So I am an international student in Japan. I’m trying to figure out the best option for me… I prefer medium universities and to an extent big, but do not look super favorably on small universities (<4000/5000 for the whole uni)
From what I’ve seen I like the idea of medium/big colleges because you get to meet lots of new people (just like the 'big 'real world), you have lots of flexibility in courses and diversity of courses, etc.
The main pro is that WELL REGARDED big/medium universities have lots of funding and thus invest in good education for the most part) , good facilities, good safety, and in my case will likely have a better funded CS program, etc
I find internships very important and thus a medium size university is likely to have more companies visit, etc (although yes more competition I guess)
And of course you’ll find certain niches or friend groups to build those personal relationships.
Many medium/big universities claim that they have stuff like 13:1 student to teacher ratios and like 60% of the classes are actually pretty small like 10-20 or so… is this BS or true… cuz then there is actual intimacy even in medium universities and maybe even big ones?
However, I’m having a clash of thought: For small colleges their strength is building those intra-personal relationships and small size classes for intimacy. Although I think I could get some good intra-personal relationships in big/medium colleges… here’s the kicker: I heard that if I ever want to do a masters/graduate then getting a professor’s recommendation is important and small colleges with their intimacy will help with that. Also me being international it can go both ways where its a disadvantage for me to apply to large CS colleges since lots of international students apply there too, but for small CS but equally good colleges since its not as well known ‘globally’ then i have a better chance? However with small CS schools (perhaps like Olin I guess) they may have more specialized high standards (which I don’t think i measure up to)
So even though I’m leaning towards medium and big unis… the small unis have some pros going for them… what I want to know is… are those small uni pros really worth it especially since I want to do CS?
Even though a large percentage of classes may be small, more students will be enrolled in larger classes because they are large. For example, if there is one class of 1,000 and ten classes of 10, that means that most classes (10 out of 11) are small, but most students (1,000 out of 1,100) are in the large class.
Ok, but to my main question above, are there any more
thoughts/advice you have?
I’m not sure how much this will help, but I definitely think you should look into smaller colleges. When I was applying to colleges, I applied to a wide mix of school sizes but ultimately decided on a small university (there’s about 3,000 undergrad students where I’ll be going). Despite their size, small colleges have a lot to offer!! At bigger colleges, you might find it much harder to become close with your professors. I’m not saying it’s impossible, just much harder to do than if you were at a small college. Also at large colleges, your classes might be taught by a TA and not the actual professor. At small schools, the professor is the one teaching the course. If you are interested in becoming involved in research, it might also be easier to do so at a small school because there is usually not as much competition for research positions against other undergrads and even grad students. That being said, many medium colleges offer you benefits of both small schools and big ones. You’ll get to meet a wide variety of people in an environment that doesn’t feel too big or too small. You should definitely research medium sized schools to find one that fits you best. I hope this helped!!
If I want to get good employment options for tech companies/finance companies however, small colleges are not the way to go right?
Also if I’m not doing research does that mean that I don’t need that professor’s letter of rec, etc?
Reputation does not necessarily correlate with size, though big research universities may be better known.
I mean let’s be honest will top tech/finance companies really visit small research / small liberal art universities or be well versed in the quality of the college students from those said universities?
100% yes. But really, you should do a little basic research yourself. It all depends on the school. Some big research universities are not nearly as well regarded as some top liberal arts schools. And vice versa.
There are many top LACs that are better regarded than big research universities by employers. Several top LACs are targets/semi-targets for Wall Street companies and other financial/consulting firms. The pool of good LACs narrows a bit for CS, but those that have good math/CS departments will give you good outcomes.
Remember that even if you don’t recognize the name of a top LAC, elite employers often will. I didn’t know that Claremont McKenna existed until months ago, but its students consistently place well on the West Coast. The same concept applies to NESCAC colleges and others.
Your best bet is to do your research on LACs that may interest you. Look at their academic offerings/strengths. Also, look at their career outcomes (you can go on the college’s LinkedIn and look at their career centers’ websites).
Of course, if you’re really into very high-level computer science (research and cutting edge developments), you’d be better off at a place like Carnegie Mellon. But if not, a top LAC with a strong math/CS department will serve you just fine.
OP, one of your arguments for big universities is funding. But have a quick glance at a list of per-student endowment money (an easy search). You’ll see that among top 10, FIVE are small, while many prestigious large schools are way down the list and seem to be hurting financially, at least in some areas.