Anonymous
Post 03/20/2025 10:31     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hiring manager here. We would view CS grads from either as being equal. Both programs are large enough to have a good range of upper level electives, so that also does not differentiate. For job outcomes it really is about the same.

*around here*.

But nationally and globally, UMD > VT.

By research, which is important for prestige and global recognition. It changes based on publication, but UMD is always somewhere on there. VT is not.

https://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/2014/toyear/2024/index?all&us

Global ranksings

Rank #74
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-subject-rankings/computer-science-information-systems?search=maryland


Rank 149
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-subject-rankings/computer-science-information-systems?search=virginia

(But at least it's higher than UVA at 200+)


UMD #56
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2025/subject-ranking/computer-science#!/length/25/name/maryland/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/scores

VT 100 to 125
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2025/subject-ranking/computer-science#!/length/25/name/virginia/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/scores

(But again, it beats UVA)


I am a hiring manager for a F500 tech company. UMD, Vtech, UVA, Upitt, and even UMBC and GMU are the same consideration, solid state school CS programs. The only stand out is if it's an Ivy League but that only gets you so far as the coding test, experience and interviews will be more important.




Interesting, I'd figure UMD would/should stand out from those other schools.

Whatever extra OOS $$ is involved, it'd be worth it, IMO. A UMD degree (let alone one in CS) is opening more and more doors.



OMG. At this point, you’ve got to be trolling.
Anonymous
Post 03/20/2025 10:29     Subject: Re:UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:ACADEMICALLY & PROFESSIONALLY -
UMD - Ranked higher and maybe more opportunities depending on area of interest.
VT - good enough
My 2 cent - Maybe not much difference. You must do a comparison of course offerings.

SAFETY -
UMD - Safety is not really a concern unless your kid does stupid things.
VT - Remember the mass shooting?
My 2 cents - Not much difference. You know your kid.

INTERNSHIPS -
UMD - Helps to get in-campus opportunities through the academic year for students. Summer internships require huundreds of applications. Your kid has to hustle to get them and know their stuff. If you are lucky to do summer internships in DMV, your kid can still be based from home.
VT - Exactly the same.

COST
VT is the clear winner if you are just looking at how much tuition, room and board costs for both the colleges for you.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS -
My kid goes to UMD (in-state, CS) and it is 30 minutes from home. There are many benefits of staying close by and please do not underestimate it. He has lived in the dorm and now lives in a shared apartment near college.

HUGE PROS OF BEING CLOSER -
- He can come home as often as he want and he does not miss any family occasions. Peace of mind for us and good for his mental health.
- Most of his school and college friends are local and he continues to have friends around during summer also. He is supremely social, and these kids have been going for vacations and trips together in US and outside US. Peace of mind for us and good for his mental health.
- He remains on our medical insurance and did not have to buy new medical insurance. All his doctors (pediatrician, eye doc, dental, dermatologist etc) remain the same from his childhood and he can get their medical services without looking for a new doctor.
- He can come home whenever he is sick. In case there is another pandemic or disruption, he can come home easily.
- We can step in whenever he needs any logistical help ever. We are his biggest support system. It can range from food, groceries, laundry service, borrowing equipment, keeping gear at home, storage, ride, etc.
- He does not have to buy expensive supplies from the commissary at college. All of his supplies come from our Costco stash or stuff around the house and costs him nothing.
- Gas cost is minimal because he is so close to us.



Seriously? It’s pretty astounding that you would bring up a shooting that happened *almost 20 years ago* and was caused by one lunatic. Blacksburg is a bucolic, lovely, safe area. It’s ranked 19/50 on the safest college town list. College Park is… nowhere to be found.
https://research.com/universities-colleges/safest-college-towns-in-america

Meanwhile, College Park has a crime rate higher than the national average.

It’s great that your kid is close to home with all the benefits that entails. I also went to college close to home. However, as convenient as it was, I regret that I didn’t spread my wings a bit more during that time in my life.

VT, while four hours away, is not so far that my kids have ever missed any family events. They have also remained on our health insurance - not sure what that has to do with anything. Most college kids are in their parents’ insurance.

Most importantly, they have met and traveled with kids from all over the country and world. VT is a great place to be away from home yet not so far as to be inaccessible. I highly recommend.
Anonymous
Post 03/20/2025 10:07     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There is no difference in prestige or education between UMD and VTech. If it were an ivy and VTech that would be a difference.


