This is the year to get into CS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Practically all CS departments (public, private) have been seeing a decline in CS applications that started in 2024. Numbers from EA interest for the Fall 2026 cohort indicate a further drop.

This seems to be the year to get into CS programs.

Hold on. Depends on the school. CMU, MIT, CalTech, etc. are still receiving record numbers of applications for CS. It is still the TOUGHEST admit.

What you say is still true, but there’s a more important part of the reality that you are omitting. Our DC graduated from CMU 2 years ago (non-CS degree) and none of his friends (who did graduate w/ CS degrees) have jobs - they’re now looking at grad school as all those lovely entry level jobs have all but disappeared and been replaced with AI.

They have also been replaced by recent international students who can stay and work in the US for 3 years under the OPT program (different than H-1B). There is an unlimited amount of international student eligible for the program AND employers do NOT have to pay FICA taxes for these workers so they save almost 8% by hiring international students.

The number of individuals participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program in the U.S. during calendar year 2024 was approximately 418,781.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Practically all CS departments (public, private) have been seeing a decline in CS applications that started in 2024. Numbers from EA interest for the Fall 2026 cohort indicate a further drop.

This seems to be the year to get into CS programs.

Hold on. Depends on the school. CMU, MIT, CalTech, etc. are still receiving record numbers of applications for CS. It is still the TOUGHEST admit.

What you say is still true, but there’s a more important part of the reality that you are omitting. Our DC graduated from CMU 2 years ago (non-CS degree) and none of his friends (who did graduate w/ CS degrees) have jobs - they’re now looking at grad school as all those lovely entry level jobs have all but disappeared and been replaced with AI.

They have also been replaced by recent international students who can stay and work in the US for 3 years under the OPT program (different than H-1B). There is an unlimited amount of international student eligible for the program AND employers do NOT have to pay FICA taxes for these workers so they save almost 8% by hiring international students.

The number of individuals participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program in the U.S. during calendar year 2024 was approximately 418,781.

The maximum duration of OPT is 12 months, not 3 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Practically all CS departments (public, private) have been seeing a decline in CS applications that started in 2024. Numbers from EA interest for the Fall 2026 cohort indicate a further drop.

This seems to be the year to get into CS programs.

Hold on. Depends on the school. CMU, MIT, CalTech, etc. are still receiving record numbers of applications for CS. It is still the TOUGHEST admit.

What you say is still true, but there’s a more important part of the reality that you are omitting. Our DC graduated from CMU 2 years ago (non-CS degree) and none of his friends (who did graduate w/ CS degrees) have jobs - they’re now looking at grad school as all those lovely entry level jobs have all but disappeared and been replaced with AI.

They have also been replaced by recent international students who can stay and work in the US for 3 years under the OPT program (different than H-1B). There is an unlimited amount of international student eligible for the program AND employers do NOT have to pay FICA taxes for these workers so they save almost 8% by hiring international students.

The number of individuals participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program in the U.S. during calendar year 2024 was approximately 418,781.

The maximum duration of OPT is 12 months, not 3 years.

CS is stem so it's additional 24 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Practically all CS departments (public, private) have been seeing a decline in CS applications that started in 2024. Numbers from EA interest for the Fall 2026 cohort indicate a further drop.

This seems to be the year to get into CS programs.

Hold on. Depends on the school. CMU, MIT, CalTech, etc. are still receiving record numbers of applications for CS. It is still the TOUGHEST admit.

lol. CMU please who wants to go to a school that you sit around and game in your free time for social and Cal Tech is ranked #9 in Computer Science. Left off schools that rank higher and get far more apps and have much more going on in the college vibe scene.

[Anonymous]

Many flagships have good cs programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The CS jobs have dried up and it is being replaced by AI.

CS jobs can mean anything but for the super technical jobs, they haven't.

[Anonymous]

If a parent lets their child CS at this point Child Protective Services should get involved. It’s a dead end occupation.

[Anonymous]

I did not know ...my kid graduated last year and us out earning me in big tech. He knows it might not last but right now he is doing really interesting work and saving $$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Practically all CS departments (public, private) have been seeing a decline in CS applications that started in 2024. Numbers from EA interest for the Fall 2026 cohort indicate a further drop.

This seems to be the year to get into CS programs.

Hold on. Depends on the school. CMU, MIT, CalTech, etc. are still receiving record numbers of applications for CS. It is still the TOUGHEST admit.

What you say is still true, but there’s a more important part of the reality that you are omitting. Our DC graduated from CMU 2 years ago (non-CS degree) and none of his friends (who did graduate w/ CS degrees) have jobs - they’re now looking at grad school as all those lovely entry level jobs have all but disappeared and been replaced with AI.

They have also been replaced by recent international students who can stay and work in the US for 3 years under the OPT program (different than H-1B). There is an unlimited amount of international student eligible for the program AND employers do NOT have to pay FICA taxes for these workers so they save almost 8% by hiring international students.

The number of individuals participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program in the U.S. during calendar year 2024 was approximately 418,781.

The maximum duration of OPT is 12 months, not 3 years.

CS is stem so it's additional 24 months.

There were not 418,781 students on STEM OPTs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a parent lets their child CS at this point Child Protective Services should get involved. It’s a dead end occupation.

Now imagine if parents let their kids major in something actually stupid like philosphy, english, history, gender studies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:cite your source?

link is in the original post - a little hard to see but it's there.

i think they need to show other majors to show if it's only computer science

OP. Interestingly, applications across engineering are flat, so there seems to be some flow from CS towards other engineering disciplines.

Yes indeed.

[Anonymous]

There are lots of entry-level jobs for CS grads who took the more rigorous upper level CS electives, such as Compilers, real-time / embedded systems, and ARM assembly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Practically all CS departments (public, private) have been seeing a decline in CS applications that started in 2024. Numbers from EA interest for the Fall 2026 cohort indicate a further drop.

This seems to be the year to get into CS programs.

For the suckers who are slow to adapt to the changing winds, absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a parent lets their child CS at this point Child Protective Services should get involved. It’s a dead end occupation.

Now imagine if parents let their kids major in something actually stupid like philosphy, english, history, gender studies.

🤣

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did not know ...my kid graduated last year and us out earning me in big tech. He knows it might not last but right now he is doing really interesting work and saving $$.

Yep. My kid is at a Top Engineering School and has friends at his school doing very very well in CS. I'm guessing it's just parents posting this junk that want to feel good about their kid majoring in marketing, biology, neuroscience or journalism or something. Good luck with that.