<p>Mathson has been obsessed by computer programming since he was in elementary school. So he's pretty sure of his direction. He's probably choosing between Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science and Harvard. (Though he's going to visit RPI and WPI as well for contrast.) </p>
<p>I see a lot of red flags and question marks for Harvard's computer science major. For one between 2000 and 2005 they have lost a third of their majors. Why is the department shrinking and will the plan to higher 30 new professors to the engineering school make a difference? </p>
<p>I was an undergrad at Harvard, so I know many of the advantages of Harvard - great student body, the name, and the residential house system. But I don't know much about the department.</p>
<p>Mathson will visit for the long weekend and go to classes Monday, but if anyone has any thoughts, or if they want to pipe in with questions he ought to be asking please post away!</p>
<p>Did the number of CS majors decrease at other places too, or was this particular to Harvard?</p>
<p>If the latter, was there a shift to some related field or to very different areas?</p>
<p>Does the Havard CS major support kids who are "into programming"? (This isn't as odd a question as it sounds as traditionally Harvard CS has had a theoretical focus.)</p>
<p>I think there is some sort of programming/CS club, how active is it, and what fraction of its members are CS majors?</p>
<p>Does the department have offers out right now and if so in what areas of CS? What areas are candidates for short-term growth?</p>
<p>I think that your son should ask to be put in touch with some current CS majors at Harvard. They can answer his concerns better than we can. The admissions office might be able to help; otherwise, contact the CS department.</p>
<p>To sell Harvard's computer science is not exactly easy, it is one area that I feel Harvard lacks a core vision for the its own future and where the US econemy needs to go.
They have some strong faculty members, but as it stands it does not cover enough areas to make it interesting.
In that regard, Stanford and MIT are more forward thinking.
If your son is certain to major in CS, CMU is a better choice. On the other hand, if he changes mind one or two yrs into college and finds CS is no longer his passion or he needs to broaden into other fields, Harvard clearly would be a better place to be in to find other options.
Also Harvard and MIT have cross-registrations, usually reserved for upper class students, you may want to check out whether the program offers anything suitable to your son.</p>
<p>Unfortunately Stanford and MIT rejected him. I doubt he'll change his mind. He does understand that computer science in college goes beyond programming. The thought that Harvard might provide a backdoor into MIT is sort of intriguing, but less intriguing if it's an option only available to upperclassmen. I'd say he's 99.9% certain to major in computer programming.</p>
<p>I can't speak to Harvard's computer science program but my husband and I are both in the field and can say that declining interest in computer science as a major may in part be due to the tremendous amount of outsourcing that is going on. It just doesn't feel like a field that has a great future. Jobs are disappearing and 'programming' as a task can be done much more cheaply by extremely capable folks in third world countries. I don't know how all this is going to play out and I am sure there are still opportunities in the field, and new ones will probably emerge, but it feels like a field that is in flux. So this could be a factor in the decline of people majoring in computer science.</p>
<p>MIT's curriculum is more theoretical than most, so if your son would rather take hands-on programming classes. You can't take a class in Java or C; they assume you know it. (There may be some IAP classes in those two, but not any real classes.) There is hands-on programming (programming robots and stuff like that,) but again they assume you already know the programming language.</p>
<p>Harvard's curriculum is more like most schools; they have "C" and "C++", Java, etc. Also, you can take classes at MIT if you are a Harvard student.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has probably the most comprehensive comp sci. program of your choices, but I don't know if it has a techy environment that your son wouldn't like. I guess if MIT's campus didn't turn him off, then he doesn't care about the environment so much. Plus, Carnegie Mellon seems to have an inferiority complex with MIT (heard this from a Carnegie Mellon alum.) </p>
<p>In terms or the name of the school, you should be able to get hired pretty easily from both schools.</p>
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Harvard's curriculum is more like most schools; they have "C" and "C++", Java, etc.
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<p>Where did you see this? I just checked the Harvard online course catalog and did not see a single computer programming class. The program is in Computer Science and has always been seen as theoretical.</p>
<p>Carnegie melon is a pretty good choice if CS is what you want. The department is very strong and several of my friends here (in CS) had it as a second choice after MIT.</p>
<p>Quote:
Harvard's curriculum is more like most schools; they have "C" and "C++", Java, etc. </p>
<h2>Where did you see this? I just checked the Harvard online course catalog and did not see a single computer programming class. The program is in Computer Science and has always been seen as theoretical.</h2>
<p>I took a class in "C" at Harvard for summer school. I know they offered many other practical programming classes. I'm pretty sure all of the course offerings over the summer are also offered during the year.</p>
<h2>Carnegie melon is a pretty good choice if CS is what you want. The department is very strong and several of my friends here (in CS) had it as a second choice after MIT.</h2>
<p>yes, it is a top 5 school in CS.</p>
<p>BTW, the name of the school has two l's. Carnegie Mellon is not a fruit.</p>
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I took a class in "C" at Harvard for summer school. I know they offered many other practical programming classes. I'm pretty sure all of the course offerings over the summer are also offered during the year.
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<p>Not true. Look up the regular catalog. I did.</p>
<p>All the top rated CS programs seem to be mostly theoretical. While he's not sure how much he's going to like that, he says it's easy to teach yourself the ins and outs of various programming languages and agrees that they don't really need to be in a college curriculum. For us the advantage of Harvard is a favorite uncle who works in Boston and we parents like the idea of him being around other Harvard caliber students, with the wide range of interests and activities that implies. Whether he'd take advantage of them is another question. I always thought that MIT would be a better fit for him, but it's not on the table.</p>