drw1019

Hey guys,

I was fortunate enough to have been accepted to both Columbia College and UC Berkeley, two really great schools.

As of right now, I'm looking into studying computer science at college--this is not set in stone, but I think it's definitely an emerging industry and the whole field excites me much more than more "traditional" majors at Columbia (business/econ/political science). I do love the Core, though, and computer science isn't my only interest.

Are there any current computer science majors on here that could enlighten me as to how strong the compsci program is at Columbia? I don't want to make my college choice based on what I think I'm going to want to pursue career-wise, but anything I do end up doing will probably be somewhat technology-based.

Thanks.

campaigner

The CS department at Columbia is very strong, with great professors. If the core appeals to you, I think it could be a great fit.

drw1019

Thanks for the info. Is there a big difference between taking CS classes at CC vs. taking them at SEAS, or is it all in the degree and amount of Core work you have to do?

broken_symlink

everyone takes cs classes together. it doesn't matter if you're in cc or seas.

usddddd

Current CS major here, the department is very good and it's a big deal to have people like Aho(the A in Awk) and Cliff Stein(CLSR Algorithms book) teaching you from books they wrote.
It's true everyone in CS takes classes together but one caveat is that the requirements for the degrees are different. SEAS students take 10 core CS classes and then something like 10 electives, whereas the other schools(CC,GS,Barnard) take 7 core CS classes and 5 electives. Also as a CC student you will take the core but you will not have to take the math sequence like SEAS students do. Any other questions feel free to PM me.

WheatenLover

My son is a freshman at Columbia. He chose Columbia over Caltech and U of Chicago. He is a CS major and has been very pleased with classes and opportunities in the dept. He is in CC not SEAS. He is already involved in research with a professor and interning at a tech start up in midtown. There is a lot of tech in NYC and Columbia does an excellent job at giving the kids an opprtunity to network. He was very skeptical about the Core but he has grown to love it and I am amazed at all the literature that he has read this year. One of his professors took the class to see King Lear at the Public Theater!

You can't go wrong with either school. It will be a hard decision, though. Good luck!

dadmm85

My son had a similar choice last year between UC Berkeley Physics and Columbia Physics and he chose Columbia and has not had one bit of regret. The core, class sizes and ability to do research in the freshman year are all advantages. One bit of caution on Columbia CS - it is an up and coming department, but when compared to UC Berkeley, it is not in the same league. This will impact you primarily in terms of job opportunities and internships in the high tech industry in silicon valley. As some one else noted, the primary companies that come to columbia are wall street and financial firms. If your goal is to go to graduate school, then this concern is less of an issue.

actprep54

Visited Columbia recently and accepted their offer. They have a lot of programs for entrepreneurship and there's a growing startup culture. The Comp Sci dept tour was excellent. At an undergrad level, there isn't much difference between these schools in terms of education in CS. I turned down CMU SCS, Cornell and Berkeley for CS at Columbia SEAS.