If you're looking into what options you have for your major or minor, keeping
in mind that you want to do something that remains useful in the future, you
might have considered computer science. Information Technology is an active and continually growing
industry that offers, besides just "working with computers," niches for almost
all specific interests such as design, finances, or engineering. Computer
science hasn't been just programming for a long time now.
So if you make the right choices now, you won't have such extreme worries
about getting a job after graduation. Unemployment rates for graduates in
computer sciences in the U.S. are and remain lower than other subjects due to
niche they fill in the economy and general demand.
Besides picking a degree combination that has a future, having a famous and
renowned alma mater mentioned in your job application could open some doors as
well. If you're especially good in your field of study and play your cards right
during your studies by working with companies and doing internships, you might
not even need to apply but instead will already get a foot in the door. The
following are 15 colleges for computer science that can definitely give your
career a boost.
15) University of Edinburgh, Scotland
At over 500 years old, University of Edinburgh is one of the longest standing
on this list and a member of the ancient universities and Sutton Trust 13
groups. This means it's among the top seven oldest universities that teach in
English. Its significance in various fields of research, along with its rankings
on various lists, is very high.
The University of Edinburgh offers a wide selection of courses in seven
department buildings located all across the capital of Scotland, so as with many
European campuses, you can't really speak of it in terms of one single area.
This does not mean you'll be running from one end of the city to the other to
get to your courses, though. The School of Informatics is located near the
central university campus.
As what is considered to be an elite university, the application process only
allows roughly 2,700 applicants in total to enroll. If you manage to belong to
one of these 2,700, you can count on getting expert and individual support in
the form of personal tutors, who will guide you during your studies. You'll also
be working on a more personal level since each professor has an average of only
eight students to work with.
14) University of California (UCLA)
Since it is the alma mater of several Medal of Science and Nobel Prize
winners, UCLA has more than enough reasons to pride itself on its status as one
of the best universities on an international level. When you decide to study
there, then it's not because of the weather or what the university can already
boast of, nor should it be simply the ability to brag about where you went to
college. The top-notch computer science department should be the deciding
factor. Even though the UCLA is more renowned for its Business School, its
computer science department, a department of the Henry Samueli School, has
faculty members who were awarded the National Medal of Sciences and the Fields
Medal. So UCLA doesn't rely solely on the successful careers and reputations of
its alumni, but strives to maintain and better its position in the academic
world.
In other areas, such as medicine, UCLA also has a very good reputation. This
is important to you. If you ever get a nasty zap during coursework with
electronics, you are in the safe hands of the 2,000 physicians in the Ronald
Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Even though it’s incredibly unlikely to happen, it's
a comforting thought. On a serious note, should you have any regular health
issues, this could be an argument in favor of choosing UCLA.
13) University of Melbourne, Australia
The University of Melbourne is one of the universities that specifically
emphasizes that the computer science major does not require extensive prior
knowledge of informatics and computers. The program aims to build
subject-relevant knowledge by starting from basics, like understanding the
hardware your future tools may consist of. So even if you aren't the ultimate
computer nerd and don't know a lick of Java or binary but are interested in
computer science, you can apply. Those who already are familiar with computer
science and its various fields of study, such as one or a few of the many
programming languages, can take a proficiency test to skip the basics and start
in the advanced courses.
In the research area, the University of Melbourne is closely associated with
the National Information and Communications Technology Research Center, short
NICTA, making the institution the leader among the research oriented and
associated universities in Australia.
12) The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
Also known as HKUST, this university is one of the younger institutions of
higher learning named here. It was established in 1991, so it doesn't have the
same number of famous alumni to mention that some of the others do. However,
HKUST has achieved several good rankings both in Asia and worldwide, so the
placing on this list isn't undeserved. If you're from a Western country and
looking for a change of scenery, HKUST is one of your options. Another advantage
of HKUST is actually its age. Many older institutions have been forced to
modernize at some point, but still have issues simply because of their
architecture. With a relatively modern facility, HKUST can go through
infrastructural changes much faster, making new additions available faster to
you. In numbers, that also means that for every 10,000 students, there are
25,000 computers available.
Notably, if you're unfamiliar with the Hong Kong school system, you'll have
to adapt to the different study time organization. It isn't divided into the
semester system Western countries are familiar with, but into four parts tied to
the seasons. Also, some majors that usually have a three year period of study
have an additional year at HKUST, though the Department of Computer Science and
Engineering also lists three year programs.
11) Princeton University
As one of the United States' big name universities, Princeton is a member of
the Ivy League. It's up to you if you consider this fact important, though it’s
relevant if you're trying to get a spot at Princeton with a scholarship. If
you're not eligible for scholarships, you can also receive financial aid from
the university in form of scholarships that aim to pay the difference between
what you can afford and what's left of the semester costs.
Alexander Hall
An argument for
Princeton is that it's rather small when it comes to the number of students,
being just shy of 7,000, and thus allowing a better student to professor ratio.
