Where to Apply for CS?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a rising junior in high school (CA), and I’m having trouble deciding which schools to put on my list for CS. I have nearly-perfect stats and national-level, very competitive ECs, so I am shooting for “top” schools. Of course, I know the process is a crapshoot but let’s just assume I’m a pretty competitive applicant. Thankfully, the cost is not a factor. Please help suggest schools that fit well with most of these categories. Thanks!

Here are the things that I value:

Does not have a horrible stress culture and somewhat regular sleepless nights (unlike CMU)

Not an extremely large undergrad population (like <10k undergrads total, unlike Berkeley)

Is in a very safe and not urban neighborhood (unlike USC)

Doesn’t have a very nerdy reputation (like MIT/Caltech)

Well recruited for CS for jobs

Location doesn’t really matter

Preferably no grade deflation, but not critical

Of course, you can’t have everything, but a couple of schools that I think fit well: Harvey Mudd (except for the nerd part lol) and Stanford

What else do you guys suggest?

2

Lehigh?
Rose Hulman?

3

Stevens
WPI
WashU
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Emory
U Rochester

4

Thanks for the suggestions. I do feel like I am very competitive for more selective schools, though (not trying to put-down these schools). I am basically asking if there are any top private CS schools that are in a safe area, where people generally seem happy. Some places just seem inherently happier than others, such as Stanford (with the asterisk of duck syndrome) and I would appreciate suggestions of other schools that fit this well.

5

Note that larger size (of the school and CS major) may be more attractive for recruiters, since they can market to more students per visit.

Location can also matter, in the smaller employers may recruit mostly locally.

Santa Clara University has a prime location for CS recruiting. It is a Jesuit Catholic school.

6

Every student needs match and safety schools, especially for CS. You need a balanced list.

That said, Northwestern and Vanderbilt would be reaches for any applicant.

7

@ucbalumnus I am familiar with SCU (i have done research there) and it does fit all of these categories well; it isn’t necessarily a top school, so it is a safety.

@momofsenior1 I do have safeties and matches in place; thank you for the suggestions. Maybe I should rephrase my question to asking for suggestions for:
a top 30 private CS school that is in a safe area, where people generally seem happy.

8

Purdue would fit your criteria with the exception of size, but if you were accepted to honors college, then it becomes much smaller.

9

Why don’t you go thru the private schools on this list…it’s even sortable by different types of CS. http://csrankings.org/#/index?all

10

You’ve eliminated a whole bunch of schools with your criteria, maybe Duke, but if you think Vanderbilt is second-tier for CS, not sure what you’re going to think about Duke. The other other would be Harvard, if you can get in, that would fit all your criteria.

11

@theloniusmonk Duke sounds intriguing; I will definitely look more into it. Also, just to clarify, I have, by no means, eliminated other types of colleges, as schools that have these specific characteristics are not the only schools that I am planning on applying to. I just wanted to get some opinions from others for schools that may be good fits to spend 4 years at.

@Mwfan1921 Thank you for the pointer.

Getting to know the subjective aspects of schools is a bit harder, so any other perspectives are greatly appreciated!

12

but your application strategy would change if you are planning to apply to MIT, CMU, Berkeley, Michigan, Purdue, Cornell etc in addition to Stanford and Harvey Mudd. You wouldn’t want to add Duke to that list.

13

Go For Princeton BSE . Not easy to get in but appears to one off the hidden treasures. A little theoretical CS department but options are so many ( challenging environment, maths fundamental for CS is great ,campus, job opportunities, internships you name it). you will not regret 4 years of ur life(best)
getting in will be almost at par with Stanford.