Hello.
I’m a HS senior graduating with a DE A.S. in comp sci interested in pursuing CS research as a career.
I’ve currently been accepted to the following colleges:
Virginia Tech, William and Mary, Rochester Inst. Tech, Worcester Inst. Tech., George Mason, Colorado School of Mines
From what I can tell, W&M places the highest value on undergrad research overall. Virginia Tech and George Mason have higher funds/grants but are smaller schools, and doesn’t seem to have as good undergrad teaching as W&M. CSM is a nice school and is a research institute but is by far the most expensive one for me.
RIT i’ve heard iffy things about, it seems like a decent school for computer science but its pros for internships seem to be more oriented towards landing a software engineering job than a research position. They’ve given me a lot of finaid for a OOS though (25k), matching william and mary so far (25k).
I may also get a free ride to WPI depending on a scholarship that arrives in mid-april.
I’m interested in doing computer science research in almost any of the fields, but it seems very hard to get a grasp of the quality of undergrad research as the most common answer in any school is just a flat “talk to your professors :)”. I’ve tried talking to a professor about this and they told me not to pay attention to research grants because those don’t necessarily funnel into undergrad opportunities.
As of right now, William and Mary seems to be the best school for me, but I’m not sure if going there I would give up any major research opportunities?
I do intend on pursuing education after my undergrad, but from what I hear if one intends to become a researcher (especially when applying to grad school) it is better to attend undergrad programs where undergrads can engage in research/are more research-oriented.
Most of them will. (I know for sure all of the Virginia colleges will, as my DE program is with NVCC). I intend to retake my calculus and computer science courses aside from first semester intro to computer science - even though I did well, earning an A in all of them - because I feel i did not adequately learn those subjects on a college level (for calculus I have learned the content but I am not sure if i am robust enough for college in that area, and for computer science we have had curriculum issues so the only language i am truly proficient in is python, even though I know how to write java or assembly) WPI and RIT take NVCC credits from their database, so I should be able to skip my gen-eds there.
If you earned A grades in a college calculus course, you very likely know the material well enough to move on. If you are unsure, try the old final exams of the college you matriculate to so that you can check your knowledge by the standards of that college’s math department. Examples:
You are considering VT a smaller school than W&M? Or is their CS department smaller? I know in general they are a terrific research university so it’s difficult for me to believe they are subpar with CS.
From a quick Google search:
Faculty and students in the Department of Computer Science are conducting world-class research in several of the research areas featured below. The Department is home to 16 National Science CAREER Award Faculty winners, with $12 million in research expenditures for FY’20.
With RIT, most students I know who choose to go there do it for their internships that lead to jobs, often in cyber security from those I know. I don’t know any who have gone on to research, but I obviously don’t know everyone who goes there,- just a few who have done well.
Did you get into the Honors college at VTech?
Will your financial aid cover 4 years - if so, will both W&M and Vtech let you take graduate-level classes?
William and Mary’s financial aid is only gauranteed for my freshman year. Virginia tech has offered me a gauranteed track to masters at their Alexandria campus after I finish my undergrad.