This is reply to the post suggesting others to ignore my posts about SUNY.
People sometimes conflate what students bring to a university with what the university does for students. The intersection of the two is the climate created by the students of that university. And the climate impacts on a range of student and university factors. But, aside from the student climate, you can usually separate the factors into school factors (the experience the school provides to students and student (what students bring with them to the university) factors.
SUNY schools obviously attract strong NY residents who can attend the school for a price often not matched by other schools. That is a student factor-the strength of the student body- positive attributes that they bring to the school. I have no doubt that bright people graduate from SUNYs because some strong students attend SUNYs
If the question is which school graduates the smartest people, that is a different question than which computer science programs are strongest. When you ask which program is strongest, I assume you mean which program and/or school provides students with the best training, education and experience while they attend the school.
It is my opinion that the SUNY system does not provide students with training, education and experience that is similar to that which is provided by schools that are listed in the OP’s first paragraph.That is because the SUNY system has been strangled by 5 decades of poor, inconsistent and problematic funding. The result is that the campuses lack basic resources-- libraries lack seats and space, the academic buildings (not the student centers or admissions buildings) are dated and poorly equipped, there is a shortage of staff in key positions so students can’t access academic or career advisors without making appointments weeks in advance. This is not an anti-SUNY sentiment. This is the reality. For students who find the social aspects of college the most important factor, these issue may not matter at all. They may be more relevant for those who place a premium on the academic aspects.
Nearly 50 years ago (late 1960’s), the smallest of the current SUNY universities had 4,000 students and 395 teaching (PhD level) faculty members. They projected a maximum of 10,000 students for the future. They advertised a 13:1 Student:(teaching)faculty ratio. The president rejected the idea that the university would ever grow beyond 10K. Enrollment reached 10K in 1978. At that time there were 450 full time teaching faculty members. In the last academic year, enrollment was 16,695 with goals to reach 20K by 2020. There are approximately 665 full time teaching faculty for a student:faculty ratio of 25.10: 1. Academic departments have grown very little and support staff even less so. At the same time, academic buildings, intended to be built decades ago, weren’t. The result is a campus busting at the seams.
That does not mean that graduates from SUNY will be weaker workers or weaker coders compared to those trained in those other schools. But if you ask about the experience, these factors are relevant. And to anticipate…yes this may be true about other schools in other states too.