Princeton comp sci

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
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<p>Sorry if this has been posted already - I searched and didn't really see anything.</p>

<p>I was wondering what the Princeton CS department is like. Nothing in specific I want to know - just some general impressions.</p>

<p>I'm a junior and have been pretty much 100% sure for the last 3-4 years that I want to be a comp sci major, so my top choices for schools right now are MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley. But a few days ago I heard that Princeton has a pretty strong CS dept, and even though it's kind of superficial, I would LOVE to go to a school with as beautiful a campus as Princeton. So... basically I'm wondering how Princeton CS compares with MIT/Stanford/Berkeley CS, and if the departments are close enough in quality that it would make sense to go to Princeton over MIT or Stanford (assuming that I would ever have the opportunity to make that decision, which of course is a huge assumption, but I'm just talking hypothetically).</p>

2

<p>Nowhere near MIT, Stanford etc...CMU > PRINCETON (in CS)</p>

<p>Besides Princeton asks for way more than you would expect from an applicant, no matter what the department is...</p>

<p>It also depends on what your stats are....besides if youu want to major in comp sci, then CMU, MIT and Stanford have the best packages for you: great campuses, experienced faculty and not to mention the prestige.</p>

<p>Not to mention: If your only going for the campus and the Ivy League name, its pretty much useless, you'll end up torturing yourself.</p>

<p>Personally, Stanford is the best choice for CS, its where the Google founders came from....don't even waste your time with Princeton.</p>

<p>What are your stats anyways? (for better judgement)</p>

3

<p>Yahoo!, Cisco, Macromedia people are also from Stanford.</p>

<p>Google gets too much hype these days.</p>

4

<p>I disagree. S prefers Princeton over CMU for CS after knowing a lot about both schools. He is waiting for decisions right now. Stanford is fabulous, as are the other mentioned, but it depends on what you want to learn. For example, if you want to learn how to make the robot juggle, go to CMU or MIT. If you want to make an agent search a gigantic database, go to Stanford or UIUC. If you want to make an agent think, go to Princeton.</p>

5

<p>The Ivy League name will impress only so far....</p>

<p>If you need a name in the CS then CMU, Stanford etc. would be my first choice. Not only are they well known and respected, they also have the best "training" programs for any type of job. The students usually end up specifying something even inside the CS major, its not too vague as in Princeton. Princeton isn't "entrepeneurial" with CS either.</p>

<p>The only Ivy with a respectable engineering program is Cornell. However, I will say that it is way too rigorous. The students are used as pawns to help increase Cornell's status in CS competitions (makes you want to hate the major!).</p>

<p>Top CS schools:
CMU (tough+fun)
Stanford (tough+fun)
MIT (tough but not as fun)
Cornell (they control you)</p>

<p>I still stick by CMU, MIT and Stanford.
Either way if your really into your major already, then some colleges obsessed with CS are: Cooper Union and Rose-Human</p>

<p>Besides, its terribly harder to get into Princeton than Stanford especially for CS. And like I said, it all depends on the stats (and long-term individual),
can I know your son's stats please?</p>

6

<p>I would agree that Princeton's CS department isn't the same as that of MIT's, Stanford's, or even CMU's, but I still think it's a very strong department.</p>

<p>There are quite a few very good faculty members (Turing Medal winners, etc) working with quite a few very good students (no shortage of them), and combined with the recent focus on trying to strengthen the Engineering school, the results are good. I don't have the numbers accessible to me now, but I know the Princeton CS majors earn an envious amount after graduating, certainly comparable to some of the top schools out there.</p>

<p>There's also an article about what Princeton's trying to do with engineering: <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/05/1017/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/05/1017/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>So basically, I don't think Princeton is MIT or Stanford, but you can still bet that it's very strong for CS. Combined with everything else the university has to offer, many may find it a better choice to MIT or Stanford, but that really comes down to what you want in the long run.</p>

7

<p>I agree with the info you provided about the faculty, but no offense: ITS NOT SPECIAL or RARE</p>

<p>Check the CS faculty of ANY good top-50 school in America, there's probably a MIT graduate etc. etc..</p>

<p>For instance, StonyBrook, anywhere! name it you got it....</p>

<p>And about Princeton CS majors earning a lot, yes given they are smart enough to get into Princeton: they're smart enough to find and handle a job etc...its not new.</p>

<p>Don't mean to get off the topic: your boss won't care where you got your degree from as long as you do what he wants. (This will matter if you hit off your first job at a top company/pay etc..but its very unlikely, you need experience)</p>

<p>And yes, Princeton is trying to improve its engineering program but it will still stay where it is! MIT will stay where it is...not anything new, there is a shortage for engineers. Your not attracting more people by saying that the program got better, usually this means more unrelated work when your talking about an Ivy...no stereotyping meant.</p>

<p>You can't judge a book by its cover. You can't judge a department by its university...get the point?</p>

8

<p>Sakky -- come defend Princeton CS!</p>

9

<p>Who's Sakky?</p>

10

<p>Does "Sakky" go to Princeton for CS?</p>

11

<p>Pittsburgh/CMU is "fun"? What kind of vapors are you inhaling?</p>

12

<p>Reasonabledad, I agree with you. Computer Science is anything but a narrow field. A choice of schools depends on many factors, including the schools overall reputation and that schools subfield strength. Princeton's strength lies in perhaps the most challenging of CS subfields - Theory. Below are the top 5 schools for Computer Science Theory.</p>

