Talks about having taken Computer Science courses himself, talks about the importance of Computer Science, and has added 10 faculty slots to the Computer Science Department.
I am a member of Princeton’s Class of 2016, and I am majoring in Computer Science here. If you are strongly considering computer science as your major, please do NOT come to Princeton to study it.
All in all, Princeton’s Computer Science program is over-capacity and doesn’t foster a quality educational experience. You can probably get a better engineering education at many other schools, whether it be Berkeley, MIT, Georgia Tech, etc. Granted, you will not get to put the “Princeton Name” on your resume, but as I currently stand, I do wish I attended another institution, had I known I was going to study computer science.
There are a few reasons why I would advocate not studying CS here:
- Princeton’s COS program is hugely theoretical
Princeton’s past reputation in STEM is hugely rooted in the M part of the acronym. Physics and Math is in our blood. This translates to a big emphasis in theory. Although only 2 out of our 8 required departmental classes are “Theory” classes (https://www.cs.princeton.edu/ugrad/becoming-cs-major/requirements), the two theory classes you have to take will take you HOURS upon HOURS to complete every week, and it will eat your life. In comparison, I’ve taken a bunch of applications classes like Computer Graphics and Artificial Intelligence, and they are of lower workload, higher applicability to real life. Theory classes are also not well taught. After taking Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus in the Math department (both taught by solely by grad students in small sections), I have to say that Math Grad Students do a much, much better job teaching this stuff than the Princeton CS Professors.
- The quality of many other programs is much better
If you come to Princeton, you should know that our CS program is not well-regarded relative to other top departments like Economics, Sociology, Philosophy, Math, Physics, etc. Looking solely at US News, we are #8 in terms of Graduate Program rankings (USNWR does not provide UG rankings). Sure, that seems high, but when you go to the “#1 Undergraduate Institution”, this leads to two conclusions:
a) If you come to Princeton, you should study something else. Sociology, Political Science, and Economics all score higher on USNWR. Our philosophy program is top-notch too.
b) If you are definitely studying Computer Science, you should go to either Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, UIUC, Cornell, University of Washington instead. They are easier to get into and seem to have higher quality programs.
- It’s a sad place
Our Professors are understaffed, and CS is one of the 2 biggest departments (with Econ) in the past few years. (http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2015/09/cos-now-most-popular-major/). Combine those two facts – and also that a lot of students are under a huge amount of pressure to perform – you get the impression that the Professors don’t seem to care (because they have to manage 100+ person classes), and the CS department becomes a sad place. COS now seems like the new Econ: a bunch of lost or overambitious kids looking for the most straightforward way to make $100k+ if/when they graduate.
It’s no secret that Tech is huge these days and starting to become the new Wall Street in terms of prestige, salary, and burnout (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-09/young-bankers-fed-up-with-90-hour-weeks-move-to-startups), but if you are strongly considering Princeton and you know that you want to do Computer Science, please reconsider.
Overcrowing in CS has become quite a problem in all universities.
At Stanford, to get help in office hours (run by undergrads), you “take a number”: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2015/12/07/office-hours-adapt-to-lair-relocation/
This is what Intro CS looks like at Berkeley: http://i1.wp.com/www.dailycal.org/assets/uploads/2013/09/onlinewheeler_brianly.jpg
Yale CS is so stretched they had to import CS 50 from Harvard: https://cs50.yale.edu/
At U Wash and UIUC, if you are not competitive enough to be admitted “direct” into the CS major as a freshman, your chances of entering the major after you complete the major requirements – the regular way to enter other majors – have become quite slim.
I think your description of ambitious students not really intellectually excited by the subject is also not unique to Princeton CS.
This is not meant to imply that your unhappiness with Princeton CS is unfounded.
@TigerCS2016, you seem very unhappy.
In your opinion, will the Presidential focus on the CS department and additional commitment of resources (10 new faculty members) improve the situation you describe, or will it make the problems you outlined just bigger?
As a senior, you are near the end of your Princeton experience, given your grievances, did you ever think about transferring to the many schools you have deemed superior? It seems to me that if your intended major has been that bad for this long, you could have voted with your feet. Please let us know if there are aspects of a Princeton educational experience that were worth staying for.
Given that the popularity of CS is exploding at top universities around the country (as @4thfloor has documented), do you think Princeton is the only place that is experiencing growing pains, or is the grass greener everywhere else but where you are?