What are some good U.S. colleges or universities for computer science / programming?

[Death Slaught]

Does anyone have a college or university in the U.S. that they would suggest going to for computer science/programming?

[tpgames]

MIT is THE place to go. Period. It is an Ivy League school, and is still considered the best.
I don't know what is the best non-Ivy League school.

[Markus]

I hear good things about Stanford - they also have a lot of great CS-related lectures on youtube.

[drhowarddrfine]

Washington University, here in St. Louis, is closer to you and a top 10 rated school. Equally expensive.

It doesn't matter much where you go to school, though. It's always what you know.

[Death Slaught]

MIT is THE place to go. Period. It is an Ivy League school, and is still considered the best.
I don't know what is the best non-Ivy League school.

I would rather not go to MIT. There's just something about that school that I dislike.

I hear good things about Stanford - they also have a lot of great CS-related lectures on youtube.

Stanford would be nice but I really doubt I would be able to get in.

Washington University, here in St. Louis, is closer to you and a top 10 rated school. Equally expensive.

It doesn't matter much where you go to school, though. It's always what you know.

That's definitely an option. The school seems nice from the website; but how's the campus? That's something to think about, but I'm considering double majoring in music education or performance as well.

[tpgames]

I don't blame you for not wanting to go to MIT. A top school may be great, but if the school doesn't 'fit' your style, then it's not worth it.

Actually, where you go does matter. They have done studies on which schools succeed in having more students get jobs. Yale's Law School, had Companies lining up to hire students, trying to get them signed up for employment before they even graduated from school. Hamline University was ranked number 25, nation wide, but didn't rank as well for getting employed like the top Ivy League schools, like Harvard and Yale did. MIT is just the best known school for anything IT, and is considered on top of its game. However, most people don't get in, as the competition is extremely tough.

Grades also matter of course, as most companies want the top graduates in any school, regardless of their rankings. Some companies only want you if you graduated in the top 10% of your class.

Best Wishes!

[drhowarddrfine]

I don't know how to answer your question about the campus. It's in the city, across the street from Forest Park, the largest city park in the country (larger than Central Park in NY). Also next door is the Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center and Zoo. It's a few block away from "The Loop" where all the college folk hang out (along with Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill every week).

Apartments and dorms are all within walking distance. Downtown is just a few miles away.

Wash U. has an excellent reputation. After all, I went there. No one is ever wrong going to school there.

@tpgames - Grades sometimes help with your first job. After that, no one asks, no one cares. Most companies don't get a crack at the top graduates and most graduates aren't in that 10%. And the only time they care what school you went to is because it's an MIT or the interviewer went to the same school. Some of my co-workers used my ex-boss's MIT background as a reason to disparage him in the heat of anger (to put it politely).

[Death Slaught]

I don't blame you for not wanting to go to MIT. A top school may be great, but if the school doesn't 'fit' your style, then it's not worth it.

Actually, where you go does matter. They have done studies on which schools succeed in having more students get jobs. Yale's Law School, had Companies lining up to hire students, trying to get them signed up for employment before they even graduated from school. Hamline University was ranked number 25, nation wide, but didn't rank as well for getting employed like the top Ivy League schools, like Harvard and Yale did. MIT is just the best known school for anything IT, and is considered on top of its game. However, most people don't get in, as the competition is extremely tough.

Grades also matter of course, as most companies want the top graduates in any school, regardless of their rankings. Some companies only want you if you graduated in the top 10% of your class.

Best Wishes!

I believe all of that is purely circumstantial. A lot people that I've seen coming out of college for this industry get hired, but their work is sloppy at best. They don't keep the job and they've ruined their portfolio.

I don't know how to answer your question about the campus. It's in the city, across the street from Forest Park, the largest city park in the country (larger than Central Park in NY). Also next door is the Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center and Zoo. It's a few block away from "The Loop" where all the college folk hang out (along with Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill every week).

Apartments and dorms are all within walking distance. Downtown is just a few miles away.

Wash U. has an excellent reputation. After all, I went there. No one is ever wrong going to school there.

@tpgames - Grades sometimes help with your first job. After that, no one asks, no one cares. Most companies don't get a crack at the top graduates and most graduates aren't in that 10%. And the only time they care what school you went to is because it's an MIT or the interviewer went to the same school. Some of my co-workers used my ex-boss's MIT background as a reason to disparage him in the heat of anger (to put it politely).

That answers my question. What did you go for? I'm having a little trouble decided what I specifically want. I don't think I want to limit myself to just web programming, but I'm not entirely sure if I wouldn't enjoy software/application programming too.


Thanks, Death

[drhowarddrfine]

I went for Electronic Engineering.

[GaryTexmo]

A fellow Engineer :) Software Engineer here, though my school wasn't highly rated (most Western Canada Universities aren't, sadly).

Just to weigh in on the grades thing... I noticed it was a big deal when I was on internship, employers really wanted to see your transcripts. After graduation, nobody seemed to care. None of the jobs I applied for were asking for grades in any way. I've applied for a few jobs recently, 4 years after graduation, and it's the same. As mentioned above, it may factor in with other fields, but IT I don't think it's as big a deal.

I've also noticed that while some people can get very good grades, they're not so good at the critical thinking required to perform as well in the work place. I found it rather frustrating that my grades in University were based on regurgitating memorized material (something I'm not so good at) instead of problem solving and creativity (something I'm a lot better at).

[drhowarddrfine]

I found it rather frustrating that my grades in University were based on regurgitating memorized material (something I'm not so good at) instead of problem solving and creativity (something I'm a lot better at).

Which would have made it a lot more interesting, fun and educational.

[Frinavale]

@GaryTexmo: Did you go to U of C?
I attended the U of A for a while for music but moved to Ontario and continued my education in computers.

Since I had no job experience I used my final projects as a portfolio when I went for a job interview. I gladly supplied my transcripts even though the employers didn't require them because I have nothing but good grades to show.

I'm working towards my honors bachelor of science (in computer science) right now. I'm considering doing a masters...I have a couple of topics in mind that I would love to dive into.

[GaryTexmo]

Yea I did. It was originally University of Calgary Engineering, but in my 4th year it got a huge donation from some guy so they renamed it the Schulich School of Engineering. I'm still not sure how I feel about that :P

Do you still live in Ontario? And yea, I reference experience from my final project still. A lot of those final projects were tough and valuable experience was gained from them. I recently switched to a functional style so the connection is a little lost, but topics are still there :)

Best of luck if you do go for a masters! I considered it... if I do it would be in game design, I have a friend who did it and it seemed like a good experience... but I'm still in the "educatione d out" mode, recovering from my studies. The idea of being a full-time student again is still pretty unappealing.

[Frinavale]

Yup I'm still in Ontario :)

I was interested in game design for a while but changed my mind pretty early in school. I like creating business applications that help people with their daily lives.

-Frinny

[Death Slaught]

I went for Electronic Engineering.

How did you end up in web design?

Everyone

Thanks for all of the input! Picking a college is a bit stressful and I live in an extremely rural area, so I don't hear about a things outside my area very often.