Anonymous wrote:He did get into Colby too, but that was totally not the school for him. He got a lot of merit to other schools, but not to Purdue. His heart is set on Purdue and he's enrolled. I just worry about the size.

I used to work at Purdue. It’s definitely big but if he works on engaging with the professors and fellow students, it can be a great experience. Some of the classes are large but there are ways to break them down in smaller chunks and work with other students.

Like any other big state school, leaning in is important. Like other PPs said, there isn’t much handholding. But everything is there if you reach for it.

Anonymous wrote:He did get into Colby too, but that was totally not the school for him. He got a lot of merit to other schools, but not to Purdue. His heart is set on Purdue and he's enrolled. I just worry about the size.

It’s big, but every university has big classes for CS as it has been so popular. Harvard’s CS intro class last fall had 354 kids and a handful of other CS classes had over a hundred. It’s just the nature of the subject.

I know a kid who turned down Brown and Dartmouth for Purdue. Aerospace Engineering

He did get into Colby too, but that was totally not the school for him. He got a lot of merit to other schools, but not to Purdue. His heart is set on Purdue and he's enrolled. I just worry about the size.

Anonymous wrote:Didn't some professor just flunk half the class for cheating using AI? What struck me was how many students were in the class, something like over 400 students. At that size, why bother attending lectures? You might as well just watch a video of the lecture at one's convenience. Purdue is huge with more than 43,000 undergrads.

If a large school isn’t for you, you don’t need to go there.

Anonymous wrote:Didn't some professor just flunk half the class for cheating using AI? What struck me was how many students were in the class, something like over 400 students. At that size, why bother attending lectures? You might as well just watch a video of the lecture at one's convenience. Purdue is huge with more than 43,000 undergrads.

My kid had classes up to maybe 600 during his first year. There are smaller recitations section for these large classes. And I do think that watching a video is probably just as good as these large classes. Purdue and I think other large schools give a student every resource to succeed, but there is absolutely no hand holding and they have not problem failing kids.

Didn't some professor just flunk half the class for cheating using AI? What struck me was how many students were in the class, something like over 400 students. At that size, why bother attending lectures? You might as well just watch a video of the lecture at one's convenience. Purdue is huge with more than 43,000 undergrads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Purdue is a terrific school for CS and unlike engineering at Purdue, CS is a direct admit. The real question is a public school with 50,000 kids on campus the right fit for your kid.

and in the middle of nowhere.

But, the cost can't be beat for oos and a great education.

DC has friends at Purdue, but for eng. The CS majors they know went to UMD or elsewhere.

I'm not sure if an hour from Indy is the middle of nowhere, but there are better college towns. But PP makes a good point, if OOS and not chasing merit, Purdue will be tough to beat for low tuition and living costs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Purdue is a terrific school for CS and unlike engineering at Purdue, CS is a direct admit. The real question is a public school with 50,000 kids on campus the right fit for your kid.

and in the middle of nowhere.

But, the cost can't be beat for oos and a great education.

DC has friends at Purdue, but for eng. The CS majors they know went to UMD or elsewhere.

I spent 4 years there when there were 15,000 fewer students and it wasn't that bad. It's not Georgia Tech, but it's also not Colby. Ann Arbor metro is not that much larger than Lafayette/W. Lafayette

Anonymous wrote:Purdue is a terrific school for CS and unlike engineering at Purdue, CS is a direct admit. The real question is a public school with 50,000 kids on campus the right fit for your kid.

and in the middle of nowhere.

But, the cost can't be beat for oos and a great education.

DC has friends at Purdue, but for eng. The CS majors they know went to UMD or elsewhere.

Purdue is a terrific school for CS and unlike engineering at Purdue, CS is a direct admit. The real question is a public school with 50,000 kids on campus the right fit for your kid.

2026 US News CS Undergrad Rankings
1. MIT
2. CMU
3. Stanford
4. UCB
5. Georgia Tech
5. Princeton
7. Cornell
7. UIUC
9. Cal Tech
9. UT Austin
9. Univ. of Washington
12. Harvard
12. UC San Diego
12. Univ. of Michigan
15. UCLA
16. Columbia
16. JHU
16. Purdue

CSRankings

1. Carnegie Mellon University
2 Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
3 Univ. of California - San Diego
4 Georgia Institute of Technology
5 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
6 Univ. of California - Berkeley
6 University of Washington
8 Univ. of Maryland - College Park
9 Cornell University
10 University of Michigan
11 Northeastern University
12 Stanford University
13 Purdue University

Anonymous wrote:For which major, is it out of state or in state for you.
Those are the criteria.

OP said CS. Why would where the student lives affect your perception of the CS department?

For which major, is it out of state or in state for you.
Those are the criteria.

What is your impression of Purdue for CS?