However, compared to the over 10,000 students attending some other universities
on this list, this fact also narrows down the number of accepted applications.
Still, applying here is worth a try. Unlike some universities offering computer
sciences, Princeton has their PC's working with all the well-known operating
systems, which is an important fact if you want to be versatile.
10) University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Partially due to Hong Kong being a former British colony, the University of
Hong Kong is an international institution that teaches in English, and only in
language studies are other languages spoken. Still, Chinese language courses are
available, which is important for any international student who wants to grab
the opportunity to get a hold on the growing Asian economy. Like HKUST, the
University of Hong Kong has switched to offering four year courses, though that
doesn't mean that you'll have more time to take in the same workload as anyone
dealing with a three year standard period. The university receives a lot of
government funding, more than most other internationally renowned public
institutions, enabling a lot of research in various fields. Students of the
university are well-cared for due to a range of student services like sports,
health, and counseling, along with several student accommodations, some of which
have specific limitations such as being male or female only.
Eliot Hall and Meng Wah Complex
The University of Hong Kong is known for identifying the virus that caused
the SARS outbreak.
9) Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), Switzerland
As it is the case with many European universities, ETH Zurich was also forced
to divide its campus in order to expand. The campus is divided into two, with
the main area located in central Zurich and the newer still-expanding campus is
just outside the city, in Hönggerberg. (Don't worry; you don't need to be able
to pronounce that to apply.) If you want to apply for student accommodations, if
you're interested in ecological sustainability and supporting it or both, you
should take a closer look at Hönggerberg. Generally, ETH places great weight on
implementing and working on new and better concepts in sustainability, so this
is a topic in the majority of studies. Accordingly, it's the leading research
center for questions on sustainability, energy resources and climate in
Switzerland and Europe. The student accommodations and the growing Hönggerberg
campus, also called Science City, are prime examples of the results.
Of further note for students interested in computer science is the Swiss
National Supercomputing Center, which is located at the ETH and occasionally
works with CERN. Even though there aren't as many undergraduate research
projects as at other universities, you could get a small job at the center and
get a closer look.
8) National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
The National University of Singapore combines the British university teaching
system of small groups with the American point system, which may make adapting
to your new surroundings a bit easier. Besides its great reputation in Asia,
you'll be studying under an international faculty and with international
classmates.
NUS has multiple programs within its Department of Computer Science, the main
Computer Science Program, the Turing Program, the Von Neumann, the Computational
Biology Program, the Communication and Media Program, and the Computer
Engineering Program. Depending on your specific interest, you can either receive
permission to join a program after your first or second semester, as is the case
with the Turing and Von Neumann programs or start directly, as is the case with
the Computational Biology Program.
7) University of California (Berkeley, UCB)
Berkeley is particularly interesting in the area of computer sciences,
because of its involvement in the early stages of several technologies such as
the Berkeley Software Distribution that eased the way for operational systems
like Mac OS X. When you become a student at Berkeley with a major or minor in
computer science, you also have the possibility to join the eXperimental
Computing Facility. Despite the name that suggests involvement of lecturers and
professors, the XCF is actually a student based group that can count the
development of open source programs such as GIMP to their achievements.
6) Harvard University
In the following, are two universities that are located in cities called
Cambridge, even though they are in two different countries. The first is
Harvard, the oldest university in the USA. What once began as a college to
educate the future clergy is now a well-established institution of higher
learning that aims to make higher education possible for everyone. Although the
numbers vary with each year, Harvard doesn't demand schooling payments from you
if your family income is below a certain level within a year. If your household
income is above this limit, it still might fall into a margin area where a
certain percentage between 0 and 10 percent is asked to be paid.
If you're one of the people who regularly criticize the Microsoft operational
systems and the software the company produces, you can follow in Bill Gate's
footsteps by attending Harvard and learn how to improve or create a better
system.
5) University of Cambridge, UK
The second university located in Cambridge is the University of Cambridge
itself, classically just called Cambridge. To avoid confusion, the University of
Cambridge consists of 31 colleges that are independent from each other and make
their own decisions. They are not only independent from the university
administration, but also from the faculties. For computer sciences, you have to
refer to the three or four year Computer Science Tripos course.
Cambridge has one of the longest-standing computer science programs, even if
the department has undergone a name change or two over the course of the past 76
years. It also aims to offer you the newest technology; the department moved out
of the more historical buildings of Cambridge to a modern setting on the West
Cambridge campus. Cambridge also makes sure to inform you of your future job
prospect: it holds annual recruitment fairs, where companies apparently compete
for a spot to attend and meet the year's graduates.
4) Carnegie Mellon University
Europeans reading this list should be aware that this Carnegie Mellon is not
to be confused with the Carnegie Mellon in Portugal, but refers to the
university located in Pittsburgh, Penn. Like Princeton, it's a private
university and on the smaller side of the scale when it comes to the number of
students attending. The university is a combination of seven colleges, of which,
for you, the School of Computer Science should be of central interest. This
school is further split up into smaller institutes and departments, which is
where you can decide how to set your focus.
