I read a few College Confidential threads that left me tied on whether to go to NYU CAS or Tandon to study CS. Some people said Tandon was better, others CAS. After reading the websites of both the CAS / Tandon comp sci departments, however, I have to say I was underwhelmed by Tandon. CAS has [url = <a href=“https://cs.nyu.edu/dynamic/research/areas/%5Da”>https://cs.nyu.edu/dynamic/research/areas/]a variety of research areas, and a healthy number of staff specializing in each. Meanwhile, the “Research Topics” on [url = <a href=“http://engineering.nyu.edu/academics/departments/computer-science-engineering%5Dthis”>http://engineering.nyu.edu/academics/departments/computer-science-engineering]this page are kinda vague, and some don’t have many staff.
I am interested in theoretical computer science, and I’m also interested in studying math. Is NYU CAS the better place for me?
CAS is ranked higher overall as a school and does have a really strong CS program. However, CAS grants BAs in CS, whereas Tandon grants BSs, and that may make a difference to some employers. Also, in CAS you have to go through the CAS liberal arts core, and the Tandon core is different and more STEM based. Tandon is also in Brooklyn, is newer/less-established, and has a fully different campus. I’m not in CS but I am at CAS and I will say that all my friends in CAS CS have had a great time and have good career opportunities.
If you also want to study math, the CAS math department is also super great, so you could minor in math (you could cross-school minor from Tandon but bc the campuses are so far away it can make your schedule hard) or (possibly) double major.
The biggest difference between the two will likely come down to the core curriculum. If you’re okay with the NYU CAS core, then it will likely be the better option. The department leans a bit more theoretical, but not so much that a practically bent CS student can’t thrive.
I personally can’t name one but include the clause because I can’t verify that not a single employer cares. But effectively, they don’t. The difference between BA and BS is not usually the number of CS courses but the courses outside of CS, which don’t have much effect for 95% of jobs.
Usually, BA’s are not ABET accredited, which is an engineering accreditation that requires a distribution of courses usually in the physical sciences, and a few other small requirements. While very important in engineering, ABET accreditation in CS is not important for most employers (an exception being patent work, which is very rare). If you’re writing a physics simulator, you probably want a physics course, but you can take that with a BA still if you know you’re interested in that. A BA won’t close any doors really. Both CAS and Tandon are not ABET accredited, so in this case, the difference really comes down to the core requirements.
The employer thing is something I’ve just heard be a concern for/complained about by my friends who are studying it in CAS so I assumed it was true, but it’s very likely just college students stressing about their futures as normal and all my CAS CS friends do have very good prospects! Sorry if I led anyone astray, it wasn’t my intention. Thanks @PengsPhils for clearing it up!
@PengsPhils sorry I’m ME major and your post scared the s*it out of me since I just applied. Didn’t know that CS has accreditation too since it’s not called ‘engineering’.
Omg so what’s the point of going to tandon for CS if it’s not abet accredited?? U wanna go to a program that’s ABET accredited. That’s what my academic advisor told me.
@catherinesc88 If you read above, I explained that CS ABET accreditation does not really matter. It’s not used as a standard like it is for engineering. Some of the top CS programs are not ABET accredited, usually not because of a lack of CS requirements but of degree requirements in other areas such as hard sciences, which are not needed for CS like they are for engineering. For engineering, your advisor is right. CS is the awkward intersection of math, engineering, and science, and thus often has classification issues. This is usually best remedied by separating CS into its own college/area along with related fields like data science, information science, cybersecurity, etc as many schools are starting to do.
Sorry to scare, my verbiage could have been a bit more clear to be safe
