DS accepted CS at UCD (in state) and Reed (w/ 23k in grants)
As alums we are familiar with UCD but not the CS dept.
We know very little about Reed and very little about the newish CS degree- we plan to visit soon.
Fit, happiness and well-being are some of my top priorities.
He also values getting to know other students and collaborating with them on programming projects or other novel ideas both inside and outside of classes.
DS is a curious learner who likes learning for the sake of learning. Thrives on free time to delve deep into CS passions and projects. Much more collaborative than competitive.
Is Reed worth $24k more a year than UCâs? Future goals- SWE, start a company, invent. - not considering grad school.
He has also not ruled out CS at UCSC.
Iâm not sure he could end up with two schools that are more different. Visiting and understanding the curricula should clarify that decision pretty quickly.
Now, is it âworth itâ on a ROI basis to pay $100K more? Probably not. Youâd be buying a different experience for him at Reed for that money, but probably not a better salary or list of opportunities.
Reed CS dept is having major growing pains⊠they are trying to hire more faculty but next year at least is going to be tight with a couple of professors taking sabbatical. Itâs a great school but not sure Iâd recommend it for a CS major this coming year. (One of my kids is a current math/cs student).
I would suggest reading through Unigo and Niche student reviews on Reed and UCD with a generous serving of salt. Without putting too much weight on complaints unless they are repetitive, I felt that I got a great sense of the student body. Reed students impressed me with how their robust and colorful personalities just leapt of the page. Other schoolâs students generally follow safe, normative descriptions without personality or gusto.
At our visit, my husband and kid noticed a couple kids walking while reading a book, another riding his homemade reclining bike around campus, a flamboyantly charismatic tour guide, and an extremely social awkward student interviewer who very diplomatically answered my sonâs question, âIs there social pressure to have a quirky, unusual, anti-establishment persona to avoid being the one of the few ânormiesâ on campus?
The devotion to teaching is top notch. The cult of intense intellectual pursuits for the sake of knowledge is de riguer. The physics department is to be avoid at all costs due to a particular professor. The âno gradesâ policy is circumvented by asking for your grade. There is zero grade inflation and as such transcripts are sent out with an explation that (Edit: in 40 years, only 12 student achieved a 4.0). It is a widely loved feeder for research institutions. Many academics send their kids here.
Thanks for pointing that out. The math/cs major is classified under the Multidisciplinary Studies category on College Navigator and had 13 majors graduate last year.
We are still working on the pros/cons lists for both Reed and UCD. Any other advice/opinions would be appreciated- especially about the CS major at UCD.
I am completely convinced that UCD is a much better choice. DS still seems to think Reed is more prestigious and offers a better education. Several friends have convinced him of this. I need more data on UCDâs worth -beyond it being ranked in the T20 this year!!
Looks like UCD is direct admit to CS vs. at Reed you need to take a qualifying exam after 2 years to continue in CS - that seems unnecessarily stressful.
My biggest hesitation with Reed for DS, is the idea that it is super rigorous- CS classes seem hard enough - I donât see a need for non-cs classes to add to the rigor. I would like him to enjoy college- and not have it be a nonstop study culture - non math/science subjects are not easy for DS. I do not think he has any comprehension of just how rigorous Reed is - I can imagine MUCH more so than his HS. He wonât have any time/energy for his passion projects in programming.
I have reread all CC threads about Reed- they have been helpful.
Reed will offer a much better education. You can say that about Reed compared to most schools. It just wonât necessarily be better in CS. They require a a classic, broad, reading intensive education that most institutions have abandoned in favor of technical focus. Whether itâs functionally better or better for the student in question is up to individual perspective.
Personally, I probably wouldnât pay $100K more for Reed for CS. $100K more for HMC, Pomona, etc. that are similarly prestigious small schools, but with long established CS programs, might be a different story.
What would his decision be if you split the savings with him over 4 years, say $10K/year, with the stipulation youâd invest it in a broad basket of stocks in a trust that would be turned over to him in 20 years? Thatâll be close to $200K before heâs 40.
So some other 18-year-old kids, not one of which has actually spent a day in college, are college experts and he finds their arguments compelling. Itâs hard to know what to say. For some families spending an extra $100K on college is no big deal. If you are fortunate enough to be in this situation let him go to Reed. If not, it may be a rocky road ahead.
Iâm a retired software developer in the Bay Area whoâs worked with several Davis grads. Itâs a perfectly good school for CS, but the way you described your son does seem to fit Reed more. I got my CS degree at a small school that had started its CS program a year before I enrolled. I think we only had 2 or 3 professors who were dedicated to CS, while the other classes were taught by math and EE professors. Iâm sure we had less than 15 people who were majoring in CS. Reedâs program reminds me of my old program. I loved the small class sizes and going through the program with the same small cohort of students. It worked out great for me. The idea that a big school must be better simply because it offers more classes, more often, is not valid. You can only take so many classes at a time, and if you have to delay taking an elective for a semester or two, itâs not a big deal.
I know a few engineers at FAANG companies and have the impression the most important thing to them when interviewing candidates is technical mastery of the many subjects in Computer Science. The other thing is to show you can fit within their culture.
One kinda chuckled telling me about an interview where the candidate struggled to estimate how many bits needed to represent the number one million (every engineer should know that 256 is 2^8 since a byte is a fundamental CS unit, so 1000 is about 10 bits , a million is 1000 squared, so the answer is 20 bits). And that was a softball question. Theyâll ask you to invert a binary tree or use Dijkstraâs Algorithm on a whiteboard. The ones they love are the ones that write compilers on their own just to see.
What mikemac says about tech interviews is generally true. Theyâre trying to find out your technical skills and whether youâll fit the company culture. But you can certainly go to a small school to learn the technical stuff, and some people will do a better job learning it in a small school, small department environment.