My S got admission in Computer science in OSU,Stony Brook,Texas A&M. He got Computer Engg at UMASS and UMD has offered Computer science but needs to do English Bridge courses due to TOEFL being less than 100. Which one he should select? Is it possible to change from Computer Engg to Computer science in UMASS? In UMD-will it be loss of semester for doing Bridge courses or he can do simultaneously?
I gather your son is an international student? Is that correct?
That is right. Fees will be quite similar so not an deciding Factor.
Guys-any suggestions?
What field of CS/CE is he looking to go into?
Do placements matter?
OSU has a strong name as does TAMU and UMD. However, UMD places a lot of people into the federal sector.
Is he looking to stay in the US or return to his country of origin?
You need to answer these and more insightful questions first and then you should be able to rank the schools based on those findings…
Does he have admission to the major, or to a pre engineering status from which he must compete for entry to the major at each school?
These are all large flagship state Universities. Honestly you can’t go wrong.
Does he like snow? If not, look at Texas.
Does he want to be near a cosmpoplitan city (e.g., Stonybrook is a 2 hour train ride from New York City)
If he needs bridge courses for English wouldn’t it be best to do that first so he will have any easier time in his other classes?
Ohio State has a secondary admission process to get into the CSE or CIS major:
https://cse.osu.edu/prospective-students/undergraduate/admissions
https://cse.osu.edu/prospective-students/undergrad/bs-cse-prerequisites
https://cse.osu.edu/prospective-students/undergrad/bs-ba-cis-prerequisites
Texas A&M also admits to a pre-engineering status, from which students must apply to their majors after doing well in college prerequisites.
@bopper UMD does not get a lot of snow. Certainly colder than TX, but not going to get much by way of snow.
UMD (I am assuming it is Maryland, college park) is strongest name in computer science among the schools you have listed. Now, it also means that it is a harder program and a bit more of a weedout process in initial years.
Computer Science basically is math related. Stony Brook puts the applied math inside CEAS. Location of the school is also a main factor for international student to make the final decision.
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Does UMD offer Bridge during the summer? This would allow S time to acclimate to the College Park campus before the fall crowds. As far as cosmopolitan… From the UMD campus, it is a brief metro ride to downtown D.C.
In addition, the metro allows access to Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs that offer numerous tech opportunities, both government and private sector.
UMass also has a very well regarded computer science program and is 2 hours from Boston and 3 from NYC.
I am not sure what the difference between computer engineering and computer science there is, but as I understand it switching into CS is very difficult at UMass.
Students who are not directly admitted to the CS major at UMass should see the following on changing major to CS:
https://www.cics.umass.edu/ugrad-education/major-change-cs
Thanks All for Guidance.
@sciencenerd He wish to go for Game Designs field. Placements very important within USA. Maryland-College Park is best Ranked among all offers he got till now.
@ucbalumnus Understand that changing Major is not easy once you get in. So Texas A&M and UMASS ruled out. Maryland, Ohio, Stony Brook, Rutgers State and Arizona State Univ giving computer science from first year itself.
@bopper @4kids4us He likes snow but never lived cold places. May not be deciding Factor.
@osuprof Thanks for pointing out.
@Sav42many No-He can take 2 Computer science electives alongwith English Bridge course.He is trying to give TOEFL again to improve score to avoid Bridge course.
@OHMomof2 Computer Engg is more Hardware based and Computer science is software oriented. He does not like Hardware Part.
Just for clarification:
- Changing majors for the most part isn't too hard in the first year. However, some schools might might have a cap on the number of students in a major. But I do not see that as a problem for a student who really wants to major in a certain field of study. For most engineering programs, the first year has a common set of classes with maybe one or two classes for your major.
- Game Design is only offered by some schools. Most schools will have one or two classes. You/your son should do the research on if these schools even offer Game Design as a major/concentration. I believe UMD is a little more theoretical, but I could be wrong.
- Taking the TOEFL again is a good idea. It would be a good idea to practice a certain part if he's struggling with it. Say speaking or writing.
Computer Engineering and Computer Science are two distinctly different fields. Hardware versus software. He needs to figure out which of the two most appeals to him. btw- a CS major may land a job with the title software developer or software engineer depending on the company while doing the same type of work. SOFTWARE being the operative word. So, leave any college engineering programs off the table if he is not interested in that aspect of computers.
He also needs to broaden his expectations for his degree. He will want a school that offers game design but should have other skills if those jobs do not materialize. Better to have some flexibility than to be limited because he lacks some courses. When he is in his college he will continue to learn more about how things work and plan his schedule accordingly. Once there he will have an advisor to help him as well.
btw- software development is also different from software research, as my CS son pointed out to me recently. Who knows, your son may change his preferences form game development to another area once he is exposed to college CS classes. It will be interesting for you to see where he eventually ends up. Who knew my math major son would add CS and go that route.
@wis75 Thanks Dear. Yes-He is not interested in Hardware,Circuits part of Computer so planning for Computer Science Major only. For detail courses and electives-he will choose once he is in. Agree with you-His interest may change over time. Just couple of years back-he was keen on becoming Pilot.
@pk1108 What have you decided? What are his stats? Did you apply EA for all these schools?
Yes. we have zeroed on University of Maryland since he got confirmation on Computer science. He got University of washington Seattle but in Pre-science.