Carnegie Mellon prides itself on being one of the leading institutions in
this field, regularly employing award-winning professors and lecturers in order
to uphold its reputation. Furthermore, Carnegie Mellon has four campuses outside
of Pittsburgh, one of which is in Silicon Valley, where you can pursue a
master's degree in software engineering in the future. Until then, if doesn't
know this university when you tell him where you are applying, you can let him
know that it's the university that used the smile emoticon for the first time.
:-)
3) University of Oxford, UK
It's unclear when the University of Oxford was founded, though it's
definitely the oldest university on this list. Estimates and regularly quoted
ages are usually around 900 years. The application system is a little different
from most colleges: instead of applying directly to the university
administration itself, you need apply to one of the 38 colleges and six Private
Halls; the choice of which is relevant to your major, as that some colleges
admit more computer science majors than others. Each major has its own selection
process. For computer science, the Mathematical Institute is the responsible
administrative body, and it demands certain grades in mathematics, a math
admissions test, and an interview conducted either personally or via video
conference. The yearly fees are between about $5,630 and $14,470. The fees
depending a great deal on the year you're starting in and the annual income of
your household. This doesn't mean that Oxford is an elite university in the
sense of being only open to the wealthy. For the less fortunate, Oxford offers
scholarships and also refers potential students to scholarships that are not
offered by Oxford itself.
Once you get in, you won't only be attending a historically and
architecturally beautiful university. You'll have Britain's second largest
library at your fingertips, a fact which, as many college students with less
elaborate university libraries will assure you, is a gift. If you want to know
what you can boast about when you attend, then you could name the most notable
graduates relevant to the major you're particularly interested in: Stephen
Hawking.
2) Stanford
University
Actually, the full name of Stanford is Leland Stanford Junior University, and
it's also referred to as The Farm. But, since the first is a mouthful and the
university has a very respectable academic standing, people thankfully
immediately know what you're talking about when you simply refer to the
university as Stanford. In the field of computer sciences, Stanford is a very
good choice, based on how many Turing Award winners it has taught and on its
regional and economical closeness to Silicon Valley. As a financially well-off
university, due to donations and support from the industry, it can afford to not
only encourage student start-ups with the StartX program, but since 2008, it
doesn't require tuition fees from new undergraduate students whose parents earn
less than $100,000 annually.
Another supportive initiative of Stanford is the Undergraduate Advising and
Research program, which allows you to apply the theory you're learning during
your coursework. Like with many programs of this type, you won't get to start
off on your own immediately, but will be doing minor assistant jobs in the
presence of professors, lecturers, and seniors. This is where everyone starts,
and most importantly, it will help you understand your course material on a
different level.
In recent news, researchers of Stanford built the first working computer
based on carbon nanotubes. This is a step towards replacing silicon, which
slowly but surely has been reaching its limits when it comes to increasing the
performance of computers. Even though the carbon nanotube processor is currently
only capable of arranging numbers, it's a show of what you can do with
Stanford’s backing.
1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
MIT is a private university. It is especially interesting in the area of
computer sciences because it is the founding organization and home of World Wide
Web Consortium, a standardizing committee for the Internet. This is relevant for
anyone considering a major in computer science because MIT runs the Undergrad
Research Opportunities Program, which aims to incorporate members of lower
semesters into scientific research fields. Further relevance in the IT field can
be found in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
MIT also works intensively with other companies and groups. Recently,
students of MIT were allowed to experiment in microgravity with the backing and
support of NASA. Because MIT works closely with industry giants, it encourages
the pressure of friendly competition between students and aims to help students
develop the ability to solve problems with their own ideas, rather than just
teaching set and already existing knowledge. Accordingly, expectations are high,
but MIT's philosophy also includes the sharing of knowledge. This is proven by
its membership in the Open Course Ware project, which makes course content
accessible to the general public. So even if you don't get in, you can benefit
from the university's course offerings.
If you do become a student of MIT, you can also attend some courses at the
nearby Harvard University and, if you're female, at the Wellesley College too.
Final Words
When you look into what the general consensus for the best colleges for
studying computer science is, you will find diverging opinions on the ranking
itself. Decide for yourself what is important to you besides having a degree
from an alma mater that will impress potential employers and relations. There's
always something that will help you narrow down your choices. It could be that
you want to study specifically under a renowned professor who is widely
published or, if you already know that you want to study abroad for a semester,
you want a college that has exchange partners of equal quality in a country you
prefer.
Don't focus too much on how popular a college is or if it can boast a 99
percent success rates among its alumni. College is a new and important phase in
your life, so also consider your own happiness. You'll be spending a great deal
of time on your campus and if you aren't enjoying some of it, it will reflect on
your studies. In conclusion, weigh all your options and make sure to check out
the colleges you're considering. And most importantly, enjoy yourself!
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