<p>My D is looking for small or medium schools (<4000) with decent Computer Science departments. She loves programming (and according to her teachers has a gift for it), is taking AP Comp Sci, has taken three other Comp Sci courses, and is in Robotics. She needs/want to have small classes (due to a hearing impairment and a verbal processing impairment), but most of the smaller schools have tiny Comp Sci departments (4-5 students/year; 1-2 full time profs). She has a 3.9 W/3.5 U GPA, 630 M, 590 V, 560 W, is a cross country runner, in the band, several other activities. She is a hard worker, and from conversations with her teachers I think her letters will be strong.
She has applied/is planning to apply to Gettysburg (perfect but a reach for her), University of Mary Washington (great Comp Sci department; not sure about the other classes and we are out of state so I can't gauge her changes), and several schools she likes but have tiny Comp Sci departments: Susquehanna, Goucher, Guilford, Hobart and William Smith.
She would like to be within 6-8 hours of Washington DC.
Suggestions?</p>
<p>WPI - not exactly within 8 hours of DC but otherwise a good fit…
[Undergraduate</a> Admissions: Women - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/perspective/women.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/perspective/women.html)
[Robotics</a> Engineering - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/academics/robotics.html]Robotics”>http://www.wpi.edu/academics/robotics.html)
[Computer</a> Science - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/academics/cs.html]Computer”>Computer Science | Worcester Polytechnic Institute)</p>
<p>Are you in Wash DC? If so, does your D qualify for some money ($10k???) to go to a state school? If so, is that any state school?</p>
<p>If you’re not a Wash DC resident, which state are you in? Is she applying to any instate schools?</p>
<p>So, the desire for a small school is to have small classes because of some special needs? If a larger school has smaller CS classes would that work? </p>
<p>What is your budget? Will you pay $55k per year for a private? </p>
<p>UA-Huntsville is a small school, and it’s located in Cummings Research Park, so lots of internship and co-op opportunities. I don’t know what size the classes are. Very good for STEM majors. The OOS cost isn’t too awful and she might get awarded some merit money.</p>
<p>It may be farther than 8 hours, BUT, there is an int’l airport 5 minutes away from campus. I’ve flown from that airport to Wash DC often and it’s a quick ride.</p>
<p>Union College in Schenectady, NY has CS and even engineering but would be a reach. It used to have ties with GE in early days of computers. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, which is public, also may fit the bill.</p>
<p>Union is SAT optional so I’d look into it for sure. Strong engineering program and a small school with small classes.</p>
<p>If the location limitation is not a hard limitation, consider:</p>
<p>South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology</p>
<p>However, both are STEM-focused schools, so they are only appropriate for students who will certainly major in a STEM subject that they offer. But they are small and relatively inexpensive.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota - Morris is a small relatively inexpensive public LAC that appears to have a decent listing of CS courses in its catalog – but check to see how frequently each of the upper-level CS courses is actually offered. Courses offered only once every two years mean that schedule planning must be done carefully because a student may have only one chance to take a desired course.</p>
<p>If only she’d be allowed to, I would have recommended Santa Clara University, which sits right in the heart of the world’s center of IT, SV.</p>
<p>[Santa</a> Clara University -Welcome](<a href=“http://www.scu.edu/]Santa”>http://www.scu.edu/)</p>
<p>True, SCU is advantageous for convenient access to internship and job interviews (and likely recruited much more than other small schools due to convenience to the companies).</p>
<p>However, list price is nearly $58,000 per year, so most students will need significant financial aid or scholarships.</p>
<p>I like BeanTownGirl’s suggestion of WPI. It seems to pretty much fit the bill.</p>
<p>*If only she’d be allowed to, I would have recommended Santa Clara University, which sits right in the heart of the world’s center of IT, SV.
