US news states that UMD is #16 in computer science, is that true?
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Anonymous
| Yes. UMD ranks even higher on csrankings which looks at publications. |
Anonymous
I absolutely believe that Harvard is not the first choice of people interested in CS. MIT, Stanford, Caltech are all more desirable. But are you seriously arguing that ambitious, worldly students apply to MIT and UMD but not other nationally prestigious universities? No. UMD might be a safety for the highest fliers, but they also apply (after MIT and Stanford) to Princeton, Harvard, etc. If the $$ is equal (which, given generous aid at the top privates, it will be except for donut hole families), students choose the high-prestige privates in even if they are ranked lower in their major. |
Anonymous
| OK, UMD is not definitely as good as Stanford, MIT or Princeton etc but UVA is 36 in that list? Really? |
Anonymous
Sergei Brin did. He had free tuition as the child of a UMD employee and went to UMD because of that, clearly it worked out for him. And Brendan Iribe. Don’t be obtuse. |
Anonymous
I think 36 is okay...should maybe be a bit lower but it's a fine school overall and maybe that's why it's ranked higher than it should be |
Anonymous
| My kid is a stem kid and he didnt even consider Harvard (and did apply to MIT, Stanford, Michigan, etc) and UMD. Harvard to him wasn’t even a consideration. |
Anonymous
For faculty kids, going to your parent's place of employment is usually FREE. Plus, you get lots and lots of attention, inside information, and advance notice of resources. The calculus is different. I don't think you can argue that Brin would have been anywhere near the median student anywhere he went. Most undergraduate students select a university, and (primarily) a department or major. People from more prestigious universities have better access to networks. There's a reason Brin did his PhD at Stanford rather than stay at UMD. Harvard undergrad would put a student who hopes to be an entrepreneur in a much better position to raise VC and network with potential clients and partners. For undergraduates the Harvard ecosystem beats our #16 UMD by a mile. More research-focused PhD students and faculty might start putting locational preference/ proximity to NSA research partners etc into the decision. Those don't factory for undergrads (except those with a strong preference to stay home for college). |
Anonymous
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US News uses equity in its CS rankings.
I would use csrankings.org instead. |
Anonymous
And physics. |
Anonymous
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Harvard has graduates working in DOGE, none from UMD.
Whether you agree or not with DOGE, working for SpaceX, Neuralink, X.com, Grok/AI are the most sought after jobs in CS. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Do you have inside info on DOGE employees? Can't speak for DOGE, but UMD graduates work at all of Elon's companies. |
Anonymous
| Yes |
Anonymous
Haha. |
Anonymous
Yea, I know a Harvard grad who told their CS major kid to not apply to Harvard for CS. |