Vanderbilt and Computer Science

My son is considering applying ED to Vanderbilt. He will be applying as a comp sci major. I am aware there are schools that have better “rankings” for this major. Vanderbilt checks a lot of boxes for him in most other aspects that he is looking for but before he makes the major (and pricey) commitment to ED there, just curious the general consensus on the Comp Sci program from anyone who might know. All assuming he could even get in - that is another issue altogether… Thanks!

D is a CS premed junior at Vandy. Believe or not, Vandy CS is harder than higher ranked CS schools. We visited U of Pitt with DS20. Pitt CS is higher ranked than Vandy’s, but has lower math and CS classes requirement. Vandy CS is very heavy on math. You literally get a math minor by the time you finish. You cannot play around with your classes, will have limited choices on study abroad, and will have to hassle with sophomore internships. But placement for Vandy CS is very good. You can check out placement data on Vandy Engineering website.

You can also see the sample CS classes by year in the course catalogue.

Best of luck!

Thank you. We are going back to check it out to see if he would want to apply ED. I’m tending to go more with fit and student quality of life and I am sure that a school of tha caliber has a fine CS program. My DS is excellent in math so this sounds like it would be up his alley. Curious, what do you mean by “hassle with sophomore internships”. Thanks!

It means that you need to hassle for good sophomore internships. Junior internship is a given, but some efforts are needed to get good sophomore internships.