opinions for CS - Wisconsin, UIUC, Purdue, Michigan, UNC or perhaps UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan, followed by UIUC, Purdue and Wisconsin.

UIUC is stronger but Michigan has better brand cachet, is better overall and has just as good CS recruitment as UIUC.

Both UNC and UVA have very weak CS departments. They are good options if your son might switch to liberal arts or business though.

I'm not a Tar Heel or UVA booster, although maybe not as strong as the others, I wouldn't call them "weak".

I wouldn't call them "weak", I would call them "very weak" just like PP.

That seems to be a strange opinion to me. Aren't they ranked relatively highly for their CS programs in US News? So VA Tech and RPI and Case Western and others further down the list are "very, very, very weak"?

You’re exaggerating. They’re just very, very weak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats?
My DC from magnet had 4.9 GPA, 1580 SAT, 10+ AP, all 5s. Had something like 62 credits going into college.

CS major, cisgender, white male, zero hooks, - rejected at UIUC, and wait listed at Mich.

CS major is very very competitive even for high stats students. So, unless your DC is a DEI or has some other hook, some of those colleges will be a reach.

Having stated that, I would look at Vtech over UVA. My DC was considering VTech but UVA wasn't even on their radar.

Except that 80% of all students change their major at least once. UVA is by far the better school for that

And honestly the programs are pretty similar in terms of rigor and research opportunities, and the students at UVA will definitely be smarter on average. I do a lot of hiring and there are some really impressive kids coming out of the UVA CS program. I’ve been much less impressed with the VT kids. Wisconsin, UIUC, Michigan are definitely a step up from both though.

BS

Thank you for your well reasoned and cogent rebuttal. Glad you could figure out the quoting on the second try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan, followed by UIUC, Purdue and Wisconsin.

UIUC is stronger but Michigan has better brand cachet, is better overall and has just as good CS recruitment as UIUC.

Both UNC and UVA have very weak CS departments. They are good options if your son might switch to liberal arts or business though.

I'm not a Tar Heel or UVA booster, although maybe not as strong as the others, I wouldn't call them "weak".

They’re top 30ish CS programs. People here just love to bash these schools for some reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a pure rankings basis, for CS departments, UIUC is clearly at the top of the stack (out of the colleges in this post) but department rankings don't always track with undergrad education.

In addition, while UIUC general admission isn't terribly competitive, the CS major is very competitive.

DC would consider UMD, but he doesn't want to go to school <10 miles from home.

UVA has a strong student body but CS there is meh. It's also a party school.

UMD is among the best CS departments in the county.

UUIC may be one of these schools like UVA that makes CS students study engineering. This is mostly unnecessary and just makes undergrad more painful. It's also in the middle of nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are going OOS anyways, pay little more and go to a private.

Why? With the exception of CMU, Caltech, Stanford, MIT the privates are generally not as good for CS, especially if the undergrad wants research opportunities.

I understand the power of the brand name of a T20 private, but CS programs at typical T75 privates aren't as strong.

'

Research opportunities for undergrads at the huge state schools with 30K+ students?
You are better off at LACs if research is an important factor for you.

[Anonymous]

For information about UVa, check objective industry sources like CodeSignal and follow Dean J on Instagram. There's no point in spending any time on DCUM if you're looking to understand this particular school's strengths and weaknesses. Just yesterday there were two anti-UVa troll threads started by a Michigan student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For information about UVa, check objective industry sources like CodeSignal and follow Dean J on Instagram. There's no point in spending any time on DCUM if you're looking to understand this particular school's strengths and weaknesses. Just yesterday there were two anti-UVa troll threads started by a Michigan student.

I thought they were started by UVa students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a pure rankings basis, for CS departments, UIUC is clearly at the top of the stack (out of the colleges in this post) but department rankings don't always track with undergrad education.

In addition, while UIUC general admission isn't terribly competitive, the CS major is very competitive.

DC would consider UMD, but he doesn't want to go to school <10 miles from home.

UVA has a strong student body but CS there is meh. It's also a party school.

UMD is among the best CS departments in the county.

UUIC may be one of these schools like UVA that makes CS students study engineering. This is mostly unnecessary and just makes undergrad more painful. It's also in the middle of nowhere.

+1 other than for financial reasons, choosing UVA over UMD for CS would be a dumb move, especially for UMD in state tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats?
My DC from magnet had 4.9 GPA, 1580 SAT, 10+ AP, all 5s. Had something like 62 credits going into college.

CS major, cisgender, white male, zero hooks, - rejected at UIUC, and wait listed at Mich.

CS major is very very competitive even for high stats students. So, unless your DC is a DEI or has some other hook, some of those colleges will be a reach.

Having stated that, I would look at Vtech over UVA. My DC was considering VTech but UVA wasn't even on their radar.

Except that 80% of all students change their major at least once. UVA is by far the better school for that

And honestly the programs are pretty similar in terms of rigor and research opportunities, and the students at UVA will definitely be smarter on average. I do a lot of hiring and there are some really impressive kids coming out of the UVA CS program. I’ve been much less impressed with the VT kids. Wisconsin, UIUC, Michigan are definitely a step up from both though.

BS

Thank you for your well reasoned and cogent rebuttal. Glad you could figure out the quoting on the second try.

Actually, I embarrassingly misread the entire statement and agree with your original comment. I wish I could have eliminated my remark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For information about UVa, check objective industry sources like CodeSignal and follow Dean J on Instagram. There's no point in spending any time on DCUM if you're looking to understand this particular school's strengths and weaknesses. Just yesterday there were two anti-UVa troll threads started by a Michigan student.

