Stony Brook Computer Science

<p>Hi, can anyone tell me about Stony Brook's computer science program? </p>

<p>How is the teaching, are the courses/program well organized? Are there clubs for computer science students like game design clubs, web design clubs, or mobile app design clubs, etc.</p>

<p>Also can anyone tell me about what type of firms recruit at Stony Brook for computer science students? Do computer science students at Stony Brook generally get good jobs? Are the job opportunities for a Stony Brook student going go to be significantly worse than a graduate from Columbia or NYU? </p>

<p>Also how does Stony Brook fare in graduate school placement?</p>

<p>Did you read this ?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/suny-stony-brook/625944-my-2-cents-sbu-must-read-prospective-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/suny-stony-brook/625944-my-2-cents-sbu-must-read-prospective-students.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>All I got was that Stony Brook is full of commuters. The food is overpriced and campus is ghost town on weekends.</p>

<p>Hi bradbac,</p>

<p>First of all, I want to start off by saying SBU is a Science-oriented school, a challenging one I’d say, that wil press your buttons, and some can’t handle the heat and will resort to badmouthing it, which is their right by virtue of free speech. Anyways I am a current Stony Brook senior, and I’ll be more than glad to answer your questions. In terms of return on investment, Stony Brook Computer Science is top in the nation.</p>

<p>1 University of California - Berkeley Public (In-State) $125,100 $2,432,000 10.70%
2 Stanford University Private not-for-profit $230,100 $2,384,000 8.60%
3 University of Pennsylvania Private not-for-profit $222,700 $2,342,000 8.60%
4 Dartmouth College Private not-for-profit $221,600 $2,176,000 8.40%
5 University of California - Santa Cruz (UCSC) Public (In-State) $126,600 $2,056,000 10.10%
6 University of San Francisco (USF) Private not-for-profit $216,500 $2,030,000 8.20%
7 University of California - Santa Barbara (UCSB) Public (In-State) $121,400 $2,021,000 10.20%
8 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Private not-for-profit $215,700 $2,018,000 8.20%
9 University of California - Davis (UC Davis) Public (In-State) $122,700 $1,985,000 10.10%
10 Stony Brook University Public (In-State) $82,620 $1,947,000 11.40%</p>

<p>[Best</a> College ROI by Computer Science Major](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/data-packages/college-roi-2013/college-roi-2013-schools-by-major/computer-science]Best”>Best College ROI by Computer Science Major)</p>

<p>Why are we # 10? Because aside from having kick-ass faculty from prestigious institutions like MIT, CMU, Berkeley, and other top 10 schools, along with planned expansion(think about our new $100 million CS building, our new $50 million CEWIT research center, our Brookhaven national lab), it is not wrong to say our Computer Science facilities is the size of some school of Engineerings, and that we are kick ass. 2 semesters ago, we hired 5 faculty members(I think 2 MIT, 3 CMU), and this semester we are hiring 5-6 more, which will bring our total list of faculty members to nearly 85 Professors, which is huge since these are young folks, involving with cutting-edge research. Go through our faculty list, and recognize that these are pioneers in their field.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/people/faculty.html[/url]”>Faculty | Department of Computer Science;

<p>Now let’s answer step by step,</p>

<p>-How is the teaching, are the courses/program well organized?
We have an ABET accredited CS major, with practical courses that will make you test your theory in ways that will intellectually challenge you. I want to emphasize that Stony Brook makes you build things, I can’t say this enough. In a class like CSE305, you are expected to build a competitor to a major company(last semester we built a competitor to Netflix), and a few semesters ago, students built a competitor to Facebook. Generally, a major tech company(think Google, or Microsoft),then comes to judge your project.
[Google</a> Visits Stony Brook University Computer Science Class](<a href=“http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2/publish/General_University_News_2/Google_Visits_Stony_Brook_University_Computer_Science_Class.shtml]Google”>http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2/publish/General_University_News_2/Google_Visits_Stony_Brook_University_Computer_Science_Class.shtml)</p>

<p>Everything about our courses is very transparent, since unlike some schools, we are not shy about what we are taught. If you visit a course like CSE306(operating systems), you are expected to build a Rootkit(LKM), a multi-threaded DNS simulator, a shell(like bash), now this is just one class. In a class like Software Engineering, you are expected to build a polished product(think of this like your senior project), in a class like CSE219(you are expected to deal with AT LEAST 20,000 lines of code, this is an intro class to prepare for our 300-levels). In a class like CSE381, you will build a 3D game, and hopefully compete in our annual game programming competition(I believe the oldest in the nation), were judges like Microsoft, EA sports, and many others visit to judge your project.</p>

