Well MD CS may not be as prestigious as you think based on Niche and before you shoot the messenger please read their methodology page. For the record I think both are great options. |
At my Amazon AWS SWE division, there are people who graduated from UVA and UMD, and they are very capable people. Interestingly, our boss graduated from GMU and his boss graduated from JMU. Based on this, I assume that GMU and JMU are better than UVA and UMD, no? |
Just about every Big Ten school is better at STEM than Uva. |
![]() |
How does UMD CS OOS vs Virginia Tech CS in-state compare? IS it similar to that of UMD vs UVA? |
UMD with $40k year scholarship for 4 years or Vtech/uva no aid ?
We are Virginia residents |
40k for 4 years not every year ![]() |
UVA instate tuition is crazy lol |
|
Any of GMU, UMCP, UMBC, UVa, or VT will be fine if a BS in CS. My workplace no longer hires BA CS from any college based on negative experience with such new grads in the recent past.
Also, for CS particularly, the student’s choices for upper-level in-major electives will have much more impact on DC’s job/career options than the college attended. Web programmers are in surplus. CS grads with knowledge of OS/network internals are in shortage. ARM assembly will have longer term value than x86. Take at least one cybersecurity course. Learn C programming and get comfortable using UNIX (Linux is ok). My guess is that AI will be in surplus soon if it is not yet in surplus. Pick the college with best overall fit for DC. |
UVA is a great school with a pretty good CS program and UMD is a pretty good school with a great CS program. They are not very similar schools; they should go wherever they will enjoy their experience more and get the most out of it. The difference in the degrees they’ll get shouldn’t be the deciding factor in this case. That said, if they’re not set on CS UVA might give better alternative options. |
For in state, I'd go with VTech. FWIW, my magnet kid who is a dual math/cs major at UMD with merit (in state) thought about Vtech but not UVA. |
maybe it will take time for that redesign to reflect in the standings, but UVA CS is not as highly regarded as UMD CS, both nationally and internationally. |
My CS kid at UMD applied to UVA (WL) and WM (accepted) but had no interest in Tech. Funny. |
Your kid’s not getting into UVA. UMD will be fine. |