Good second tier computer science schools for undergraduate

College Search & Lists
1

<p>I’m already aware of some of the top tier computer science schools.Some top tier schools I’m applying to are Georgia Tech and The University of Illinois. I’m not sure about the second tier schools because there are no clear rankings online. I’m applying to Ohio State,Rutgers,Penn State,Purdue and UMD assuming they are good second tier schools for computer science. Can someone eleaborate on more computer science schools I can apply to,and if my second tier schools are any good. </p>

<p>Thanks for the help</p>

2

<p>preferably near the east coast</p>

3

<p>Cost constraints and state of residency?</p>

<p>Academic stats?</p>

<p>The schools you list as “second tier” are perfectly fine schools for CS.</p>

4

<p>im a NJ resident , so rutgers is significantly cheaper…
can u rank my second tier schools?</p>

5

<p>“Ohio State,Rutgers,Penn State,Purdue and UMD”</p>

<p>These are lower than second tier.</p>

6

<p>@Cornelliann can you give me samples of second tier schools for comp sci?</p>

7

<p>@Cornelliann UMD has a really good CS program</p>

8

<p>Cornelliann is having fun at your expense Burning1234.
All the schools you listed are very good at CS and their graduates do not lack challenging classes, internships, or employment opportunities.
Personally I think UMD-CP has a slight edge on location, Penn State has a slight edge on alumni network, Purdue has a slight edge due to being Tech-only (or a downside if you’re looking for more diversity), Rutgers has a huge edge due to lower costs for someone from NJ.</p>

9

<p>@MYO I’m also looking to have some sort of financial background as well, so i’m looking for some diversity</p>

10

<p>Look at QS ranking:
[QS</a> World University Rankings by Subject 2012 - Computer Science and Information Systems | Top Universities](<a href=“http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2012/computer-science-and-information-systems]QS”>http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2012/computer-science-and-information-systems)</p>

<p>Many of the top 100 or 150 PUBLIC colleges are not that hard to get into. (Have acceptance rate more than 50%)
Like: PSU, Maryland etc.</p>

11

<p>For second and third tier schools of engineering/CS, look at non-flagship universities that are ABET Accredited, like Bowie State, Bloomsburg, Miami U, UMBC, Towson, Villanova, West Chester.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>Probably Cornell, if “first tier” is defined as the “big four”.</p>

<p>Anyway, ignore that distraction. All of the schools you named are quite respectable for CS. As a NJ resident, you may find Rutgers significantly less expensive than the others (unless you come up with one of the very large scholarships at Georgia Tech); the differences in “quality” with respect to CS academics are unlikely to be worth a significant difference in price between these schools.</p>

<p>Have you run the net price calculators on all of the schools to check affordability?</p>

<p>Out of state public schools with respectable CS and relatively lower list prices include Minnesota, Stony Brook, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State. If you want location close to employers over all else, there is San Jose State in Silicon Valley.</p>

13

<p>UMD is definitely not lower than second tier.</p>

14

<p>lol@UMD being on the same level as Cornell. If you want to start exchanging blows, I really couldn’t care less. Cornell is peers with the best engineering universities in the US (Stanford/MIT/Caltech/Berkley/CMU), but have slightly lower ceiling than Stanford/MIT/Caltech. As an undergraduate, and probably even as a graduate student, you will never even see the ceiling. All 5 schools are drastically different and I strongly believe that nobody could really think they’d be a “great” fit for more than 2 of the 5.</p>

<p>Now that I covered that, I consider peers to be where companies recruit many of the same graduates. CMU, Cornell, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, and maybe Princeton (?) all have this. These schools all have starting salaries of above $90k for CS majors and tier 2 schools have a pretty sizeable salary drop.</p>

<p>Tier 2 is mostly flagship universities… University of Washington, Purdue, University of Illinois, Madison, UMich, Brown/Columbia (?)</p>

<p>Everything below that is blurry. You need to find what your goal in CS is and what industries you would like to work in. </p>

<p>Here’s some tips:
-If you want a BS, completely rule out capability to conduct research as a criteria; it is complete bogus. If you are a decent student at any research university, you’ll get opportunities for research.</p>

<p>-Where do you want to work? If you want to be involved in entrepreneurship on the west coast, Cooper Union isn’t the best. If you would like to transition into finance, MIT wouldn’t be the best. </p>

<p>-Look into local universities such as Santa Clara University. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS COLLEGE IF YOU WANT TO WORK IN CALIFORNIA. Seriously, look into it and apply if it would be a good fit. They throw scholarships into the sky at people.</p>

<p>-Look at the culture. I would consider the closest tier 1 colleges in terms of culture to be Cornell and Stanford, but even then they have completely different scopes. College environments vary like crazy and I didn’t recognize it. I ended up applying to colleges without visiting pretty much anywhere and I am amazingly lucky that I got into a college that’s a good fit for me.</p>

<p>Final note: Don’t focus in on tier 1 colleges if you don’t think you’ll make it. Don’t force it. It is easy to come up with dream colleges but it is hard to research appropriate safety colleges. The awesome thing about being in the 2nd/3rd tier is you have so many more choices without feeling pressured to sacrifice quality for some perceived prestige.</p>

15

<p>I guess it depends on what you define your tiers to be. I agree, UMD and Cornell are in no way in the same tier.</p>

16

<p>As an MIT/Cornell cross admit, I’ve never heard the term “big 4” by the way. Stop trying to make up nonexistant dividers.</p>

17

<p>I have no idea where top-tier ends and second-tier begins. It’s an artificial distinction that people on CC might obsess about, but it isn’t very important in the professional world.</p>

<p>I got my CS degree from the University of Alaska (along with an irrelevant Masters in IE from USC,) and have had lots of co-workers from places like Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, CMU, MIT, state flagships, regional state universities, LACs, schools I’d barely heard of, overseas universities I’d never heard of, and college dropouts. We all occupied the same cubes and benches, doing the same work on the same projects. For computer-related jobs, it’s about what you know, not where you went to school. The CS material covered at Kent State and Wichita State is no different than that covered at Stanford or Cal. After you start working, it doesn’t take long to observe that where someone got their degree has almost nothing to do with how productive they are, and nobody makes a big deal about where they went to school.</p>

<p>I also don’t remember my managers being disproportionately from top-tier schools.</p>

<p>If there’s an advantage to going to a place like Stanford or MIT, it’s that you might make some personal connections that would help you later in your career. Their locations also offer opportunities that wouldn’t be easily available to someone going to Fresno State or Indiana.</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>If you define “top tier” as “any school with a decent CS curriculum”, then there are probably a few hundred schools that qualify, including all of those mentioned in the OP’s first post.</p>

<p>However, beware that this is not necessarily correlated to the school’s general prestige; some schools with high general prestige have small and limited CS departments, so a student going to school for CS may want to choose a school with a better CS department. Yes, many people self-educate a lot of CS, but if you are going to school for CS, you might as well go to a school with a decent CS department.</p>

<p>Now, “top tier” for CS PhD admissions or recruiting for one’s first job at graduation might have more distinctions. In the latter case, it depends on what kind of job, industry, and region one is looking at (e.g. San Jose State is well recruited in Silicon Valley, but probably much less so by employers in other regions).</p>