<p>Son is almost set on Washu for Computer Engineering......knowing that the dept is small, would that hinder him finding enough to do and have fun doing some neat stuff at WashU? There is always something new and exciting thing happening in the tech world and being in a small dept could limit his potential given that it is not in the thick of it location wise? I am not so sure about the details of the dept/faculty etc. I know they have started a new iPhone app class which has a waitlist and son would love taking it even though he has already programmed 4 apps already, but still............</p>
<p>Would love to hear what current students are doing…</p>
<p>Well, as you know, I’m not a current student but here are links to some research, theses, and news stories from CompE that might be helpful. I’m sure this isn’t all inclusive, but its a start.</p>
<p>[News</a> Story](<a href=“http://cse.wustl.edu/Research/Pages/news-story.aspx?news=182]News”>http://cse.wustl.edu/Research/Pages/news-story.aspx?news=182)</p>
<p>[Storage</a> Based Supercomputing at Washington University](<a href=“http://sbs.wustl.edu/]Storage”>http://sbs.wustl.edu/)</p>
<p>[High</a> Performance Computational Biology at Washington University in St. Louis](<a href=“http://hpcb.wustl.edu/]High”>http://hpcb.wustl.edu/)</p>
<p>[Applied</a> Research Lab - ARL Wiki](<a href=“http://wiki.arl.wustl.edu/index.php/Main_Page]Applied”>http://wiki.arl.wustl.edu/index.php/Main_Page)</p>
<p>[Open</a> Network Laboratory (ONL)](<a href=“http://onl.wustl.edu/]Open”>http://onl.wustl.edu/)</p>
<p><a href=“http://cse.wustl.edu/Research/Lists/Technical%20Reports/Attachments/887/MichelaBecchi_Dissertation.pdf[/url]”>http://cse.wustl.edu/Research/Lists/Technical%20Reports/Attachments/887/MichelaBecchi_Dissertation.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://cse.wustl.edu/Research/Lists/Technical%20Reports/Attachments/888/Sproull_Dissertation.pdf[/url]”>http://cse.wustl.edu/Research/Lists/Technical%20Reports/Attachments/888/Sproull_Dissertation.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thank you BuffyAngel, the name suits you :)</p>
<p>I’m a Comp Sci student, not CoE, but here are my thoughts:</p>
<p>the iPod/iPad app development class has gotten really good reviews from students - I’ll probably be taking it this fall actually. At the moment, the wait-list is very short and your son would have a good shot of getting in; there are 3 prereq classes, but if your S has already written apps in Objective-C he could probably just register anyway.</p>
<p>I don’t think he’ll have any trouble finding neat things to do despite the size of the department. There are other really popular classes in the department (Rapid Prototyping, for example, is taught by the same professor as the app-development class) and undergraduates are entirely free to take 500 and 600-level classes if they choose to (most CSE/CoE majors do, I think). </p>
<p>As far as internships and research opportunities go, I know that the CSE department has just recently started a summer REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program, which basically matches students up with professors whose interests match their own. That’s what I’ll be doing this summer, although I don’t know if the CoE department has a similar program.</p>
<p>Also, the washU chapter of ACM (computer-related student group) is <em>very</em> active and regularly goes to programming contests, gets the word out on job opportunities, and hosts recruiters for companies like Google, Microsoft, and other companies that have an interest in CSE/CoE students. Other than my REU, I applied for an internship with Microsoft and the gist I got was that they weren’t generally interested in anyone but rising seniors and seniors (although I do know a sophomore who made it in)… Smaller companies are probably less up-tight about that sort of thing, though</p>
<p>This isn’t an answer to the question on the thread, but slightly related. I just noticed that the WashU IEEE chapter just won an award, “Most Outstanding Student Branch in the Region,”</p>
<p>[WU</a> IEEE among top 10 most outstanding in world | Student Life](<a href=“http://www.studlife.com/news/2010/04/21/wu-ieee-among-top-10-most-outstanding-in-world/]WU”>WU IEEE among top 10 most outstanding in world - Student Life)</p>
<p>IEEE is THE professional organization for Electrical & Computer Engineers. ACM (mentioned in the post above) is THE professional organization for Computer Science. IEEE and ACM conferences and journals are the key places where Computer Engineers publish their research.</p>
<p>Thank you both ^^. I am beginning to feel a lot better now.</p>
<p>Don, is the CS dept in Engineering and Applied sciences?</p>
<p>CS is in engineering school at WashU</p>
<p>Ok, so son can do either, whichever suits him more down the road depending on the courses he finds interesting.</p>
<p>^that would have been true even if they were in different schools, but being in the same one makes it a bit less complicated wrt school-specific degree requirements</p>