Status of Computer Science and Engineering Program

My Son has received quite a few decisions from the colleges he applied to. Fortunately all have been favorable so far.

He received an excellent offer from Santa Clara a school he already had a lot of interest in. He has chosen Computer Science and Engineering as his major. The time is coming soon for him to make a decision as to where he thinks would be the best fit for him. I think Santa Clara is a great fit but after reading various reviews and posts across the internet it seems there are a lot of negative or conflicting views about the CSE program. Additionally many of the views of those I have read seem to put it towards the bottom of the list of schools he has applied to (mostly Cal States and UC’s). I would like to hear from parents or students that are either currently or recently involved with both Santa Clara and the CSE program to get fresh views from those with actual recent first hand knowledge. Thanks in advance!

From what I hear their CS program is pretty decent. However may not be in the same category as UC. Having said that they are very different type of institutions.

Actually I stand corrected their CD program looks very good. Current and former students seem to like SCU CS programs. Like Didwegetin, would love to hear more students currently in SCU computer science program.

I got into both Cal Poly CS and Santa Clara CS last year. Ended up choosing Santa Clara due to the location, the size, a less focused 4 year plan and easiness to get classes. I think Cal Poly slo might have better CS programs but SCU can offer better opportunities in a wider range of subjects.

It is likely that bigger universities have more resources, more well-known professors and more name recognition, but all of these don’t matter if you struggle to get the classes you want and can barely talk to the professors (too crowed during office hours).

One thing to note about Cal Poly is that the library won’t be available in the next 2-3 years due to renovation, and the complaints about getting the classes they want as a CS, CE or software engineering major is pretty strong.

If money wasn’t an issue, I think life at SCU will definitely be more comfortable.

Edit: the quality of a program also depends on the end goal. Research? Industry?

Keep in mind that SCU is, literally, in the middle of Silicon Valley.

Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate them. @kychris you bring up the exact points we have been thinking about. Can you expand on what you like about Santa Clara now that you have attending?

Thanks

@didwegetin
The small size campus and student body is definitely something that I enjoyed a lot. I can meet like 3-4 people I know every time I go to classrooms and the feeling of the tight community is amazing. I am not a super outgoing person so the small size definitely helped me meeting a lot of people that I normally wouldn’t talk to.
Class size is tiny comparing to big universities, I really enjoy being able to go office hours and just talk to the professors right away. I took a summer class at UC Berkeley (CS 61A, their intro class), the class size is huge(800 people during summer, 2000 normally), it is hard for me to talk to the professor during office hours because there are so many people. SO this is definitely the thing I enjoy the most about Santa Clara.

Thanks for your answer… Are you in the CS program associated with Letters and Science or the one in the Engineering School?

I am in the CS in the arts and science department. I chose that instead of COEN because it is more like a bachelor of arts which allows me to take classes from many different disciplines. @didwegetin