<p>My son is looking for the "best" computer Science/engineering School with a solid liberal arts environment. Therefore RHI is out and Rice is barely in. Purdue is out, too big (i.e. under 8,000 students). He is looking for suggestions. I am looking for "best" to include graduation information. Which schools do the "best" job of finding jobs or graduate schools for their students? He is strongly considering WashU/StLouis, Vandy, and NWestern, but they do not seem to have "best" labels for their computer science. His academic record is good: 1370, 4th in class of 150, acing DePauw's Intro To Computer class this semester (privilege of location!). Thanks for your advice!</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon, Duke, UVA</p>
<p>They are not the same, but I'm not aware of a ranking of comp sci programs, USN&WR has these as the top (I'm excluding the purely tech schools):</p>
<p>Best at schools whose highest degree is the doctorate:</p>
<p>Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, UIllinois-Urbana-Champaign, UMich-AnnArbor, UT-Austin, Cornell, UWash, Princeton, UCLA,UWisc-Madison, Duke, Northwestern, Rice, UCSD, USC, JHU, Texas A&M, UMd-College Park</p>
<p>Best at schools whose highest degree is BA or Masters:</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd, Bucknell, San Jose State</p>
<p>Of course, some of these won't fit your son's size desires, etc.</p>
<p>Also, some of these are uber-selective and most are very selective. He should, of course, try for some on this list. But he will also need "sure bets" and "50/50 chance" schools with good, strong Computer Eng/EE/Comp Sci programs. They are not likely to rank "best", but they will still be very, very good.</p>
<p>When you want to know who is "best" at job placement, that means relying more on word-of-mouth (I think; if someone knows different, they will surely chime in) and your visits to the schools' websites and info sessions. You may want to consider schools with strong coop and internship programs. Two I am familiar with from my own son's Engineering School search are Lehigh (PA) and Northeastern (MA). I believe Northeastern's is a 5-year program. Lehigh has a very interesting coop program (optional) which is 4 years but involves coop placement one summer and one school term, with coursework one summer also. They report that many of these kids end up with permanent jobs at the coop co.</p>
<p>Tulane, where my son is (or will be come January when it re-opens ;) ) has a very strong Alumni Advisory Board for the Engineering School. These folks are active in recruiting applicants to come to Tulane (my S had personal contact from a VP at Hewlett-Packard) and meet on a regular basis with the faculty (every other month, I think) AND students (those who take advantage), in a very one-on-one-conducive environment (lunch/conference) making for very good job placement connections for summer and after graduation. I don't know how many schools have such set-ups.</p>
<p>Another school he considered in Santa Clara U. Its location in Silicon Valley is prime for job prospects. I don't know that it has the formalized Alumni network, but it, too, had alums active in recruiting applicants.</p>
<p>P.S. Welcome to our forum! It is full of knowledgeable people, generous with their knowledge. You may want to obtain your own user name if you plan to frequent the Parent sections, as some folks will be confused by "age 17" on your profile. Most of us parents are a <em>little</em> older than that :D.</p>
<p>You might consider having him retake his SAT's. Although 1370 is a good score, for the schools you are considering it is not going to help his application.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice, son is retaking the SAT 2. Still looking for comments on either Vandy, WashU, or Northwestern computer science programs. Also, since I am new to this neat website, should my son or I ask a question every couple of days? Seems like with so many new posts the original questions can get buried.
thanks!!</p>
<p>You don't need to start a new thread. Just find the thread, if it does get buried, and add a new post with more info or added qx. People even add the simple post "bump", to bump it up to the front page for more notice. So, start a thread only when it's a totally new topic.</p>
<p>Also, I think the poster who recommended re-take of the SAT is referring more to SAT I rather than SAT II. These are the numbers your S will want to get higher than 1370 if he wants to maximize the chances at those reach schools. If, OTOH, he doesn't want to re-take or doesn't up his scores, then the focus should be twofold: (1)crafting the best application he possibly can, showcasing his accomplishments, his ECs, writing good essays, tailoring the app to the particular schools; and (2) making sure to identify schools where his scores and GPA put him in the top of the applicant pool ("sure bet" or safety schools), in the mid-range (50/50 chance) and where he meets the standard of those who get in, but where he doesn't have much room to spare (reach/"lottery" schools).</p>