<p>In short, like our professors say, we will make you build things. Now recognize that not everybody is built for this, and our students are SUPER competitive(our students almost always are top 3 in the ACM competition, we just came 4th in the NATION in the prestigious PUTNAM Math competition, so recognize that students will work hard, and you have to work harder), but the end result is worth. To be honest, I can not count the amount of companies that tried contacting me for interviews, and if I tell you how many ‘offers’ I had, you would think I am lying. In short, just Google CSE308, or CSE219, or CSE306 and you will fall on our web page, click on the projects, and you will see that EVERY SEMESTER we have a new PROJECT. Unlike MOST schools where the projects are repetitive, and solutions are available, in SBU, there are new and tough projects. To be fair, most of our students have gone to start their own companies, and most have sold them for pretty lucrative amounts(think quickmeme, uncylopedia, and various game companies, since we have a strong culture of gaming).</p>

<ul>
<li>Are there clubs for computer science students like game design clubs, web design clubs, or mobile app design clubs, etc.</li>
</ul>

<p>We have a Mobile app development class. In terms of groups, we have the ACM club, the SBCS class, the SBGD club, SBLU(linux users), SBCyberSecurity, and I think one more. We have a strong sense in competing, and regularly participate in competitions, where Ivy-leagues know we are not to be messed with, and that we are competitive. To give you a sense of what I mean, in the ACM regional competition, where Princeton, Yale, Columbia, and all these ‘name-schools’ show up, we like I said, either win the competition(which implies defeating nearly 70 schools)or are always top 3; so at my internship as you can imagine, folks know what school I attend. It doesn’t hurt to know that we have alumni like the President of Stanford University, or Professors like Steven Skiena.</p>

<p>-Also can anyone tell me about what type of firms recruit at Stony Brook for computer science students?
On average, there are usually 400-500 companies recruiting each year for CS majors, right now I just checked and there are 387 positions available, but that’s because most are filled up. Companies that recruit, to name the ‘popular ones’: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Morgan Stanley, CitiGroup, JP Morgan, Bank of America, D.E Shaw Group, S&P, Renaissance Technologies, and many more.</p>

<p>-Do computer science students at Stony Brook generally get good jobs?
Not just a good job, but you usually have many offers. There are local companies, that strive very hard in recruiting students from these big companies. To give you an example, a friend of mine got hired by a local company without a technical interview. Why? Cause he was an alumni and knows the quality of a student. He knows if someone was able to get an A in a class like CSE308, or CSE306, or CSE219, I don’t need to press him that hard.</p>

<p>-Are the job opportunities for a Stony Brook student going go to be significantly worse than a graduate from Columbia or NYU?</p>

<p>No. I am biased, and I have debated this multiple times, but I’ll say it again, we have a MUCH strong program than NYU and Columbia. In every metric, we are ahead. EVERY metric. We are older, have more professors, have more funding, have more research labs. have more grants, have more space, and generally have much, much, more going on due to our size(we are the 5th largest CS program in the USA).</p>

<p>-Also how does Stony Brook fare in graduate school placement?
Aside from producing students like the president of Stanford, if you privately message me, I can show you profiles of my friends that have been admitted to MIT, CMU, and UC Berkeley(now these are my friends, God knows how many others go to other great schools).</p>

<p>Although I do want to mention, when you have so many offers, grad school does NOT come to mind. Trust me when I say this; you might laugh about this now, but when you are a senior, you will know what I mean. Simply put, given that we are from 60’s, and massive in size(visit Stony Brook, and walk around the Computer Science buildings, and you will know what I mean, I’m convinced that our Computer Science facilities is larger than most entire Engineering schools, if not their entire school :P).</p>

<p>Look, I will be biased, but I present facts, hard facts that wil make some cringe. I have a GREAT internship offer, I had so many interviews I lost count, and I am extremely glad in my current internship where I am working shoulder to shoulder with an MIT, Cornell and CMU grad.</p>

<p>If you have any questions, ask, and try to visit cs.sunysb.edu , visit our undergrad profiles, grad profiles, and I think knowing that we are TOP 10 in the USA in return on investment, that should be pretty self-explanatory.</p>

