My east coast university (graduated in the 80s) does not show up on any Top XX lists for computer science.
But they’ve invested heavily in the last decade in attracting professors and students and that program has
grown several fold. As they’ve always had a great general engineering program I imagine it’s very good.
Might there be some colleges like that in the CA or other western states? Something that doesn’t show up
in the top XX ratings but based on other info the program might be particularly good?
Maybe look at NM Tech and SD Mines. Those two are under most people’s radar and are surprisingly good. They’re also pretty cheap.
NM Tech-
https://www.cs.nmt.edu/
SD Mines–
https://www.sdsmt.edu/Academics/Degrees/Computer-Science/
Off topic slightly but maybe check out U Wyoming. A friend’s kid went there for their astrophysics program-- or maybe astronomy and physics --his first choice. It might have other programs that are hidden away and good.
http://www.uwyo.edu/cosc/
Best of luck
Lots of very talented people dream of study engineering or computer science in the Bay Area. And there are two world-class places to do this: Stanford and Berkeley. Unfortunately, both are now insanely difficult to get into. So realistically, anyone applying to these schools has to look for a backup as well.
Santa Clara University doesn’t have the same kind of national profile as Stanford or Berkeley, but SCU has been leveraging its location in the heart of Silicon Valley to become the preferred third choice. Their engineering program is now pulling students with 680-760 Math SATs. OK, that may not be Stanford/Berkeley level, but it is still higher than most UCs or Cal Poly. It is also less competitive; the engineering school has a 48% acceptance rate.
http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/7201/screen/19
The catch is that SCU is private and not particularly well endowed, so it has high tuition and is not known for great financial aid.
Agree with these suggestions; the historical “mines” schools are great values for hands-on engineering and technical education. Others include Colorado Mines, Michigan Tech, and Missouri S&T. However, they tend to be small schools, in relatively isolated locations, with somewhat nerdy campus cultures and skewed male/female ratios. So they don’t appeal to everyone.
Colorado Mines would be tops for academic reputation, and is relatively close to Denver. However, it isn’t cheap for out-of-staters. In contrast, NM Tech and SD Mines are in the WUE program, so they discount their normal out-of-state tuition for residents of California and other western states.
Within California, SJSU is probably better known in terms of location advantage for the computing industry (at lower cost than SCU for many students). However, the result is that the CS major is much more selective than most other majors there; see http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/ and http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html (the numbers are threshold eligibility indices of GPA * 800 + SATR + SATM, though some majors use a modified version that weights SATM more than SATR).
@ucbalumnus Wow 4500 for CS @SJSU. Thanks for the heads up. PSATs out soon.
I wouldn’t rely on this assumption, as engineering and CS are father apart as fields than one would expect. You can see this most notably with so many CS departments becoming their own college separate from engineering, arts/sciences, or math departments where many originally came from. I can think of at least a few schools where the quality of engineering is notably different than the CS department. If they are investing so heavily over a decade, that is much likely a better reason.
It’ll be hard to identify gems on the west coast, but there are many good schools for CS, and I’m sure some would qualify as gems if missing from your list. Any reason the focus on the west coast? You don’t need to go to school on the west coast to work in the valley after school if that’s the reason.
I don’t know where it shows up in the ratings, but Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has a great reputation within California for CS and Engineering. The school doesn’t seem to be well known outside of California.
Not sure that schools like SJSU (30,000+ applications per year) or Cal Poly (50,000+) really qualify as “hidden”. But if UCs and CSUs are included, then I would add UC Santa Cruz as a California public university that is stronger in CS specifically than its general reputation might suggest.
To qualify for discounted WUE tuition at NM Tech, an out-of-state student needs a 3.0 GPA, plus 23 ACT or 1130 SAT. In this case, the out-of-state rate drops to 150% of the in-state rate.
In-state tuition is $7,200 per year. So the WUE rate is $10,800 per year, which is quite competitive with in-state tuition in states like California. Housing is cheap too.
An out-of-state student with 3.25 GPA, plus 27 ACT or 1280 SAT, can qualify for the in-state tuition rate of $7,200 per year, plus a $700 stipend.
http://www.nmt.edu/tuition-and-fees
http://www.nmt.edu/scholarships/183-scholarships-a-tuition-reduction-programs-for-non-residents
A CS major doesn’t need a degree from Stanford or Berkeley to land an interesting job with good pay.
Chances are, there’s a decent, relatively affordable program at your closest directional state university.
What sets many of these schools apart isn’t necessarily the CS programs as much as other elements of the whole package (including financial aid, the social environment, location, etc.)
Look into Caltech! It is such a great school
SCU only gets about 16,000 applications per year, which is just a small fraction of the number that UCs and popular CSUs get. So the acceptance rate is higher.
Another plus for SCU is their 4-year graduation rate. Granted, a UC or CSU will probably be less expensive on a yearly basis – but how many years will it take to graduate?
4-year graduation rate, for students starting in Fall 2010, from College Navigator:
11% SJSU
18% SFSU
47% Cal Poly SLO
52% UCSC
55% UC Davis
76% UC Berkeley
82% SCU
it really depends on the applicants’ stats, budget and other interests. Caltech and Stanford are great but, they turn away 95% of applicants. UCSC has a very solid program and is somewhat less selective (you still need a 3.8+ and 1300+ to be competitive. The other Cal Poly (Pomona) and Chico are somewhat more accessible with solid programs and good reputations with tech companies. SF and Sac are even easier admits but, also have respected programs. Even the non-impacted CSUs like East Bay turn out well qualified CS grads.
Not a hidden gem but nobody has mentioned University of Washington.
Washington has a highly respected CS department that historically has been undersized relative to student interest. It is expanding now, but so is demand. Admission to CS there is highly competitive. Probably not really “hidden”.
Here are some that are actually hidden –
How about the midwest? University of Minnesota, Morris.
How about a community college? Bellevue College in the Seattle suburbs.
Semi-hidden: Western Washington University. It became so popular as a transfer school for students who couldn’t get into UW’s CS department that transfers have a moratorium on getting into CS classes when they arrive. It is still accessible to freshmen, but gradually becoming more competitive. You don’t need the same level of perfection to get into the major as at UW, but you do need to be a serious and successful student.
How about WSU? I know many students who go to WSU and are happy. It’s a residential campus vs. UW’s half commuter population.
You could make a case that the real “hidden gems” in California are certain community colleges that specialize in transferring their graduates into the 4-year state universities. For example, UCSB doesn’t qualify as “hidden” – but maybe nearby Santa Barbara City College does, despite the fact that they “feed” hundreds of transfer students into UCSB every year. Other examples would include Aptos CC for UCSC, and Cuesta CC/Allan Hancock CC for Cal Poly.
I’m sure there are others. The CSUs and UCs are required to accept large numbers of transfers from California CCs, and so it may be easier to get into a particular campus or program as a transfer applicant from a CCC than as a freshman applicant. Some (not all) UC campuses have a transfer admissions guarantee (TAG) for some (not necessarily all) of their programs, which ensures that CCC students can transfer if certain conditions (like prerequisite courses and GPA) are met.