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The top schools for computer science are: MIT, Stanford, U.C. Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon. In the programming world, these schools both have the biggest "names

by throwaway19935 12y ago

The top schools for computer science are: MIT, Stanford, U.C. Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon. In the programming world, these schools both have the biggest "names" and provide their students with a top-notch education. (But Berkeley is pretty big, so you might get a slightly better education elsewhere.) Several state schools also have fantastic computer science programs. These are: University of Washington, UT Austin, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Georgia Tech. Glancing at the U.S. News CS rankings, it looks like Wisconsin, UCLA, Michigan, UCSD, and Maryland are also up there. Some of the Ivy League schools also have very good computer science departments: Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Cornell. Don't go to Yale for CS. Not sure about Dartmouth. Caltech is also obviously really good. If you want to do programming post-graduation, you'd be fine going to any of the schools I listed above. Google, Facebook, etc. recruit from all of them, and I'm sure they'd look good on a resume for a startup. If you go to a school not listed above, you'd probably have a little bit more difficulty getting an interview (though this would get to be less of a problem with time, after you have actual work experience). If you want to go to graduate school for computer science, make sure you go somewhere where there are lots of good researchers so that you can get involved with research as an undergrad (any of the schools above would do). Here's where it gets tricky. All of the schools I listed above have prestige in the CS world. However, in the general business world (i.e. not tech companies), and in finance, it's Ivy League schools that have prestige. So, if you want to go into traditional finance or management consulting, you'd be better off going to Yale than Carnegie Mellon. This is what people are talking about when they say that the "name" matters. TLDR; if you're sure you want to do programming, go to a top CS school (public or private). If you think you might want to do finance or consulting instead, go to an Ivy. (Source: I'm a CS student at Princeton.)

throwaway19935 12y ago
Another thing to think about: At MIT or CMU, almost all of your friends would also be STEM majors. At an Ivy or Stanford, your social circle would include people with a broader range of personalities. Also: admissions at Ivies and Stanford work very differently from admissions at MIT, CMU, and Berkeley. The latter set of schools are more meritocratic -- you get in if you have high grades, high test scores, etc. (Although it takes a lot more than high grades and test scores to get into MIT.) The Ivies care a lot about extracurriculars, athletics, and essays. So, if you're, like, a world champion debater, that would go far at Harvard, but not so much at MIT.
- eghad 12y ago
  In terms of CMU, I'd say your first point is short-sighted. Because of the relatively large Design/Art, Architecture, and Business programs, the generic freshman orientation/prereqs, a surprisingly inclusive Greek presence, and the small social scene there's plenty of opportunity for mixing with different people. In fact, I'd go so far in saying that meeting people outside of your typified social circle isn't institution dependent, rather an individual preference (so I wouldn't be surprised if your generalization isn't applicable to MIT either).

throwaway19935 12y ago

Another thing to think about: At MIT or CMU, almost all of your friends would also be STEM majors. At an Ivy or Stanford, your social circle would include people with a broader range of personalities. Also: admissions at Ivies and Stanford work very differently from admissions at MIT, CMU, and Berkeley. The latter set of schools are more meritocratic -- you get in if you have high grades, high test scores, etc. (Although it takes a lot more than high grades and test scores to get into MIT.) The Ivies care a lot about extracurriculars, athletics, and essays. So, if you're, like, a world champion debater, that would go far at Harvard, but not so much at MIT.

eghad 12y ago
In terms of CMU, I'd say your first point is short-sighted. Because of the relatively large Design/Art, Architecture, and Business programs, the generic freshman orientation/prereqs, a surprisingly inclusive Greek presence, and the small social scene there's plenty of opportunity for mixing with different people. In fact, I'd go so far in saying that meeting people outside of your typified social circle isn't institution dependent, rather an individual preference (so I wouldn't be surprised if your generalization isn't applicable to MIT either).