid selective, and 1 less selective.