Help DC decide for CS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How big are the classes at Wisconsin compared to CMU? Class size can play a huge role in experiences. Also, is DC a boy or a girl? If your DC is a girl, how do girls fare at these schools? Are there supports for females in these programs? Are the professors supportive of females in their CS programs? (HUGE concern for females-- not to be under emphasized-- this is a very real problem) Also, what is the atmosphere like for CS students at these schools. Is the culture one where fellow students scoff at their peers for asking questions when they need help? Maybe your DC wouldn't be bothered by that? That is something huge to consider. CS students can be very snotty and judgmental and not collegiate at some big state schools I know of -- actually one in particular.

Which one? Please name, some of us are trying to learn the 'lay of the land' to help advise our underclass kids with interest in CS and all this info is useful, even if some are anecdotal. Helps advise further research. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can swing the nearly $80K a year at CMU, go for it. The recruitment is out of this world. Students routinely get internships after freshman year.

+1 I would do CMU and take out loans. Your kid will easily get a job and be able to pay back the loan if they live frugally for a few years. IMO, CMU CS degree would pay for itself in 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How big are the classes at Wisconsin compared to CMU? Class size can play a huge role in experiences. Also, is DC a boy or a girl? If your DC is a girl, how do girls fare at these schools? Are there supports for females in these programs? Are the professors supportive of females in their CS programs? (HUGE concern for females-- not to be under emphasized-- this is a very real problem) Also, what is the atmosphere like for CS students at these schools. Is the culture one where fellow students scoff at their peers for asking questions when they need help? Maybe your DC wouldn't be bothered by that? That is something huge to consider. CS students can be very snotty and judgmental and not collegiate at some big state schools I know of -- actually one in particular.

Which one? Please name, some of us are trying to learn the 'lay of the land' to help advise our underclass kids with interest in CS and all this info is useful, even if some are anecdotal. Helps advise further research. Thanks!

+1

That is quite a statement. Totally am curious of which school this may be.

Personally UVA CS in the E School in the mid 90s was a great experience. When I think back to those 4 years, I think of those lates nights of grocery runs to grab Mountain Dew and meeting the Papa John’s delivery man in front of Olson Hall. Papa Johns was just starting at that point and no one would deliver that late into the evening. There was a lot of huddling together trying to help debug a program or fixing the rover. We were tight.

[Anonymous]

Scholarships are great, but consider the requirement to maintain a certain GPA.

There’s a lot of pressure especially on freshman to keep their grades up. Of course you want your kid to do well all the time, but sometimes they just don’t.

[Anonymous]

OP,

Congrats having all those outstanding choices.

My DC is also attending CS this fall, at a much more moderate school that fits his current abilities, he knows coding in Java and Python, and has done well in Calculus, but the advanced math and kernel level programming is not him, not yet (read more below).

You need to decide based on your child's ability to cope up with a top program like CMU or GT. Both programs are very tough, especially CMU goes very deep into Math theory and computing theories. Be prepared to do a lot a work in hard topics such as discreet math, combinatorics, compilers, functional programming, so on... none of these are easy topics. Coding at CMU is like a boot camp, students who love programming will like it. At GT, I've heard 10 hours of work is needed during off days to keep up with work load for CS. They have a solid program with the concept of threads as they call it that focuses on different themes in CS.

Obviously, the schools have determined your DC has the ability based on stats, but that is one thing, next thing is being able to do it. Let's just say even if they do it, being at the bottom of CMU graduating class will place them at a disadvantage compared to top of UW-Madison, where they may end up at the top. UM may be a middle ground, and an excellent school with solid engineering rigor.
The programs are absolutely phenomenal, designed to create the best CS graduates, if they can keep up in the top 50% of graduating class. But to do that they need to be highly motivated and hard working, not just highly intelligent. Many high IQ individuals do not want to work so hard or are motivated. Only you and your child can decide.

If your DC is into coding already on the free time, know multiple languages including Java, Python, and C, study low level systems programming including internals of O/S, Assembly language, and is highly interested in advanced math, then CMU or GT is the right place. Otherwise UM or UW is best. Good luck to you and your DC.

P.S: I've been coding for 30 years, and have never broken through kernel level coding or taken discreet math courses, that is the stuff of dreams for a computer scientist. People who can do that create the next programming language or OS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,

Congrats having all those outstanding choices.

My DC is also attending CS this fall, at a much more moderate school that fits his current abilities, he knows coding in Java and Python, and has done well in Calculus, but the advanced math and kernel level programming is not him, not yet (read more below).

You need to decide based on your child's ability to cope up with a top program like CMU or GT. Both programs are very tough, especially CMU goes very deep into Math theory and computing theories. Be prepared to do a lot a work in hard topics such as discreet math, combinatorics, compilers, functional programming, so on... none of these are easy topics. Coding at CMU is like a boot camp, students who love programming will like it. At GT, I've heard 10 hours of work is needed during off days to keep up with work load for CS. They have a solid program with the concept of threads as they call it that focuses on different themes in CS.