Nope. Wrong.


DP. Just… stop. You’re looking so foolish.
Anonymous
Post 03/20/2025 09:51     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DD is deciding between these 2 schools for computer science

UMD OOS 46K (tuition and room and board)
VT IS we have a prepaid 529 so cost is only R&B (16K)

DD really has no preference for campus and can see herself being happy in either. An advantage for UMD is it's less than 1 hour drive away vs VT being 4 hours away and she would prefer being close to home. As parents, we worry a bit about safety at UMD since it is in PG county (is it a valid worry or are we being paranoid?)

We can afford the higher cost but really wondering if the extra cost is worth it. We know UMD is better ranked than VT in CS, but is the outcome (recruitment, jobs upon graduation,...) so different that it warrants an extra 120K?



You're being way too paranoid. Why are you equating PG County with being unsafe?


DP. You can’t be serious.
Anonymous
Post 03/20/2025 09:50     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:UMD has a stronger computer science department than VT and this has been true for a very long time. In today’s job market, this could be important given that there are fewer job openings for college grads in computer science. There are also more opportunities for internships in college park than in Blacksburg, VA. In the end, it probably won’t matter that much. They are both good schools.


Internships generally take place during the summer so location of the school is pretty much irrelevant.
Anonymous
Post 03/20/2025 09:18     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You get thousands of applicants. How does your AI filter these resumes? I'm guessing you are not looking at every resume one by one.

I don't think anyone is saying that VT CS grads are subpar compared to UMD CS grads. But, when you are starting out, where you went to school or who you know helps.

And I say this as someone who went to a no name B rated state school. While I did well for myself in the end, it took me a lot longer and harder to get where I got to compared to those who went to "better" schools. I was in the tech field for 20 years in SV, including working for a FAANG.

Again, in the end, it may not matter where you went to school, but starting out, it can matter.

What are employment numbers for VT CS grads in the last two years?


I used AI to filter out applications. For example, I work in IT and I need a network engineer who is specialized in Cisco and/or PaloAlto products. Therefore, I code my AI to look for specific products. If the resume get passed the initial screen, I will take a look at it again to confirm. I'll talk to the candidate on the phone and schedule an in-person interview after that. That reduces the pool of applicants from 2000+ to less than twenty. I don't code my AI to look for "better" schools because it is NOT important.

Most college kids just starting out won't have much expeirence. So the AI would filter out most grads when looking at "Cisco and/or PaloAlto products". In this regard, internships will be incredibly important.

Also, almuni network can be a huge plus, and that is where the "where do the CS college grads go" becomes important.

Name recognition also becomes more important if you want to get a job not in the DC area.


Where do CS college grads go is NOT that important in technology. It is what you know and what you can do that is a lot more important.

That's the reason why college kids should be doing other things while they are in college (you do not need to have an internship to acquire that skill), like learning vendor products and cloud technologies such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). These companies offer "free" accounts for college kids to learn. A college kid WITHOUT experience but if he or she put on the resume with skills such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, that kid is guaranteed to get a very good paying job. The other thing is to get certifications in AWS, Azure, or Google PRIOR to graduation. That is a lot more valuable than internship. I work in cloud consulting and we're desperately looking for cloud engineers with certifications and without experiences because we can train them.

IDK.. I know of a AWS Cloud certified guy who's been out of work for 2 years. He has no experience in it, but he took the certification course. He's submitted hundreds of resumes. No bite.

So, I'm not so sure that what you say is true, especially in today's market.

It's a buyer's market now, and companies can pick and choose who they want to hire. I suppose if the graduate's goal is to stay in the DC area then it won't matter. But, if they want to branch out, name recognition matters. Otherwise, why do you think both students and their parents alike want their CS major kid to go oos to Mich, GATech and UIUC? Those aren't MIT caliber colleges, yet, they are highly desirable for CS majors.

UMD CS is top 20. Is it worth OOS cost? Maybe not, but most people do look at rankings.
Anonymous
Post 03/20/2025 09:08     Subject: Re:UMD vs Vt for CS?
In today's market, where you go matters to some degree (pardon the pun).

UMD has more of a national and global recognition for CS. VT does not.

