Need help finding a CS college for my son

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gerryr

gerryr

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Our son is a junior in HS this year and is course starting to look at colleges. He's extemely bright and has been in advanced classes since 7th grage. In 8th grade he got bored with math and enrolled in an on-line college alegebra course through Montana State University. He had the highest grade in the class. He wants to major in computer science and is currently taking a college sophomore level CS class at a local college. So, for the computer geeks out there, what colleges do you recommend for CS, aside from Stanford and MIT? He eventually wants to get a masters and Stanford and MIT are probably better bets for that.

Also, he says he's heard of people who help you find a college that's a good fit for you academically and personally. Aside from his HS counselor, I have no idea who these people might be, nor does he. I can't even figure out how to do a search on-line since I don't know what to search for. Any ideas about that?
 
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Gerry

I attended Drexel University here in Philadelphia. They have a very good computer science program. Unforgently I am no longer in that field. I was in it for 20 years until it went overseas. My speciality was manufacturing and distribution. I did a lot of RF/ handheld programming. Also Client Server programing. Now when I look at the help wanted section of the paper what use to be 10 pages of MIS/IT Jobs is now down to 1/2 - 1 page.

Good luck to your son and you most be very proud of him.
 
You have lots and lots of choices.

Go to Google and search on these key words: "choosing a college"
One suggestion:
http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/articles/find/specifics.asp

Lots of good schools.
One suggestion:
http://www.cs.gmu.edu/
 
Has your son talk to the counselor about college fairs in the area (wife is a teacher)? The counselor should also be able to help in this search. I will warn you now there are alot of sites on the internet that claim to be able to do all of those things and many are just looking for your money. There should be more than enough nonprofit places to assist with this. Just because someone is wanting money to help doesn't mean they know what they are doing. You might also log onto your state department of education and check through their links for info. They should be able to assist you also or point you in the right direction.
 
Carnegie Mellon.

However, I happen to be one of those people who believe that it is less about the college and more about the student.

jeff
 
Gerry,
I have a similar situation. My 16 year old son has perfect grades, top of his class (takes after his mother). Science and math excite him most of all, he could get enthused about computer science; he won a national competition in some obscure CS application last year. He often talks about ministry as well.
He took PSAT in advance last year, that got his score reported to colleges, over 200 schools have sent literature so far. He seems to have developed a orientation for expensive private schools, big scholarships are going to be needed.
I've been trying to convince him that undergrad is for teaching him how to think. Grad school and beyond is to teach him what to think and how to do things. That doesn't sink in very well, he wants to start learning something that will define him for his lifetime. In his own head he thinks he is going to become a medical minister in some distant and dangerous land.
We've made a few school visits so far; Notre Dame, Rose-Hulman, Washington University-St. Louis (my school). He has been to summer programs at Purdue and Vanderbilt. I want to get him to a good little liberal arts school to look around. Up to now I've been most interested in letting him see the differances in the types of schools.
I plan to keep doing a lot of internet work to help him pick a school, the scholarships available are going to make a big difference to me, I think there are many, many good schools.
One thing for sure, the countdown is underway. In a little less than 700 days, less than 100 weekends from now he will be emptying a important part of the nest. Until then the top priority will be to keep him focused, safe, and having some fun. Sixteen is just way too young to be making final lifetime defining decisions.

Another Gerry
 
With top grades he will soon be flooded with contacts from colleges that meet his needs. All will claim to be the best for him. But do your own searches and ask, as you did here, others for ideas. Or, even contact a big software company (Microsoft) human resources director and ask where their better performing employees went to school.
 
My daughter just applied to MIT... $40,000+ a year tuition, not including books or room and board.

The best advice we received about colleges that would be the best fit was from her AP teachers.
 
Call a couple of the places he might like to be employed. Talk to the Human Resource people to find out what Universities THEY consider "top notch" for the job he might eventually seek.

You might get a local "sleeper" that doesn't cost every appendage you have!!!!!
 
Originally posted by jeffj13
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However, I happen to be one of those people who believe that it is less about the college and more about the student.

jeff
Click to expand...

I really agree with this. I'm a software developer, and at least my personal experience has been that after the first job or two, most of the interest from interviewers/HR in where I went to school (Virginia Tech '89) has been from alumni and/or fans. And I've been part of the hiring process where I work now and for recent grads we look more at what you did in school than where you went. It isn't completely ignored, for sure. But as long as it's an accredited school with a good reputation we're generally not too concerned. At least when I'm looking at a recent grad resume what catches my eye are "extra" projects they worked on. Like when you see these teams in robotics competitions, non-trivial independent studies, etc. Personally I'm not too concerned about work experience (esp non-major related) for new grads. I'd rather see someone on the school robotics team than delivering pizzas. Co-ops and internships in the field of study are a big plus though. My biggest regret from college is that I DIDN'T seek out and take advantage of those kinds of opportunities more.

When I decided on a school, I had figured for years I would go to UVA for CS. But when I told my dad (a UVA post-grad) I was more interested in hardware design he said I would probably be better off at VT in engineering. I said oh, ok. Sent my only college application to VT for early decision and was accepted and done with it while most of my friends were still going crazy applying here and there and biting their nails. [:D]
 
My experience is perhaps a bit out of date (I left college almost 30 years ago), but I did my undergraduate at Indiana University and grad school at UC Berkeley. At the time, IU had a fairly small CS Program and Berkeley was already recognized as one of the best (and largest) in the country.

I'm glad I did things in that order. From what I could see, it would be easy to get lost in a large, well known undergraduate program like Berkeley, but I got a lot of one-on-one time with the professors at Indiana. By the time you get to grad school, however, the resources of a bigger department are valuable and there is plenty of opportunity to interact with faculty.

One thing to consider for your son, aside from the specifics of the department, is how big of a school will he be comfortable at. Both Indiana and Berkeley, like most large state schools I believe, were 30,000+ students. While this can mean a broader cross section for almost any kind of activity, some folks feel uncomfortable in that large an institution.

Good luck.

-Barry
 
Having been in the CS field for over 20+ years, one of the things that most students would benefit from are the smaller classes at smaller schools. One of the benefits is the ratio and access to needed resources. Another thing that I remember is that a lot of students are going away for the first time and schools that are within a 2 hour drive tends to work real well as they will be able to come home on a weekend (mainly for laundry and home cooked food). I also have the opinion that one should not concentrate in just one area of CS. I know several developers that did and got burned out after a few years with nothing else in the field to fall back on. I've basically become a jack-of-all-trades and master of some in CS. I programmed in 8 languages, did SA work, NetAdmin work, HW/SW installations, and now I'm dealing more with Project Management (so far the most demanding of my time). So, it's something that he needs to think about. BTW, I never finished my BS (about 30 credits away, but my LOML's degree is taking precendence). I have 2 Associates. One in CS-Business and one in Computer Information systems.

Kol Tov,
 
Gerry,
My daughter did her college in CS and Computer Engineering at Berkeley.. don't know about the costs.. she did it all on her own. When I moved from Calif. back to Texas, she stayed in CA with her biological father and got scholarships and grants.
 
It's in a small town. It's a Baptist school. It's a small school. But, it also has a top award winning cs department. Just for fun check out www.sbuniv.edu and see what it has to offer. Also is one of the best mission oriented schools in Baptist circles. Give it a look.
 
Georgia Tech has some very good programs, very cutting edge stuff. Compared to a few colleges mentioned here, the cost should be cheaper as well.
 
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