<ol>
<li> Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br></li>
<li> University of California–Berkeley<br></li>
<li> Cornell University (NY) </li>
<li> Princeton University (NJ) </li>
<li> Stanford University (CA)</li>
</ol>

<p>Also, note that after a national decline in CS enrollment, Princeton has been leading the effort to bring students back.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news10957.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.physorg.com/news10957.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>theory and practice are two different things.</p>

14

<p>Correct, I believe that's what reasonable was trying to say.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the information... here are my stats:</p>

<p>(white female from northern CA)</p>

<p>SAT: 2320 (740M, 780CR, 800W) one sitting... I might take it again, I haven't decided yet
PSAT: 226 (72M, 74CR, 80W)
GPA: 4.0 uw, ~4.6 weighted
Rank: ~5/500
APs: 4 on chem
taking USH, Eng lang, Physics B, and Comp Sci A (self-study) this year
next year will be taking Eng Lit, Gov/Econ, Calc BC, Bio, and Stats</p>

<p>Awards and ECs and stuff:
-1st place at county and 3rd at state science fair last year with an AI project
-lots of community college/EPGY CS classes (A's in college classes and A+'s in EPGY classes)
-some regional flute awards (most notably first place in a tri-county scholarship competition and third place in my youth orchestra's concerto competition)
-1st chair, top band, CA All-State Honor Band
-Math Club
-founder and president of Liberal Club
-city youth orchestra, three ensembles at school, contract gigs and recitals with various orchestras and other groups
-paid webdesign for local businesses; volunteer webdesign and maintenance for the youth orchestra I play in
-volunteer flute lessons for underprivileged kids</p>

16

<p>Insecure 101 and anyone else interested...</p>

<p>One of the places "Sakky" appears is on the UCB forum. </p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=145438&page=8&pp=20%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=145438&page=8&pp=20&lt;/a>
Beware, this thread has 21 pages to date of heated discussions. Sakky may be defending Princeton elsewhere, but at least on the above mentioned thread on page 8 posts #s 141, 148, he speaks favorably of HYPSMC in general. Then in posts #s 151, 158, 175, someone named Delicatess (without foundation) slams Princeton. Then several of us stick up for Princeton, and Sakky praises Princeton in posts #s 155, 171 and probably elsewhere, but like I said, the thread is 21 pages and mostly about UCB.<br>
(Just thought I'd answer your question "who's Sakky?"</p>

17

<p>
[quote]
Stanford is the best choice for CS, its where the Google founders came from....don't even waste your time with Princeton.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's quite a bad example. From the context of this thread, we are talking about undergrad quality here, yet the fact is, neither Page nor Brin did their undergrad at Stanford. Larry Page went to Michigan, Brin went to Maryland.</p>

18

<p>
[quote]
The only Ivy with a respectable engineering program is Cornell. However, I will say that it is way too rigorous. The students are used as pawns to help increase Cornell's status in CS competitions (makes you want to hate the major!).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm afraid I don't follow you. You say that Cornell is not desirable because it is too rigorous. Well, then why do you like MIT so much then? Are you saying MIT isn't rigorous? </p>

<p>
[quote]
I agree with the info you provided about the faculty, but no offense: ITS NOT SPECIAL or RARE

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I suppose that hinges on your definition of special or rare. Keep in mind that there are literally hundreds and hundreds of CS programs out there, most of them being no-name programs. Princeton is not MIT, but it is clearly better than the vast vast majority of all other CS programs out there. There are many thousands of computer science grads in the world who can only wish they could have gone to a program as good as Princeton's. </p>

<p>
[quote]
Besides, its terribly harder to get into Princeton than Stanford especially for CS.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Huh? How is that? Princeton and Stanford are roughly equally as difficult to get into. Plenty of people get into one, but not the other. Furthermore, I haven't the slightest idea what you mean by "especially for CS". Neither Stanford nor Princeton admits undergrads by major. All applicants are placed in the same pool and admitted from that pool, regardless of intended major.</p>

<p>
[quote]
And about Princeton CS majors earning a lot, yes given they are smart enough to get into Princeton: they're smart enough to find and handle a job etc...its not new.</p>

<p>Don't mean to get off the topic: your boss won't care where you got your degree from as long as you do what he wants. (This will matter if you hit off your first job at a top company/pay etc..but its very unlikely, you need experience)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, first off, you can look at the salaries earned by MIT and Princeton grads and you can see that there is basically no difference. </p>

<p><a href="http://web.princeton.edu/sites/career/data/surveys/CareerSurveyReport2005.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.princeton.edu/sites/career/data/surveys/CareerSurveyReport2005.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/graduation05.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/graduation05.pdf&lt;/a> </p>

<p>Secondly, you say that your boss won't care where you graduated from as long as you do what he wants. Ok, fine, but that's true of all schools, including MIT, CMU, or anywhere else. That's not just a Princeton-specific thing. So that's not by itself a reason to prefer other schools over Princeton.</p>

<p>Look, nobody is saying that Princeton CS is as good as MIT's CS. However, the differences between the programs are pretty small. The biggest aspect to me is the fact that plenty of people will end up switching majors while they're in college, including plenty of people who really thought that they knew what they wanted to major in. It is estimated that nationwide, less than half of all intended science and engineering majors will actually complete a science/engineering degree. So you have to think about what you are going to do if you end up wanting to switch out of CS.</p>