Hey so I go to Vassar but have applied as a transfer student to Tufts, Wesleyan, McGill, Northwestern and have only heard back from Wesleyan (I got in). But I’m curious to know which CS department is best of the four schools I applied to and Vassar. Can anybody rank them?
Take a look at each school’s catalog and schedule to see what junior/senior level CS courses are offered, and how often they are offered (every semester, once per year, once every two years, …).
For example, Vassar and Wesleyan CS offerings are shown here:
http://computerscience.vassar.edu/courses/
http://www.wesleyan.edu/mathcs/cs/regular_courses.html
At a first glance, it does not seem like a good idea to transfer from Vassar to Wesleyan for CS, since Wesleyan appears to be missing some important junior/senior level CS courses like operating systems and networks that Vassar has.
Well my opinion is biased by my location (Boston) and the fact that my D is going to Tufts for CS this fall, but I think Tufts CS is pretty great. I think it meets @ucbalumnus’ test (broad and frequently offered course selection) and alums do very well in the Boston tech industry. I’ve met a number of them and been impressed every time.
We did look at Vassar, Wesleyan and briefly McGill and in our opinion Tufts was the best of those. It is also somewhat unique in that it has “practical” electives like Web Programming (an Intro and an Advanced course that is more architecture) and a strong Machine Learning sequence. Vassar looks really theoretical and I have heard it is pretty dry. Wesleyan CS is ok but I don’t think it is as widely loved by it’s graduates.
No idea about Northwestern as it was out of D’s location requirements.