My son is clear he is majoring in computer science. He is solid student with 3.6 g.p.a. unweighted with every AP/IB class he can take (5 this year, 5 last year). He has 35 ACT composite, 760 math, 700 reading, 650 writing and 215 PSAT National Merit Semi Finalist from Missouri.
He won’t get in the Stanford, Cal Tech, Harvard and MITs. Many of the top computer science schools right after the Ivy or “ivy west” schools are very big and I don’t think that is where he will do his best work. Example, Illinois is great computer science school on a very large campus. Having gone to Minnesota, I know how easy it is to disappear and not go to classes at a big school with large classes.
I’m seeking a list of very good, wonderful computer science programs whose students are highly coveted and that my son can get into. Currently, our reach schools are Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve,and USC. His likely schools that are small are Santa Clara (selected for proximity to Silcon Valley) and after that things are murky.
I paid for counseling for him with Princeton Review advisors. Not sure I’m thrilled with the responsiveness and engagement. They did recommend the following schools…I’d love feedback on any of these suggestions with the criteria being great computer science program, coveted by employers and small. Other suggestions are very welcome:
UT Austin (Honors College) (School is big)
U Washington (sounds big)
Virginia Tech…feedback?
U Maryland, College Park (sounds big)
U Notre Dame (medium-sized school, under 9k students)…is computer science dept great? Might be awesome if so
U Virginia…interesting school…how is the perception of employers for computer science?
College of William and Mary.how is the perception of employers for computer science?
Lehigh U…how is the perception of employers for computer science?
U Pittsburgh…how is the perception of employers for computer science?
UC Davis…sounds big?
George Washington U
UC Irvine …toured this school and liked it…maybe a little big?
Bucknell U- BA or BS .how is the perception of employers for computer science?
Chapman U - BS, School of Computational Sciences .how is the perception of employers for computer science?
Colorado State - Fort Collins - BS, College of Natural Sciences
U Michigan - BS, College of Literature, Science and Arts …big school and a reach…not sure why recommended.
Purdue U - BS, College of Science…
Santa Clara U - College of Arts and Sciences…feedback?
U of Tulsa - BS, College of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Anyone have better suggestions for great smaller computer science/technology schools?
You seem concerned about prestige among employers. In computer science employers are moving away from using university prestige in hiring decisions since they can evaluate a candidate’s actual quality in an interview. So look more for fit than prestige.
Case and SCU are great smaller schools that fit the bill.
Have you researched Rose Hulman, RPI or Tufts?
Are you in-state for California? If not, the OOS cost of the UC’s may not be worth the time to apply. Also, if your son is looking for smaller, none of the UC’s really fit the bill.
Purdue is also a large campus, but the CS department there has been strong for a long time. I’m not sure how Purdue is any better than Illinois in that regard though (??).
My niece goes to VaTech (engineering major) and loves it. On the other hand, it’s also a fairly big campus. But my niece says it’s easy to “find your tribe” and that VT students are generally nice, approachable, smart kids.
My son keeps hearing from RPI, and Rose Hulman, but we are nervous about upstate NY and/or Indiana weather (sounds silly I know).
Professors from these schools appear to have been the first to actively initiate and design a model CS curriculum for smaller colleges:
Allegheny
Amherst
Bowdoin
Colgate
Hamilton
Swarthmore
Vassar
Washington & Lee
Williams
From this group, two current Hamilton professors co-wrote a computer science textbook that has been used nationally. The career activities for the graduates of these colleges’ CS graduates can be found on their individual websites. The selectivity of these schools will be apparent from their SAT scores and acceptance rates. Most offer good financial aid. All are easy to recommend for a student who wants to study computer science while pursuing a well-rounded education in an undergraduate focused environment.
(Some information from the Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium.)
Not sure about their strength in Comp sci but how about Univ Richmond and St Olaf’s for likelies? They are syrong in the sciences which is why I mention them.
Keep in mind that a typical computer science major will typically take 11-15 courses in the field. Colleges that offer an amount of courses in multiple excess of this number may not provide – depending on that student’s areas of interest – substantially greater opportunities for an undergraduate.
Perhaps this is true for some employers. But certainly for many, and this includes some of the best known major top-notch employers, this is not the case. Not infrequently the list of colleges where these companies recruit is relatively small. I’m not inclined to characterize the reason for the “approved” universities that are their main source of candidates as “prestige” but rather that their computer science departments are rigorous and top notch etc.
Several of the universities on the list proposed by your college adviser are on the A-list for company recruiters. With some exceptions most colleges with small computer science departments are not.
I would encourage you to drop the bias against large universities. In practice most of the very best computer science departments are in such large universities. In additional to exceptional computer science department they offer auxiliary departments (e.g. math, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering) that can serve to allow a student to broaden and possible specialize their computer science work, and compelling research/intern opportunities. Exceptional students with passion for computer science do not cut classes for reasons of school size.
Post #9, the article says Google is moving away from GPA but every time my kid interviewed there she has to submit her transcript, if not for GPA confirmation then I don’t know what is.
OP, if you want small school then UCSB has small engineering department.
But I think when it comes to recruit employers like to go to large school because they can have their picks.
I would be careful of signing up for a school with huge (1000) freshman class sizes, and while UMd is a great program, it is certainly on the list of offenders.
These are just schools that I am not personally familiar with (Chapman U, Colorado State, Santa Clara U, U of Tulsa), the others all have great reputations.
OOS costs at many of the public universities are over $50K with slim to none chances of FA. Missouri would be much cheaper and may have an honors program, definitely consider it (and any other schools with agreements) unless cost is no option. Similarly, CMU is unlikely for aid, Case and USC will give aid, but may still have high COA).
Going to a big impersonal state school for high $ … would have to be a great program.
Alabama has great merit aid, and Wisc is cheaper, to name a few. Delaware also generous, YMMV.
Georgia Tech ?
Princeton Review list seems really strange given your desire for smaller schools…
You have to GET the interview to get hired. Question is whether Google recruits at your college. You may get an interview if the don’t, but your odds are a lot better if they are sending recruiters to interview through your college placement office.
OP, please see my post of Vandy CS/COE vs larger schools CS/COE. One should not ignore the breadth of the curriculum as well as the access to the latest tools and techniques that a larger institution can offer.