There's another thread about SLO vs VT for business, and everyone on that thread is saying SLO, hands down. SLO is a regional school (FWIW, I graduated from a CSU like SLO); VT is a national school, yet everyone there is still saying SLO is worth the OOS (SLO is in CA for those who don't know).

Yes, that other thread is about business, not CS, but IMO, it goes to show how even people here in the DC area regard VT.
Anonymous
Post 03/20/2025 08:57     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You get thousands of applicants. How does your AI filter these resumes? I'm guessing you are not looking at every resume one by one.

I don't think anyone is saying that VT CS grads are subpar compared to UMD CS grads. But, when you are starting out, where you went to school or who you know helps.

And I say this as someone who went to a no name B rated state school. While I did well for myself in the end, it took me a lot longer and harder to get where I got to compared to those who went to "better" schools. I was in the tech field for 20 years in SV, including working for a FAANG.

Again, in the end, it may not matter where you went to school, but starting out, it can matter.

What are employment numbers for VT CS grads in the last two years?


I used AI to filter out applications. For example, I work in IT and I need a network engineer who is specialized in Cisco and/or PaloAlto products. Therefore, I code my AI to look for specific products. If the resume get passed the initial screen, I will take a look at it again to confirm. I'll talk to the candidate on the phone and schedule an in-person interview after that. That reduces the pool of applicants from 2000+ to less than twenty. I don't code my AI to look for "better" schools because it is NOT important.

Most college kids just starting out won't have much expeirence. So the AI would filter out most grads when looking at "Cisco and/or PaloAlto products". In this regard, internships will be incredibly important.

Also, almuni network can be a huge plus, and that is where the "where do the CS college grads go" becomes important.

Name recognition also becomes more important if you want to get a job not in the DC area.


Where do CS college grads go is NOT that important in technology. It is what you know and what you can do that is a lot more important.

That's the reason why college kids should be doing other things while they are in college (you do not need to have an internship to acquire that skill), like learning vendor products and cloud technologies such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). These companies offer "free" accounts for college kids to learn. A college kid WITHOUT experience but if he or she put on the resume with skills such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, that kid is guaranteed to get a very good paying job. The other thing is to get certifications in AWS, Azure, or Google PRIOR to graduation. That is a lot more valuable than internship. I work in cloud consulting and we're desperately looking for cloud engineers with certifications and without experiences because we can train them.
Anonymous
Post 03/19/2025 11:55     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
In state period
Anonymous
Post 03/19/2025 11:50     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
This is a money question which only the OP can answer. Both schools are close enough that it doesn't matter.

The only relevant point made by someone is about internships during the school year. If that is really important than pick UMD in spite of the cost.
Anonymous
Post 03/19/2025 11:17     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hiring manager here. We would view CS grads from either as being equal. Both programs are large enough to have a good range of upper level electives, so that also does not differentiate. For job outcomes it really is about the same.

*around here*.

But nationally and globally, UMD > VT.

By research, which is important for prestige and global recognition. It changes based on publication, but UMD is always somewhere on there. VT is not.

https://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/2014/toyear/2024/index?all&us

Global ranksings

Rank #74
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-subject-rankings/computer-science-information-systems?search=maryland


Rank 149
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-subject-rankings/computer-science-information-systems?search=virginia

(But at least it's higher than UVA at 200+)


UMD #56
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2025/subject-ranking/computer-science#!/length/25/name/maryland/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/scores

VT 100 to 125
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2025/subject-ranking/computer-science#!/length/25/name/virginia/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/scores

(But again, it beats UVA)


I am a hiring manager for a F500 tech company. UMD, Vtech, UVA, Upitt, and even UMBC and GMU are the same consideration, solid state school CS programs. The only stand out is if it's an Ivy League but that only gets you so far as the coding test, experience and interviews will be more important.




Interesting, I'd figure UMD would/should stand out from those other schools.

Whatever extra OOS $$ is involved, it'd be worth it, IMO. A UMD degree (let alone one in CS) is opening more and more doors.

Anonymous
Post 03/19/2025 11:00     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You get thousands of applicants. How does your AI filter these resumes? I'm guessing you are not looking at every resume one by one.

I don't think anyone is saying that VT CS grads are subpar compared to UMD CS grads. But, when you are starting out, where you went to school or who you know helps.

