3 ms·

Odds are 1 in 5 for undergraduate CSE applicants at the University of Washington

8 points by jennya 15y ago

Maven911 15y ago
Anyone from uni of wash or who applied can corroborate this story ? Is it considered a top regional school or is it just the lack of seats/professors
- drewrv 15y ago
  Not regional, CS at the university of washington is one of the top in the country. http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-gradu...
- jennya 15y ago
  I'm a senior in the department, and its definitely highly ranked. Hard to say for the undergrad portion, but the PhD program is top ten, currently sitting at around #5 for the nation. After TA-ing for the intro courses for many quarters I've seen first hand tons of qualified students turned away -- student I know would do well in the major. The problem is definitely budget cuts. The department currently can't let in more students while maintaining a high quality program.
dsolomon 15y ago
UW alum here. Back in the day 1987-1991 (started when I was 16) it was still challenging to get in - but not this retentive.
angdis 15y ago
The same stuff happened at electrical/computer engineering departments in the late 80's. It is not a tragedy. It just means that lots of kids and/or their parents have gotten the meme that computer science is "hot". The universities are justified in not attempting to satisfy these fluctuations on short time scales.
tryitnow 15y ago
"The issue is money. Which nobody is proposing more of for our state universities." A few things. First of all, I'd say a pretty good proportion of the best programmers I know were self taught (i.e. didn't go to college or else majored in something completley unrelated to CS, e.g. French lit). Second, there are growing opportunities to learn code online. I don't even need to mention any of them to this crowd. Third, most of the CS majors I talk to say that CS curricula are out of date and almost always have been (at least with respect to what employers are looking for, in terms of theory it's less true). Fourth, as the author makes clear other universities are sweeping in to fill the gap left by UW. So, is this really a problem? I guess it's a problem for UW because they don't have the sense to move resources from weaker programs to CS. But then again, is that what's really going on? It could be that UW is simply wishing to enhance it's program by being more selective (and the UW people in the article might disagree with that). or it could be that UW's administrators are just morons, that wouldn't be the only case of stupid mismanagement in American universities. I just don't see what the big deal is. With today's opportunities nobody is being denied the opportunity to learn coding. Of course, maybe people really, really want to learn actual academic CS instead of just getting employable skills. I seriously doubt that though.
- seiji 15y ago
  It's been a while since I've debunked the bunk of an education post. I hope I'm not too rusty. (The formatting is horrible and I apologize. I can't decide between italics for quoting the parent or fixed width indents. Right now the fixed width indents are the parent being quoted.) First of all, I'd say a pretty good proportion of the best programmers I know were self taught I've noticed people tend to self-select talent. People who go to MIT think MIT churns out the best programmers in the world. People who went to community college think community colleges turn out the best programmers in the world. I'm curious now -- did you go to university? there are growing opportunities to learn code online. Hm. I thought we were talking about universities and cs, not programming. CS curricula are out of date and almost always have been Out of date depends on your mindset and the circumstances. Are they teaching using pascal and visual delphi in 2012? Yes, that's behind the times. Are they teaching you scheme, smalltalk, and C instead of Python, Objective-C, or Ruby? That's not behind the times, it's historical immersion. You have to know where you come from to know where you are going. with respect to what employers are looking for bzzt You just lost the "why go to college" argument. Thanks for playing. nobody is being denied the opportunity to learn coding. Imagine I recalled that old quote about astronomy and telescopes here. really want to learn actual academic CS instead of just getting employable skills. I seriously doubt that though. Ah ha! Now we are back to my first question -- did you go to university?

8 points by jennya 15y ago

Anyone from uni of wash or who applied can corroborate this story ? Is it considered a top regional school or is it just the lack of seats/professors

drewrv 15y ago
Not regional, CS at the university of washington is one of the top in the country. http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-gradu...
jennya 15y ago
I'm a senior in the department, and its definitely highly ranked. Hard to say for the undergrad portion, but the PhD program is top ten, currently sitting at around #5 for the nation. After TA-ing for the intro courses for many quarters I've seen first hand tons of qualified students turned away -- student I know would do well in the major. The problem is definitely budget cuts. The department currently can't let in more students while maintaining a high quality program.

dsolomon 15y ago

UW alum here. Back in the day 1987-1991 (started when I was 16) it was still challenging to get in - but not this retentive.

angdis 15y ago

The same stuff happened at electrical/computer engineering departments in the late 80's. It is not a tragedy. It just means that lots of kids and/or their parents have gotten the meme that computer science is "hot". The universities are justified in not attempting to satisfy these fluctuations on short time scales.

tryitnow 15y ago

"The issue is money. Which nobody is proposing more of for our state universities." A few things. First of all, I'd say a pretty good proportion of the best programmers I know were self taught (i.e. didn't go to college or else majored in something completley unrelated to CS, e.g. French lit). Second, there are growing opportunities to learn code online. I don't even need to mention any of them to this crowd. Third, most of the CS majors I talk to say that CS curricula are out of date and almost always have been (at least with respect to what employers are looking for, in terms of theory it's less true). Fourth, as the author makes clear other universities are sweeping in to fill the gap left by UW. So, is this really a problem? I guess it's a problem for UW because they don't have the sense to move resources from weaker programs to CS. But then again, is that what's really going on? It could be that UW is simply wishing to enhance it's program by being more selective (and the UW people in the article might disagree with that). or it could be that UW's administrators are just morons, that wouldn't be the only case of stupid mismanagement in American universities. I just don't see what the big deal is. With today's opportunities nobody is being denied the opportunity to learn coding. Of course, maybe people really, really want to learn actual academic CS instead of just getting employable skills. I seriously doubt that though.

seiji 15y ago
It's been a while since I've debunked the bunk of an education post. I hope I'm not too rusty. (The formatting is horrible and I apologize. I can't decide between italics for quoting the parent or fixed width indents. Right now the fixed width indents are the parent being quoted.) First of all, I'd say a pretty good proportion of the best programmers I know were self taught I've noticed people tend to self-select talent. People who go to MIT think MIT churns out the best programmers in the world. People who went to community college think community colleges turn out the best programmers in the world. I'm curious now -- did you go to university? there are growing opportunities to learn code online. Hm. I thought we were talking about universities and cs, not programming. CS curricula are out of date and almost always have been Out of date depends on your mindset and the circumstances. Are they teaching using pascal and visual delphi in 2012? Yes, that's behind the times. Are they teaching you scheme, smalltalk, and C instead of Python, Objective-C, or Ruby? That's not behind the times, it's historical immersion. You have to know where you come from to know where you are going. with respect to what employers are looking for bzzt You just lost the "why go to college" argument. Thanks for playing. nobody is being denied the opportunity to learn coding. Imagine I recalled that old quote about astronomy and telescopes here. really want to learn actual academic CS instead of just getting employable skills. I seriously doubt that though. Ah ha! Now we are back to my first question -- did you go to university?