Ask YC: Rigorous CS curriculum with dedicated students?
I am beginning my college search and it seems that the most important thing (in the long run) for a college experience is a wide, rigorous curriculum and an involved student body. I am looking for a school that has demanding courses as well as at least the option to learn newer technologies (AJAX, stuff used in web startups). As for the students, I'd like for them to be dedicated and entrepreneurial, and basically be people who read news.yc.
If you think that other things are more important for a CS student, please let me know, as I'm shooting in the dark here and the above paragraph was basically a response to trying to avoid what I would not like.
So far, Stanford seems like my first choice. I appreciate any of your suggestions.
11 comments
[ 5.1 ms ] story [ 32.2 ms ] threadWhich is to say, prefer that your first programming class is in Scheme, not AJAX.
As you mentioned, one big thing to consider is what you are interested in besides CS, what other types of students you want to hang out with, etc. College, at least at good American schools, is generally less about preparation for a career, and more about personal growth and exploration.
Finally, I imagine Stanford has somewhat better weather than Boston. :)
"Newer technologies" are offered, particularly in the CS193 classes. I wouldn't waste my time on them though; you can learn as much by reading documentation online. (The exception is the class on Objective-C and Cocoa. Final projects are presented to Apple engineers, and Apple does a fair amount of hiring from that class. If that's your thing...)
Like I said, though, it's a computer science curriculum, not a "programming" or "web startup" curriculum. Everything you need to create a successful web startup you can probably teach yourself (c.f. Zuckerberg).
The CS program has a reputation
Brown attracts a very, diverse interesting intellectual student body (and liberal)
Randy Pausch, who delivered a brilliant lecture about living life, (http://tinyurl.com/38zo2k) met his mentor there.
Most schools are liberal only in the term 'Liberal Arts' for the course catalog. Brown is so liberal they even protest against the computer system not allowing them register for classes whenever they want. See: http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/july/august_2007/a_course...
Thayer Street (the main campus drag) is a wonder.
Of course, most everyone here is going to be pushing their alma mater, so my advice is to visit as many of the major CS schools as you can. You get a comparable education at all of them, I doubt one is that much better than the rest, so go with whichever one feels right. Ask random students walking to class about the best and worst thing about the school, ask about the courses and workload, and most importantly see if you like the area: distance from home, climate, how big-city it is. You're going to need to live there for 4(ish) years, you want somewhere that you'll enjoy living in so that you don't lock yourself in your room and burn out.
Oh, and if you're visiting CMU drop me a line, I'll show you around (current student).
Don't bother. Learn to program, don't learn a language or a technology.
You can (and should!) do AJAX+RoR on your own. Learn how to think about programming.
I loved MIT. But I also went XVI (aero eng) because I've always felt that a direct approach is a mistake. I got to learn about rockets and aircraft and learn how to apply CS by taking all of those classes too.
I attend the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Software Engineering curriculum here is top-notch. I would not hesitate to recommend it.