Purdue vs. Virginia Tech for Comp Science?

ChrisTKD
Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:22:36 +0000

Short answer NO. The undergraduate ranking for VT is much higher than the graduate ranking. I think I’ve seen the VT undergrad program ranked at 14. I believe Purdue’s undergrad program is also much higher ranked than its graduate program.

The CS program at VT is fine with one big caveat. VT gives AP credit for the basic introductory freshman CS class but they do not allow you to test out of other required introductory CS courses. If you already have an advanced knowledge of CS these policies can be extremely frustrating. Since many classes have prerequisites its difficult to advance more quickly in the program. VT’s CS program is designed for students who have minimal exposure to CS.

My son’s friend is in the CS program at Purdue and didn’t seem to have this issue. Either the coursework was more advanced from the get-go or he was able to skip some classes (not sure).