A more detailed comparison between CS at Chicago and Stanford is below. There appear to many differences between the degree requirements at the 2 schools, some of which are listed below. This comparison assumes the students has few AP or other credits from HS.
The general theme seems to be that Stanford requires more courses and a greater degree of minimum rigor in the fields more directly related to the CS major, including both CS/Eng classes and math/science foundation classes. For example, Stanford requires 7 CS courses in the student’s CS specialization area + a senior project. In contrast Chicago, does not require a specialization or senior project, and instead offers students the option to take 3 courses in a specialization area, if they want. Stanford requires 3-4 math courses besides calc, and Chicago requires 1 math course besides calc.
Rather than in-CS-major courses, Chicago appears to have the greater relative rigor in non-STEM general ed as part of their core. Chicago’s humanities and social science core sequences appear to be more restrictive than Stanford and likely offer fewer opportunities for a student looking for a less rigorous option. A Stanford freshman has the option to fulfill a good portion of general ed requirements by doing an intensive and highly rigorous residence based liberal arts program like SLE, but this isn’t required, and most students do not choose SLE. Stanford gives students far more flexibility in which courses he/she may take to fulfill most of the out-of-major general ed requirements.
Non-STEM General Ed
- Stanford requires ~12 courses split up as 3 reasoning (1 applied/quant, 1 ethical, and 1 formal), 3 writing (2 general and 1 in major), ~2 social inquiry, and 1 each of foreign language, creative expression, diversity, and thinking matters
- Chicago requires ~11 courses split up as 3 social sciences, 2 humanities, 2 civ, ~2 foreign language, 1 arts, 1 HCA elective
Math and Science Foundation + STEM General Ed
- Math Foundation – Stanford requires 6-7 courses (~3 post calc), Chicago requires 3-4 courses (~1 post calc)*
- Science Foundation – Stanford requires freshman physics + elective, Chicago requires 4 electives (2 physical science related + 2 bio related)
- Other STEM Electives – Stanford general ed includes 2 classes in scientific method, 2 classes in interpretive inquiry, and technology in society; some of which may be combined with other requirements, Chicago requires 3 STEM electives for BS and 0 for BA
CS Depth/Specialization Area
- Stanford requires 7 courses in specialization, Chicago specializations have 3 courses and are optional
- The following specializations are only offered at Stanford – Artificial Intelligence, Biocomputation, Engineering, Graphics, Individually Designed
- The following specializations are only offered at Chicago – Security, Machine Learning, Programming Languages
CS Senior Project – Required at Stanford, Not required at Chicago
Total Courses and % of Total Graduation Units by Field
- CS/Eng-- Stanford requires ~16-17 courses (36%), Chicago requires ~12-13 courses (30%)*
- Math – Stanford requires ~6-7 courses (15%), Chicago requires ~3-4 courses (8%)*
- Science – Stanford requires ~3 courses (6%), Chicago requires ~4 courses (10%)
- Other STEM Elective – Stanford requires ~2 courses (5%), Chicago requires ~3 for BS (7%) and ~0 for BA (0%)
- Non-STEM General Ed – Stanford requires ~12 courses (~26%), Chicago requires ~11 (26%)
- Unrestricted Electives (with few AP credits) – Stanford has ~6 courses (13%), Chicago has ~8 courses for BS (19%) and ~11 courses for BA (26%)
*Counting 1-2 “theory” courses as math rather than CS.