*</p>
<p>This is why I mentioned UA-Huntsville, since the campus sits in Cummings Research Park, the second largest research park in the nation. Lots of STEM internships and co-ops. It’s much closer to the OP’s home than SCU, and MUCH cheaper. And, UAH would likely give the student some merit money for stats and for CS. </p>
<p>UAH is an attractive campus with green areas and lakes. The campus is constantly upgrading so everything is “up to date”. The campus is very well maintained. My bank in on the property so I’m on the campus a lot. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.uah.edu/[/url]”>http://www.uah.edu/</a></p>
<p>Huntsville is a very “non southern” city. Most residents are transplants from other parts of the country because of CRP and Redstone Arsenal…the residents are from Calif, IL, Mich, Missouri, Mass, VA, MD, Texas, Wisconsin, etc. When we moved to the HSV area from Calif, my first feelings were that it was like Orange County, but with a lot more trees.</p>
<p>Thanks, lots of good suggestions! </p>
<p>Beamtowngirl- you are right, WPI looks good (and not too far). We were looking for small liberal arts colleges, but are worried about language requirements, and her taking other right-brain classes, so we really should rethink this. </p>
<p>Mom2collegekids- I live in Maryland, and have recommended St. Mary’s to a number of kids, but I was told the Comp Sci department is tiny- but I will check again to verify. You are correct, my daughter needs smaller classes because of some minor learning impairment as well as a hearing impairment that can’t be corrected. So, it could be a larger school as long as the classes were small. Budget-wise- academics are a huge priority to us, and due to a combination of saving since she was an infant and having inherited money from her grandparent, we can afford anywhere. (Plus her brother is at an Ivy League school- since she works hard, she deserves us to spend the same even if she isn’t as gifted academically). I don’t know anything about UA-Huntsville, but will look into it.</p>
<p>Are Catholic schools ok?</p>
<p>Does Loyola Maryland have CS? If so, they may have smallish classes. </p>
<p>Since money isn’t a concern, look at some of the smaller Catholic univs that have CS… UDayton, SLU, etc. I was recently at SLU and really liked it. </p>
<p>U San Diego might also work, but it is on the other coast.</p>
<p>Loyola Maryland was recommended to her, and I have a friend on the faculty there. The CS is larger than some other schools (although the faculty mostly teaches graduate classes), but my friend was concerned that the required philosophy and theology courses might be difficult for her. U San Diego is too far… what is SLU?</p>
<p>St. Louis University. It has well over 4,000 people though.</p>
<p>my friend was concerned that the required philosophy and theology courses might be difficult for her</p>
<p>Usually, the Jesuit schools have a variety of courses that fulfil this req’t. </p>
<p>Frankly, if she has the ability to do CS, then she likely can do Philosophy and Theology. Philosophy Deductive Logic is actually a good class for a CS major to take. </p>
<p>you might want to meet with someone there to ask about the options.</p>
<p>Does your D realize that CS majors often have to take a good amount of math? how strong is she with Calc, etc? </p>
<p>Also, at some schools, CS is only offered within the Col of Eng’g. That can be a plus or minus. A plus can be that some Core classes aren’t req’d. A minus can be that more STEM classes are req’d.</p>
<p>She is pretty strong in math, but we have also been careful to look at the math requirements. Some programs just want discrete mathematics, and 1-2 semesters of Calc; others want linear algebra and beyond to get the degree. </p>
<p>The programs we are looking at are in liberal arts schools; we are not looking at Eng’s schools. </p>
<p>Thanks again for your input.</p>
<p>Did you take a look at Union College in NY as suggested? That really is your best choice for a true LAC in the Northeast for computer science.</p>
<p>Discrete math or similar should be an expected requirement for any reasonable CS degree program. In addition, upper division CS theory courses (algorithms and complexity, theory of computation) will be very math-like. Some subareas like cryptography would benefit from taking additional math.</p>
<p>Check out Lehigh in Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>Both Lehigh and Union look like a reach for her, but are both excellent suggestions. We will look at these today. Feeling somewhat relieved today since she got into two “safe” schools yesterday (although both have tiny Comp Sci departments).</p>