I thought they were started by UVa students.

UVA boosters started it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a pure rankings basis, for CS departments, UIUC is clearly at the top of the stack (out of the colleges in this post) but department rankings don't always track with undergrad education.

In addition, while UIUC general admission isn't terribly competitive, the CS major is very competitive.

DC would consider UMD, but he doesn't want to go to school <10 miles from home.

UVA has a strong student body but CS there is meh. It's also a party school.

UMD is among the best CS departments in the county.

UUIC may be one of these schools like UVA that makes CS students study engineering. This is mostly unnecessary and just makes undergrad more painful. It's also in the middle of nowhere.

+1 other than for financial reasons, choosing UVA over UMD for CS would be a dumb move, especially for UMD in state tuition.

Where does this oft-repeated UMD CS superiority manifest itself in the workplace? UMD is not listed among the top 20 public universities for pay in either software or technology sectors in the WSJ.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-colleges-high-paying-jobs-tech-58b1588c
https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-colleges-high-paying-jobs-software-5ce461f8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a pure rankings basis, for CS departments, UIUC is clearly at the top of the stack (out of the colleges in this post) but department rankings don't always track with undergrad education.

In addition, while UIUC general admission isn't terribly competitive, the CS major is very competitive.

DC would consider UMD, but he doesn't want to go to school <10 miles from home.

UVA has a strong student body but CS there is meh. It's also a party school.

UMD is among the best CS departments in the county.

UUIC may be one of these schools like UVA that makes CS students study engineering. This is mostly unnecessary and just makes undergrad more painful. It's also in the middle of nowhere.

+1 other than for financial reasons, choosing UVA over UMD for CS would be a dumb move, especially for UMD in state tuition.

Where does this oft-repeated UMD CS superiority manifest itself in the workplace? UMD is not listed among the top 20 public universities for pay in either software or technology sectors in the WSJ.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-colleges-high-paying-jobs-tech-58b1588c
https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-colleges-high-paying-jobs-software-5ce461f8

Paywall

https://csrankings.org/

US news (DCUM gold standard😃)

https://www.cs.umd.edu/article/2023/06/umd-computer-science-students-earn-silver-medal-international-collegiate-programming

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a pure rankings basis, for CS departments, UIUC is clearly at the top of the stack (out of the colleges in this post) but department rankings don't always track with undergrad education.

In addition, while UIUC general admission isn't terribly competitive, the CS major is very competitive.

DC would consider UMD, but he doesn't want to go to school <10 miles from home.

UVA has a strong student body but CS there is meh. It's also a party school.

UMD is among the best CS departments in the county.

UUIC may be one of these schools like UVA that makes CS students study engineering. This is mostly unnecessary and just makes undergrad more painful. It's also in the middle of nowhere.

+1 other than for financial reasons, choosing UVA over UMD for CS would be a dumb move, especially for UMD in state tuition.

Where does this oft-repeated UMD CS superiority manifest itself in the workplace? UMD is not listed among the top 20 public universities for pay in either software or technology sectors in the WSJ.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-colleges-high-paying-jobs-tech-58b1588c
https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-colleges-high-paying-jobs-software-5ce461f8

#1:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

#2:
Carnegie Mellon University
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley

#5:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

#6:
California Institute of Technology
Cornell University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Princeton University

#10:
University of Washington

#11:
Harvard University
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of Texas at Austin

#14:
Columbia University
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, San Diego
Yale University

#18:
Johns Hopkins University
Purdue University, West Lafayette
University of Maryland, College Park

[Anonymous]

UIUC has one of the best CS programs in the nation (undergraduate and graduate degrees).

If you plan to study CS seriously, go to UIUC.

If you want to get an everyday CS job, UVA is just fine.

One of my kids is studying CS at UVA, and I can tell that UIUC is comfortably at another level.

UIUC is also way better than Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan, UNC, or Maryland.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a pure rankings basis, for CS departments, UIUC is clearly at the top of the stack (out of the colleges in this post) but department rankings don't always track with undergrad education.

In addition, while UIUC general admission isn't terribly competitive, the CS major is very competitive.

DC would consider UMD, but he doesn't want to go to school <10 miles from home.

UVA has a strong student body but CS there is meh. It's also a party school.

UMD is among the best CS departments in the county.

UUIC may be one of these schools like UVA that makes CS students study engineering. This is mostly unnecessary and just makes undergrad more painful. It's also in the middle of nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats?
My DC from magnet had 4.9 GPA, 1580 SAT, 10+ AP, all 5s. Had something like 62 credits going into college.

CS major, cisgender, white male, zero hooks, - rejected at UIUC, and wait listed at Mich.

CS major is very very competitive even for high stats students. So, unless your DC is a DEI or has some other hook, some of those colleges will be a reach.

Having stated that, I would look at Vtech over UVA. My DC was considering VTech but UVA wasn't even on their radar.

Except that 80% of all students change their major at least once. UVA is by far the better school for that

And honestly the programs are pretty similar in terms of rigor and research opportunities, and the students at UVA will definitely be smarter on average. I do a lot of hiring and there are some really impressive kids coming out of the UVA CS program. I’ve been much less impressed with the VT kids. Wisconsin, UIUC, Michigan are definitely a step up from both though.

BS

Thank you for your well reasoned and cogent rebuttal. Glad you could figure out the quoting on the second try.

Actually, I embarrassingly misread the entire statement and agree with your original comment. I wish I could have eliminated my remark.

Lol. I feel bad for being snarky now.