<p>I want to apply for a Society of Women Engineers Scholarship because I'm planning on majoring in computer science. The problem is that they require the school I've been accepted to to be ABET accredited. The only school I've been accepted to so far for computer science is The University of Pittsburgh (still waiting on five other decisions) and their computer science program is not accredited! The engineering programs are though. I'm leaning towards matriculating at this school. I'm freaking out! These are good scholarships but a lot of good computer science schools aren't accredited by ABET like Carnegie Mellon and Cal Tech. Should I apply for the scholarship anyway?</p>
<p>Most Computer Science programs are not accredited. If you want the scholarship from SWE you need to meet their guidelines. have you considered changing to a Computer Engineering program?</p>
<p>Xraymancs: why lots of Comp. Science programs are not accredited by ABET?..just wondering though…</p>
<p>I think the reason why lots of computer science programs are not ABET accredited is that they are part of the liberal arts schools of many colleges and don’t meet the requirements for accreditation.</p>
<p>It may depend on the course requirements. At Lafayette College (which is a liberal arts college) you can earn an ABET-accredited B.S. degree or a non-accredited A.B. in Computer Science.</p>
<p>^That just confuses people. They should just keep the BS. If you are bad at math and lack logic. You should not be able to get a real CS degree IMO. BS > BA… I think universities have problem graduating ppl with CS degrees bc it is hard to make it through a real CS curriculum. There is a shortage of CS major but that does not mean that they should be creating bad CS programs for people who cant handle a BS</p>
<p>I think the asker should just wait for more acceptance letters until you get accepted in an accredited, real BS in CS degree.</p>
<p>There exist good CS degree programs which lead to BA degrees or which are not ABET accredited (e.g. CMU, Stanford, Berkeley L&S CS), although there also exist poor ones.</p>
<p>OP: I think you should email the SWE and ask whether they would be willing to waive the ABET-accreditation requirement for a CS major. As has been noted, many to most CS degrees are not ABET-accredited since they are not located in colleges of engineering (or have not been for long - Penn State’s CS program switched between Science and Engineering a couple of times before finally finding a home). They may be willing to waive that requirement, and if not then you not to waste time applying.</p>
<p>Apply for the scholarship anyway and see what that sponsors say. All they can do is tell you no. Personally, I feel that ABET with CS is the dumbest thing anyway. You already have a ton of software engineers who were NOT primarily CS majors (including yours truly).</p>
<p>Note: ABET does NOT make someone’s CS degree “real”. The coursework does.</p>
<p>I live in Maryland and just visited the ABET.org site to look up Maryland CS programs. Out of:</p>
<p>Capitol College
Loyola University Maryland (Formerly Loyola College in Maryland)
Morgan State University
The Johns Hopkins University
Towson University
United States Naval Academy
University of Maryland - Baltimore County
University of Maryland - College Park</p>
<p>Guess which school has a CS program NOT ABET-accredited?</p>
<p>Yup, the biggest and highest-ranked one…University of Maryland - College Park</p>
<p>The reason? I think because the CS program is part of the College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences.</p>
<p>It does appear that many of the ABET accredited CS degree programs are at not-very-prestigious (at least for CS) schools which want to assure students and employers that their degree programs are worthy, while many more-prestigious (at least for CS) schools do not see the need due to their name recognition (although some do for degree programs associated with engineering, such as MIT and Berkeley EECS).</p>
<p>There does exist ABET accreditation for CS programs; plenty of programs have it, and this a scholarship that requires it. Seems open and shut to me.</p>
<p>If the scholarship money is an important factor, you might consider trying computer engineering. If you are willing to choose electives carefully and, possibly, take an extra course here and there, odds are you can take all the same courses as computer science majors, plus some.</p>
<p>Definitely agree with ucbalumnus: great CS programs don’t need accreditation, but that doesn’t mean accreditation isn’t a useful measuring stick for the majority of other programs. You should consider the curriculum, extracurriculars, job placement, etc. of any school, in addition to accreditation. For non-accredited programs, you should probably take a closer look at other factors.</p>
<p>I agree with a previous poster. I’ll wait until I get accepted into an ABET certified program and then send them that letter, because the scholarship only requires an acceptance letter. Then I’ll be like “Oh I decided to not go to that school…”</p>
<p>Do you guys think going to a non-ABET accredited university for Computer Science will hurt job prospects?</p>
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<p>Not per se for the relatively well recognized CS schools, unless you want to go into patent law. However, if the school is not well known for CS, scrutinize the courses and curriculum very carefully, especially if it is not ABET accredited. (Some schools that are prestigious in general have relatively weak CS degree programs.)</p>
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<p>Mostly likely…NO! There are a TON and I mean a ton of software engineers who were Math, Stat, Physics, Info Sys and Business majors as undergrad. Remember, software engineering is an industry that is based on what you do once you are in the industry and academics go slowly “out the window” probably quicker than most other industries.</p>
<p>On top of that…and this is more of a general life thing…there is the THEORY world and there is the PRACTICAL (or what really goes on in the world). One cannot just take every single rule or guideline as the “end all be all”. Following a guideline to the letter is fine if EVERYONE (or even most) followed it in real life but the world doesn’t and software employers sure don’t (at least in the Philly, Jersey and Washington DC areas). You will be standing there shaking your head wondering “how did this person get that job?..and they are not by the code to the letter?”</p>
<p>Just keep that in mind when you read things like USNews Rankings and ABET accreditation and the computing/software world.</p>