<p>QCstudent thank you so much for your response! That was very helpful and informative. </p>

<p>I just had a few more questions for you. Did you happen to get summer internships in your sophomore or junior year, and are those generally easy to get for Stony Brook CS students?</p>

<p>So most of your friends have several job offers? That’s very impressive given this poor economy.</p>

<p>I currently can’t private message, because I haven’t reached 15 posts yet. But could you private message me, and tell me more about graduate school placements?</p>

<p>I also had a question about CSE 110. Do you think I can skip that class and just take CSE 114? Does 114 assume prior programming experience? It seems like 110 doesn’t involve much programming at all.</p>

<p>I’m assuming that you were Queens College student as well. I’m actually considering CUNY Queens, Hunter and City College in addition to Stony. Do you know how these 3 programs compare to Stony in terms of job placement?</p>

<p>EDIT: One more question for you QCstudent. Do startups from NYC recruit at Stony? I</p>

<p>C’mere kid…let me holla at 'cha…</p>

<p>1) In the world of computer science, knowing the latest “hot” technologies is what will get you hired. If I was in the college/CS-career advisement business, I could guide 2+2 students into software engineering jobs. Actually, TODAY…I will tell most hopeful software engineers to do 2 years at a community college and finish up at your state flagship university.</p>

<p>2) For grad schools ranked 11th and beyond, good work experience and an employer who will pay your tuition bills (via tuition reimbursement) counts the same (maybe bigger) in getting into a graduate program.</p>

<p>GlobalTraveler, thank you for your response. Do you think work experience is more important than research experience? Also on the topic of grad school, I read that Compilers and Programming Languages are very important for grad school. Does this mean that I have to take these classes in order to be a competitive applicant for most programs? Or can I get in and take these classes at the graduate level?</p>

<p>Depends if you are applying for an academic position OR to a company that specializes in research. If that is the case, then they MAY care about your research experience. For all regular software engineering jobs, they won’t care about your research experience.</p>

<p>As for graduate CS programs, most schools will ask for the “CS Core” of</p>

<p>Algorithms
Data Structures
Organization of Programming Languages
Operating Systems</p>

<p>So to answer your question, if “Compilers and Programming Languages” is the only course that will cover the topics of a “Organization of Programming Languages” course, then yes it is important. Compiler design by itself is not very important for grad school UNLESS a grad student plans to make compiler design there focus/research area.</p>

<p>-I just had a few more questions for you. Did you happen to get summer internships in your sophomore or junior year, and are those generally easy to get for Stony Brook CS students?</p>

<p>They are easy, and yes, I’ve had internships and have been working all 4 years, at multiple companies. Like I said, we have more positions vs students available to fill them. So top companies are usually fighting for the top talent.</p>

<p>-So most of your friends have several job offers? That’s very impressive given this poor economy.</p>

<p>Indeed. I think the average number of offers, that my friends and I had were at LEAST 7. I had A LOT, ;]</p>

<p>-I also had a question about CSE 110. Do you think I can skip that class and just take CSE 114? Does 114 assume prior programming experience? It seems like 110 doesn’t involve much programming at all.</p>

<p>If you’ve never had programming experience, take 110. If you have, take 114. 114 is OOP programming, and if you are a newbie, you will end up hating CS, especially since you need a B average to declare CS as your major(i.e B average between 114 and 215).</p>

<p>-I’m assuming that you were Queens College student as well. I’m actually considering CUNY Queens, Hunter and City College in addition to Stony. Do you know how these 3 programs compare to Stony in terms of job placement?</p>

<p>Yes, I was. No comparison. Combine every CUNY school, and Stony Brook still has an incredible edge. Google, Microsoft, and all those companies I mentioned usually drive 50 miles to SBU, but avoid those schools; I used to be there, I would know.</p>

<p>-One more question for you QCstudent. Do startups from NYC recruit at Stony?
Some, depending on how you define a startup. Most SBU students start their own startups, and they strictly try to recruit SBU students.</p>

<p>@QCStudent</p>

<p>So it is possible to test out of the introductory CS courses?</p>

<p>Also how was you experience there in terms of housing, meal plans, professors helping, administrative staff, traveling on campus during winter, diversity and social scene?</p>

@bradbac here I am, almost three years after this post was made. I need help deciding on whether I should go to Queens College, City College or Stony Brook for Computer Science.

I would start a new post. Responding to old posts is really not effective.