Obviously, the schools have determined your DC has the ability based on stats, but that is one thing, next thing is being able to do it. Let's just say even if they do it, being at the bottom of CMU graduating class will place them at a disadvantage compared to top of UW-Madison, where they may end up at the top. UM may be a middle ground, and an excellent school with solid engineering rigor.
The programs are absolutely phenomenal, designed to create the best CS graduates, if they can keep up in the top 50% of graduating class. But to do that they need to be highly motivated and hard working, not just highly intelligent. Many high IQ individuals do not want to work so hard or are motivated. Only you and your child can decide.

If your DC is into coding already on the free time, know multiple languages including Java, Python, and C, study low level systems programming including internals of O/S, Assembly language, and is highly interested in advanced math, then CMU or GT is the right place. Otherwise UM or UW is best. Good luck to you and your DC.

P.S: I've been coding for 30 years, and have never broken through kernel level coding or taken discreet math courses, that is the stuff of dreams for a computer scientist. People who can do that create the next programming language or OS.

Well said. Good luck on the decision making process. Keep us posted here on this thread.

[Anonymous]

I don't know anything about CS, so will let other people comment there. I also don't know about your finances, so will let YOU think about that. But I would wonder 1) is he REALLY sure this is what he wants? 2) Wisconsin is a really good school, at least I think, and 57USD a year is a LOT of money (to ME*), esp if it could be used for something else in his future.
* meaning if it doesn't really dent your finances specifically, may be it doesn't matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anything about CS, so will let other people comment there. I also don't know about your finances, so will let YOU think about that. But I would wonder 1) is he REALLY sure this is what he wants? 2) Wisconsin is a really good school, at least I think, and 57USD a year is a LOT of money (to ME*), esp if it could be used for something else in his future.
* meaning if it doesn't really dent your finances specifically, may be it doesn't matter

Would you say that about Harvard? (It's fine if you would, just asking). Because CMU CS is like Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anything about CS, so will let other people comment there. I also don't know about your finances, so will let YOU think about that. But I would wonder 1) is he REALLY sure this is what he wants? 2) Wisconsin is a really good school, at least I think, and 57USD a year is a LOT of money (to ME*), esp if it could be used for something else in his future.
* meaning if it doesn't really dent your finances specifically, may be it doesn't matter

Would you say that about Harvard? (It's fine if you would, just asking). Because CMU CS is like Harvard.

MIT and CalTech

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anything about CS, so will let other people comment there. I also don't know about your finances, so will let YOU think about that. But I would wonder 1) is he REALLY sure this is what he wants? 2) Wisconsin is a really good school, at least I think, and 57USD a year is a LOT of money (to ME*), esp if it could be used for something else in his future.
* meaning if it doesn't really dent your finances specifically, may be it doesn't matter

Would you say that about Harvard? (It's fine if you would, just asking). Because CMU CS is like Harvard.

Not quite. Even if you are dead set for CS, most will probably pick Stanford or MIT over CMU. Between Berkeley and CMU, it would probably be 50-50. I think CMU CS in the CS world is more like Princeton in the top university world.

[Anonymous]

For CS, Stanford or Harvard? Tough choice? Which would you and why?

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, I didn't mean Harvard was best for CS. I meant CMU for CS has Harvard-level prestige. That seemed pretty clear to me and still does upon re-reading my previous post but if it wasn't clear enough I apologize.

It was intended to be a comparison for someone who clearly didn't know CMU and I presumed might not know MIT or Caltech's significance either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anything about CS, so will let other people comment there. I also don't know about your finances, so will let YOU think about that. But I would wonder 1) is he REALLY sure this is what he wants? 2) Wisconsin is a really good school, at least I think, and 57USD a year is a LOT of money (to ME*), esp if it could be used for something else in his future.
* meaning if it doesn't really dent your finances specifically, may be it doesn't matter

Would you say that about Harvard? (It's fine if you would, just asking). Because CMU CS is like Harvard.

Not quite. Even if you are dead set for CS, most will probably pick Stanford or MIT over CMU. Between Berkeley and CMU, it would probably be 50-50. I think CMU CS in the CS world is more like Princeton in the top university world.

Princeton is still pretty elite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anything about CS, so will let other people comment there. I also don't know about your finances, so will let YOU think about that. But I would wonder 1) is he REALLY sure this is what he wants? 2) Wisconsin is a really good school, at least I think, and 57USD a year is a LOT of money (to ME*), esp if it could be used for something else in his future.
* meaning if it doesn't really dent your finances specifically, may be it doesn't matter

Would you say that about Harvard? (It's fine if you would, just asking). Because CMU CS is like Harvard.

Not quite. Even if you are dead set for CS, most will probably pick Stanford or MIT over CMU. Between Berkeley and CMU, it would probably be 50-50. I think CMU CS in the CS world is more like Princeton in the top university world.

I am not sure if you know what you are talking about. CMU CS is consistently ranked at the top; #1 currently according to USNEWS and other sources, if USNEWS is not your cup of tea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am not sure if you know what you are talking about. CMU CS is consistently ranked at the top; #1 currently according to USNEWS and other sources, if USNEWS is not your cup of tea.

QS #1 MIT, #2 Stanford, #3 CMU
Times #2 Stanford, #3 MIT, #5 CMU
USNWR CMU, MIT, Stanford all joint #1