Submitted by Gotem051 t3_10630z4 in Pennsylvania
I’m looking into colleges to attend around the country I’m not from this state. So I’ve come to Reddit to ask about specific colleges and your thoughts on them. Is the comp sci program decent, and is there any significant downsides to this college?
Drexel for Comp Sci in PHL-Metro
Run from Haverford College. They are as wacky as it gets. Totally incompatible with an analytical mind and degree like computer science. Gee whiz. That's a crazy combo there.
I'd go with what gets you closest to zero debt whatever college that might be. If it's Haverford go with that.
A bachelor's degree from any accredited college is fine since after a few years of job experience the education in your resume becomes a footnote to check a box.
The most important thing to consider in a college is first, the cost. If you got a free ride that matters. A lot since if you end up going to what is considered a better school and you are now carrying around 60k+ in student debt you may be stuck with that for the next 10-20 years depending on how you manage to pay it off.
The second thing would be does the school have a strong network within industry you're looking to join. In the case of Haverd is in good with companies like Google, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, etc. then you will have an easier time finding a job while or after you earn your degree which is the whole point of college.
You need to look at this as a financial investment. If you're just looking it as just a learning opportunity or experience you either have a trust fund to work off of or you're going to be hurting once you realize how much those student loans sap away at your income once you begin to pay them off.
If you're looking at a free ride from haverford bc you are top 1% brain you can probably get the same deal elsewhere and attend a place with a deep faculty in your field. Comp Sci is broad.
Figure out the interest areas of the faculty members who actually interact with students and make sure it aligns with yours esp in a smaller school like haverford. My 2 cents.
Haverford is an exceptional liberal arts college.
one good thing about hav is that we have the consortium so you can take classes at swarthmore, penn, and bryn mawr. people do use it & it means you have access to lotsss of courses. i don't know comp sci specifically but the math program is quite good, and research in lots of stem fields is very accessible and even underclassmen get research positions. the only downside i can think of is it's quite small and you will know a good majority of the people at the school within a few months. that's definitely not for everyone!
Good reputation. See links below.
What are your career goals? What’s your budget? Carnegie Mellon would be top tech college in the state probably, including Computer Science. Penn State, Univ of Pittsburg, Univ of Penn, all have excellent CS programs. Lots of state schools like Millersville, Bloomsburg, Slippery Rock all have decent programs but they’ll be a bit more well rounded.
If you want a strong background in Computer Science you don’t want a liberal arts college. Liberal arts colleges are awesome and will give you an excellent well rounded education. But it won’t be a program immersed in tech.
If your focus is software development, I hope you have a strong background and interest already. You will need to be self motivated to learn new tech constantly as that’s what tech needs. You won’t be able to rely on just a college degree to get you there.
U.S. news is a pretty bad metric to go by. Niche has reviews tho which id look at
But all reviews have an inherent bias in that people are more likely to leave a review if they had a bad experience
feudalle t1_j3eid9h wrote
Haverford is a good school but you can do better for the price point in the area. I'd say upenn has the best comp-sci program. I am bias as I've severed as a mentor there for a couple programs over the years. Drexel isn't bad, Rutgers is decent, I've heard mixed reviews about Villanova but no first hand experience with that program.
Haverford is small not sure if that is a pro or con for you. Haverford students can also take some classes at Bryn Mawr (all girls, 7 sisters school). A bunch of students are old mainline families, it's mostly known for liberal arts.