And I say this as someone who went to a no name B rated state school. While I did well for myself in the end, it took me a lot longer and harder to get where I got to compared to those who went to "better" schools. I was in the tech field for 20 years in SV, including working for a FAANG.

Again, in the end, it may not matter where you went to school, but starting out, it can matter.

What are employment numbers for VT CS grads in the last two years?


I used AI to filter out applications. For example, I work in IT and I need a network engineer who is specialized in Cisco and/or PaloAlto products. Therefore, I code my AI to look for specific products. If the resume get passed the initial screen, I will take a look at it again to confirm. I'll talk to the candidate on the phone and schedule an in-person interview after that. That reduces the pool of applicants from 2000+ to less than twenty. I don't code my AI to look for "better" schools because it is NOT important.

Most college kids just starting out won't have much expeirence. So the AI would filter out most grads when looking at "Cisco and/or PaloAlto products". In this regard, internships will be incredibly important.

Also, almuni network can be a huge plus, and that is where the "where do the CS college grads go" becomes important.

Name recognition also becomes more important if you want to get a job not in the DC area.
Anonymous
Post 03/19/2025 10:55     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There is no difference in prestige or education between UMD and VTech. If it were an ivy and VTech that would be a difference.

wrong. There is for CS.


No one cares but parents like you to brag.

haha no one cares about prestige on dcum? HAHAHAHAHA

And if no one cared about CS prestige, why do they have those "best CS college" lists?

Don't tell me that "no one" checks out those lists, particularly "no one" on dcum.


No, I don’t care. My husband went to a school no one heard about and is doing well. Co workers went everywhere for school and many don’t have cs degrees.

*you* may not, but this site is littered with best college lists, and people asking about rankings. So does college confidential, and a bunch of other college forums.
Anonymous
Post 03/19/2025 10:44     Subject: Re:UMD vs Vt for CS?
ACADEMICALLY & PROFESSIONALLY -
UMD - Ranked higher and maybe more opportunities depending on area of interest.
VT - good enough
My 2 cent - Maybe not much difference. You must do a comparison of course offerings.

SAFETY -
UMD - Safety is not really a concern unless your kid does stupid things.
VT - Remember the mass shooting?
My 2 cents - Not much difference. You know your kid.

INTERNSHIPS -
UMD - Helps to get in-campus opportunities through the academic year for students. Summer internships require huundreds of applications. Your kid has to hustle to get them and know their stuff. If you are lucky to do summer internships in DMV, your kid can still be based from home.
VT - Exactly the same.

COST
VT is the clear winner if you are just looking at how much tuition, room and board costs for both the colleges for you.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS -
My kid goes to UMD (in-state, CS) and it is 30 minutes from home. There are many benefits of staying close by and please do not underestimate it. He has lived in the dorm and now lives in a shared apartment near college.

HUGE PROS OF BEING CLOSER -
- He can come home as often as he want and he does not miss any family occasions. Peace of mind for us and good for his mental health.
- Most of his school and college friends are local and he continues to have friends around during summer also. He is supremely social, and these kids have been going for vacations and trips together in US and outside US. Peace of mind for us and good for his mental health.
- He remains on our medical insurance and did not have to buy new medical insurance. All his doctors (pediatrician, eye doc, dental, dermatologist etc) remain the same from his childhood and he can get their medical services without looking for a new doctor.
- He can come home whenever he is sick. In case there is another pandemic or disruption, he can come home easily.
- We can step in whenever he needs any logistical help ever. We are his biggest support system. It can range from food, groceries, laundry service, borrowing equipment, keeping gear at home, storage, ride, etc.
- He does not have to buy expensive supplies from the commissary at college. All of his supplies come from our Costco stash or stuff around the house and costs him nothing.
- Gas cost is minimal because he is so close to us.

Anonymous
Post 03/19/2025 10:25     Subject: UMD vs Vt for CS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There is no difference in prestige or education between UMD and VTech. If it were an ivy and VTech that would be a difference.

wrong. There is for CS.


No one cares but parents like you to brag.

haha no one cares about prestige on dcum? HAHAHAHAHA

And if no one cared about CS prestige, why do they have those "best CS college" lists?

Don't tell me that "no one" checks out those lists, particularly "no one" on dcum.


No, I don’t care. My husband went to a school no one heard about and is doing well. Co workers went everywhere for school and many don’t have cs degrees.