<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>