Students will need to be top of their CS class. UTD has 700+ CS Freshmen, about 30 of them will be selected into their prestigious CS2 program.
Majority of the FANG hires are CS2.
CS2 is invitation only, if your student gets invitation, don’t miss the chance. The Computing Scholars Honor Program
When do the invitations typically go out?
Please read through below. Process changed a bit last few pandemic years but schedule is about the same.
Dr. Page, the founder and director of the CS^2 program, retired at the end of January. I believe things are a bit delayed this year.
Who runs the program now?
Dr. Vincent Ng and Dr Ovidiu Daescu
The process of selecting around 100 students for a test before final selection still holds.
Also back a decade ago, many CS students sought FANG jobs, the craze has since been subsided.
Assuming all stays the same, the test is simply yes/no. The first 30 UTD students who pass the test and accept the invitation get a spot. The rest are put on a waitlist. They don’t select the best 30 students, just 30 students that would do well in the program.
There is an alternative entry to the program during the freshman year, as a few students will eventually decide to leave the program or fail to keep the required 3.5 CS GPA.
Has anyone taken the Computing Scholars test this year?
My brother took it two years ago. Lots of logics and sets and some propositions maths questions, definitely not just yes/no questions someone mentioned earlier. Last few antisymmetric questions in the test not many could solve them with the time given.
You can take and pass the exam and still decline UTD offer to go to other schools, my brother went to UT Turing after some long thoughts.
I didn’t mean the questions were yes/no. I meant that one either passed the test or failed. They don’t select top 30 students. They select students who pass the test.
The test is based on discrete math, logic, and algorithmic thinking. There is plenty of time to answer the questions.
Curious what was the deciding factor of choosing UT Turing over UTD scholar?
Thanks, that’s helpful. I was just wondering if people had been invited to take the test yet this year since it does seem like they might be behind schedule.
Invitation mostly in April through June but can be changed but won’t be too late. Questions are free response and professor determines pass/fail based on response quality so write as much as possible. Most NMF will get invited.
Ok. Last year we did a visit at the end of April and they already had 30 selected and 8 on the waitlist, and were waiting for May 1 for people to commit.
I would suggest writing to the head of the program and asking about the test.
Two years ago was end of May.
Any news McDermott scholarship?
Dd received an email a couple of weeks ago saying she was eligible and inviting her to apply. Then, a few days later, she received another email saying they were extending the application deadline.
She has already decided on a school, though, so is not going to apply for McDermott.
Two questions about the UTD portal. The first is the “Financial” section is not working right now just keeps loading. Anyone else seeing that? And the 2nd is about the Terry scholarship. Son’s status hasn’t changed since he submitted it back in November. Still says “application printed”.