Northeastern vs. Case Western vs. NYU?..

[mak1357]

Hello. I am a very conflicted high school senior who’s trying to make up her college decision. First off, I have gotten into NEU, CWRU, NYU, and RIT as computer science major and BU for its double degree program for comp sci and art, but I THINK i have narrowed down my choices to the three listed in the title…but I am not entirely sure yet.
I have received similar financial aid for all schools except for NYU where I would have to pay double the amount of money as other colleges. However, i am willing to go into a deeper debt if it means i will have a better time/education wherever i end up.
I have done a bit of research and it seems that CWRU, NEU, and NYU all have similar level of computer science education (dont hate me if i’m wrong). I am not planning to attend a grad school, so i need to learn as much as possible during the next four years and also be able to work hopefully in a field in comp sci that suits me during my attendance.
So, if i want to enjoy an independent, educational, full-of-opportunities, and city-girl life, where should i go??
P.S. i have never left SoCal.

[derprage]

I have a similar situation as you.

I don’t think NYU is worth the money but I hope someone proves me wrong (71k holy shit)

[PengsPhils]

I agree, it should be between CWRU and NEU.

I am a NEU CS student and I can’t speak higher of the program.

Via another thread: (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18260036/#Comment_18260036)

I came into NEU with over two years of programming experience and from Day 1 the best piece of advice I was given was “forget everything you knew before”. This held true about 90% of the time. The first programming class in the sequence is required to all CS students no matter their background. My professor even said that prior programming experience could be a disadvantage if you didn’t forget what you knew before.

Instead of teaching a language that everyone knows, they use a language that was developed specifically for teaching CS (Racket, a Scheme variant).

What that does is:
A. puts almost all students on a level playing field
B. allows them to teach complex logical ideas early in the course rather than syntax and convention
C. makes them focus on good programming practices over working code. Usually self taught programmers tend to opt for working code and do not know how to properly design a program.

After the first class in the sequence, the second class is taken by nearly every student again, and they use the approach of the first class and apply it to a more commonly used language (Java) which leads into the rest of the CS classes. Some students with experience dislike it because they fight against the classes with what they already know, but if you let go of that you can use prior experience to your advantage for sure. By the second semester, there is rarely a gap between those that start with experience and those that are new to CS.

Overall the department has really blown me away. The department is growing quickly in stride with the growth of CS but even the intro classes stay under 50-60 students per section and first year classes have dozens of tutors available. The support network is A+. Their approach, size, and accessibility is incredible and I would suspect that rankings will begin to reflect this soon along with the universities rising ranks.

Also, don’t forget about the co-op program, one of the best parts, especially for a CS major.

I don’t know too much about CS at CWRU other than that it is well regarded and in the same ballpark as NEU statewise. Take my post as a 1 sided review. I would recommend getting someone to give you some CWRU info akin to the detail I can give on NEU.

Hope that helps!