<p>Does anyone know how it is interms of prestige / program quality?</p>
<p>2nd best CS program among the Ivy Leagues.</p>
<p>We’re pretty great.</p>
<p>I’d say that we’re on equal footing with Stanford, MIT, and CMU. (I really am not qualified to judge the tiny differences amongst them, having only attended Princeton!) Lelyke, what Ivy League school is better than us in CS? I’m very skeptical of that. (If you mean Stanford, I’ll cede the point. 
)</p>
<p>The easiest measure is probably job placements; we get heavily recruited by Facebook, Microsoft, Google, etc, if you care about that. In general, I’ve really enjoyed my time here and I think our department rocks. (I’m a 2014 CS major.) We are having some growing pains, but the department is still really good. You will find less of a startup culture here compared with some other schools, but it exists if you want it.</p>
<p>Princeton has one of the best CS programs in the country but whether or not is a good program for you depends on your specific interests. Berkeley and MIT have more students majoring in CS. Carnegie Mellon has done innovative research. I will try to provide information so that you can decide if CS at Princeton is a good fit for you.</p>
<p>PtonGrad2000 has done an extensive analysis of the The National Research Council’s data of the quality of graduate programs. See: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html</a> This analysis ranked Princeton as number two in the U.S. after Stanford and before MIT. I think a fair analysis is that most observers would say that Princeton is a top five CS program and differing measures would sort the five universities in different order. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings’ Engineering and Technology ranks Princeton third in the world after MIT/Cal Tech and before Stanford. See: [Top</a> 50 engineering & technology universities](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-12/subject-ranking/subject/engineering-and-it]Top”>Subject Ranking 2011-12: Engineering & Technology | Times Higher Education (THE)) </p>
<p>Many ranking consider the number of courses, the number of professors and students. Larger departments are ranked higher. This type of metric would rank Princeton lower than larger universities. The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Princeton number one in terms of scholarly productivity. Your opportunities to be taught by a well known CS researcher is very high at Princeton.</p>
<p>Video on the history of computer science at Princeton: [Princeton</a> University - Alan Turing at Princeton University](<a href=“Alan Turing at Princeton University”>Alan Turing at Princeton University)
Alan Turing Symposium: [Alan</a> Turing Centennial](<a href=“Conifer | Archived page from the “Turing” Collection on Conifer”>Conifer | Archived page from the “Turing” Collection on Conifer)
Eric Schmidt’s keynote address: [Princeton</a> University - Honoring past computer science great, Schmidt looks forward](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S33/67/65Q12/]Princeton”>Honoring past computer science great, Schmidt looks forward)
Turing’s Legacy And Computer Science At Princeton:
Video: [VIDEO:</a> Turing’s legacy and computer science at Princeton ?*Princeton Engineering](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/engineering/video/player/?id=7260]VIDEO:”>http://www.princeton.edu/engineering/video/player/?id=7260) and [Princeton</a> Alumni Weekly: Daybreak of the Digital Age](<a href=“http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2012/04/04/pages/5444/index.xml]Princeton”>Daybreak of the Digital Age | Princeton Alumni Weekly)
Princeton research in modifying the Internet Protocol to allow for users to move between wireless networks and to enable companies to switch traffic among servers: [Princeton</a> University - Upgrading the Internet for the mobile age](<a href=“Upgrading the Internet for the mobile age”>Upgrading the Internet for the mobile age)
Princeton University’s High-Performance Computing Research Center: [Princeton</a> University - Princeton’s new computing research center builds research capacity](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S32/26/06E22/]Princeton”>Princeton's new computing research center builds research capacity)
Researchers have developed software that allows companies to substitute flash memory for RAM thus reducing the electrical power required. [Princeton</a> University - Innovation promises to cut massive power use at big data companies in a flash](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S34/22/11E01/]Princeton”>Innovation promises to cut massive power use at big data companies in a flash) </p>
<p>Non CS courses may be more different at the top CS universities. Berkeley is a very large state university. MIT has strength in every STEM subject. Stanford is in silicon valley. Princeton’s liberal arts departments are outstanding. Good luck in your university search.</p>
<p>Tiger14 [World’s</a> Best Universities in Computer Science; Top Computer Science Schools | US News](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/best-universities-computer-science]World’s”>http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/best-universities-computer-science)</p>
<p>That article is likely about the university as a whole, including the grad school. Harvard undergrad (which I assume you’re discussing) is nothing compared to Princeton.</p>
<p>“Second best in the Ivy League”</p>
<p>For CS and Engineering, Cornell and Princeton are way way way better than the other Ivies. Saying second-best doesn’t really imply that…and Princeton’s CS is arguably better than Cornell’s anyways. Just look at CS undergrad rankings, # of recruitment drives by Google/Facebook, etc.</p>
<p>I think maybe the point is that if you want to do CS, Princeton is a great place to do it, so don’t worry about specific ranking wars. ;)</p>
<p>If you have specific questions about the department or CS in general, OP, feel free to ask.</p>
<p>I’m majoring in a social science, so my experience with CS (COS in Princeton-speak) is simply from the outside. But it’s worth mentioning that the COS majors I’ve met, whether AB or BSE, absolutely love their major. They seem to have a lot of fun with their classes.</p>
<p>There have been many hackathons and other entrepreneurial events all year</p>
<p>Can you go to Princeton and major in CS if you’ve never done CS before?</p>
<p>I mean, and do well, of course. I know Harvard makes a big effort to fit everyone in with its CS50 or whatever. >.></p>
<p>Princeton’s CS prestige is on par with MIT, CMU, Stanford and Berkeley and I heard that from MIT and Stanford students in addition to several and several recruiters from both tart-ups and companies.
If we are not topping the USnews ranking list, that is because of the relatively small size of the department, but Google, Microsoft and Facebook organize several events and hackathons all the time. And yes, they recruit heavily from our program.</p>
<p>@Philovitist: Yes! You definitely can! Plenty of people do it. 
The majority of people in COS 126 don’t have any prior experience; lots of people take it for a distribution requirement, etc and it converts a large number of students to the department every year.</p>
<p>Princeton’s ranked in the top 5 for undergrad compsci usually and its grad department is at least top 10</p>