What College/Univ has the best computer science/software engineering program?

Question

I can't seem to find a rating for this anywhere online. I don't want just online degrees (although information on those would still be good). I also need to take cost into account. If tuition is 2x more but the quality is only 5% better, then it's not worth it to me. Basically, I want the most bang for my buck. Thanks!

Answer 1

Carnegie Mellon and MIT, usually.

Answer 2

I have heard good things about:

University of Washington Brigham Young university

Not sure about others.

Answer 3

I'd recommend looking for specific faculty members vs. the department as a whole. Finding a professor who you share interests with will be much more stimulating than general class work.

Answer 4

If you are in the UK, my brother went to Newcastle. He then went on to work at Codemasters for a bit and has recently worked on the latest Pirates of Caribbean game. Takes more than a degree though, passion is normally the most important element, but a degree will help those with quantifying things.

Answer 5

University of Advancing Technology, Tempe, AZ.

Answer 6

Undergrad or Graduate? Most state schools have programs which are quite good for your dollar for your BSc in Computer Science. Focus on the big name schools for your MS/PhD.

Answer 7

Graduate Computer Science Program rankings

Undegrad Computer Engineering: 1, 2

Other resources on wikipedia

Answer 8

You specifically said, "I want the most bang for my buck." So I will try to limit my response to best match your question. I believe it is very subjective to judge if a degree is worth the often huge premium you pay at schools like MIT or Carnegie Mellon. However, the reputation of these schools certainly does influence industry opinion of which program is "best." (As an example, it has influenced me to say if money was no object, I would chose Carnegie Mellon.)

Based on my experience working with, and hiring software engineers, my picks in the US for institutions with the best program for the money would be:

• University of Texas (Austin)
• Brigham Young University (Provo)
• U of Washington
• U of Chicago
• U of North Carolina

Outside the US my knowledge is very limited. I have worked with people from these institutions and found them to be knowledgeable and they spoke highly of their education. But I can't say for sure about cost vs. benefit (bang for buck).

• U of Melbourne (Australia)
• University of Tokyo (Japan)
• Any of the IIT "universities" in India (I'm not saying there is no difference, just that I'm not knowledgeable enough about those differences to make a statement. I believe they all have rigorous engineering programs.

Answer 9

University of Waterloo.

University of Waterloo has one of the world's best computer science/software engineering/computer engineering programs. Not to mention the world's largest coop program.

If I'm not mistaken, a high percentage of interns at Microsoft/Google are from U. of Waterloo. (Highest % of any school for Microsoft, last I heard).

They are also top performers at almost every programming contest.

From Wikipedia:

Since the inaugural Putnam competition in 1938, Waterloo teams have accumulated the sixth most top-five finishes ahead of Duke, Chicago, WUSL, Yale, Berkeley, Cornell, Stanford, Columbia and Carnegie Mellon among others.

Answer 10

In part it will also depend on what you plan on doing afterwards. Are you going to the finance industry, i.e. Wall Street? In which case you want Ivy League, Stanford, Chicago, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, La Sorbonne. Doesn't matter what you think of their tuition, their presence on your application form is all that matters.

If you want to stay to research, go to a good generalist school - many of them are mentioned in other answers - and look around the world for a potential supervisor.

How were you planning on measuring whether tuition is 5% better? What does that actually mean? Good lecturers are in 'bad' schools and vice versa. After 10-15 years in the industry I've worked with people from some of the best universities in the world and others from ones you'll struggle to find with a Google search - and they have all brought something different to the table. But those who come from the non-tier one schools always have to work a little harder - even if it's just to prove to their recruiter/HR filterer that they're worth it.

My single piece of advice is that people are impressed by the name of the (undergrad) school so be very careful of going somewhere just because it has a good department or because a rockstar researcher is currently there. Fine go there for research or an MSc, but your choice of an undergrad institution should be more commercial.

Answer 11

For undergraduate software engineering, I would have to recommend the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. They are the first undergrad SE program in the US and the faculty is very industry-oriented. Although I might be biased - I'm a student there.

Answer 12

University of Central Florida, my alma mater.

We have a nice exam in between your second and third year that really busts your chops. Basically, it filters out anyone who isn't really, really ready to take on the degree program. Definitely try for the honors program if you can, as the professors are more qualified and the classes are smaller, much smaller. Arup Guha is perhaps the best instructor you'll ever meet. He happens to be an IB math teacher, which makes sense.

Anyways, wherever you go just remember that education doesn't end after the class is over. Learning should be permanent, as in learning to learn. The material you pick up will be a mixed batch of repetition and theoretical gems but the lessons learned through learning these things are what matter most.