We are trying to decide on the above CS undergrad programs. We are leaning toward UMd at this point due to investment in CS building as well as proximity to DC. We were also impressed by the campus as well as the FIRE program yesterday. Wisconsin is on the list as both parents attended and we have family in the area. It is also very well ranked. We kept WPI on the list as it is smaller and my son comes from a smaller scholastic environment.
We have not heard back from Canadian Comp sci schools yet and will not prior to 5/1.
My wife typed the first textbook written on the Chemistry of fire while at WPI in the '70’s for a visiting professor from one of the Edinburgh universities. This Edinburgh University had been the only school outside of the Soviet Union that had a graduate program in fire science. When the Falklands war broke out in 1982, a British destroyer’s superstructure caught fire during an Argentine aircraft’s attack. The British were very embarrassed and the Great British Navy was humiliated. The British government went looking for fire scientists to explain why this had happened.
Just five or so years earlier, the British had closed down the fire science program. The classically trained government politicians put all their funding into classical education. They did not identify the need to fund fire science research. They went looking for an explanation and found they had fired the few people they needed to address this embarrassing problem. The expert was at WPI.
The answer was found in the chemical composition of the metal alloys used in the super structure. When subjected to high a high enough temperature, the metal burned/blew up! The British redesigned there combat ships and the politicians re-established the fire science program.
WPI established their Fire Science program in the 1970’s. When the World Trade Center was attacked in 9/11, it was a WPI Fire Science professor who modeled the fire to produce the official analysis of the 9/11 fire.
@SoofDad
The acronym “FIRE” used in the UMD program misled me. I thought it was a program exclusive to the study of fire and the BS program in FPE. Thank you for the video! FIRE stands for First-Year Research Innovation Experience and it focuses on interdisciplinary studies in science.
This program is an excellent concept which was first developed at WPI in 2007 and is constantly evolving. The project education campus revolution started in the 1960’s. In fact The National Academy of Engineering recognized this program and Kristin K. Wobbe for the Great Problems Seminar (GPS) in 2016 when 1/3 of the first year students were participating (see https://www.wpi.edu/academics/undergraduate) This year’s seminars involves nine different projects where faculty and students work in teams in the first year of studies, but it does not stop there. The IQP and the MQP follow for everyone.
The transition from the classroom lecture format to real problem research is the basis of the entire school’s programs. This involves three different areas of concentration. Actual research motivates. Motivation vastly improves the learning experience. Please see the explanation of this program @ https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/wpi-plan.
This constantly evolving program focuses a lot of attention on seven week off campus project centers in over forty locations around the world with an automatic $5,000 credit to all students to enable participation in these off-campus project centers without the obstacle of additional costs. See https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/global-project-program.
I was not aware that this concept is spreading to other schools at this level of first year involvement. Personally, as a WPI alumnus, I would encourage involvement in these programs anywhere! Check out the entire four year program. The competition is getting tougher. This sort of competition benefits all!
FYI: Olin College is a tutorial project education program. See http://www.olin.edu/
Very difficult decision…we have visited both. UW -Madison seems to have a much more interesting campus than UMD in that everything is right there. Two Student unions, Hoofers club, Lake, etc. UMD seems like a large campus filled with academic buildings and one very crowded student union. I thought UMD did a nice job explaining the undergrad computer science program and it is a direct admit where WI did not present as well and it is part of Letters and Science and you have to apply after taking first CS course and getting a c or better. Any feedback on the CS departments would be appreciated.
Doesn’t seem like the lack of direct admission at Wisconsin CS is an issue if the threshold for declaring the CS major is earning a C or better in one CS course. It is effectively an open major, unlike at many other schools where the grade/GPA requirements are substantially higher (or there is a competitive admission process) to keep enrollment within the department’s capacity.
Just found out that Madison would require 3 semesters of foreign language to graduate L&S. Since my son only had 2 years in High School, he would have to start from scratch if he did not do well on placement…it was two years ago so I suspect he would start over. Huge consideration and we don’t want the uncertainty. Also, he got into McGill. Any thoughts on UMD vs McGill CS? Looks like you get into your CS course work sooner at UMD as McGill is very prescribed for the first year.