choirfarm Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 My son is really looking at Baylor and TCU and will major in computer science in programming. The Baylor department is much bigger with more choices to major in and times classes are offered. Waco is always criticized because of it being a terrible town. To be honest, I loved it. All activities I wanted to do were on campus anyway. I didn't want to be in a big city and my boy won't necessarily either. HOWEVER, if you look at internships or things you can do during the school year. TCU has a big advantage with that. They have an awesome relationship with Fort Worth and all majors get TONS of real life experiences. The 10 computer science ( I think programming is the only degree in computer science at TCU) seniors all have jobs waiting for them. Our good friend has a boy that graduated from Baylor with a computer science/business degree. He graduated in May and still doesn't have a job. He recently went for an interview somewhere and there were 5 Baylor grads competing for the same job in addition to all the other people. Since TCU is such a small program, he would get tons of individual attention but you have to take certain classes at certain times because they aren't offered all the time. I'm going to have him stay overnight at both places this spring and/or next fall. What kind of questions should he ask? What else should he know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 No real help for you here - it's been more than 20 years since I graduated from Baylor with my computer science degree. :D Just wanted to give you a bump up. I would recommend that he ask about tutoring availability and/or study groups.... that sort of thing. I think you really can't go to far wrong with either school, though of course I think Baylor would be a better choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 As somebody with a computer science degree with the privilege to still be working in the field, some things I'd want him to ask if he were my kid: How many of the classes are taught by the professors as opposed to being taught by TAs? What types of research are the professors involved in? Are there opportunities for work/study programs in the department for undergraduates? Also carefully compare the degree requirements for each program. You ideally want to see a good selection of upper-level courses in whatever area of computer science he is interested in. Does he like hardware or networking? Make sure he looks at their lab. What type of classes are they teaching related to that? Is he thinking more of computer engineering, databases, graphics, or information management? Is he more interested in computer programming? If so, the jobs for this are really not in the US anymore at entry level, and hopefully the school will inform him of that. Math should be a large part of any program along with some required writing classes. How many of their computer science graduates get jobs right away and how many go on to graduate school? I would give a great deal of weight to small classes in the upper levels as well as good job placement, but then again, I have no idea why my ds chose his school other than he "just knew it was the one." Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 How many of the classes are taught by the professors as opposed to being taught by TAs? What types of research are the professors involved in? Are there opportunities for work/study programs in the department for undergraduates? Also carefully compare the degree requirements for each program. You ideally want to see a good selection of upper-level courses in whatever area of computer science he is interested in. Does he like hardware or networking? Make sure he looks at their lab. What type of classes are they teaching related to that? Is he thinking more of computer engineering, databases, graphics, or information management? Is he more interested in computer programming? If so, the jobs for this are really not in the US anymore at entry level, and hopefully the school will inform him of that. Math should be a large part of any program along with some required writing classes. How many of their computer science graduates get jobs right away and how many go on to graduate school? I would give a great deal of weight to small classes in the upper levels as well as good job placement, but then again, I have no idea why my ds chose his school other than he "just knew it was the one." Good luck. Thank you so much!!! He "thinks" he is interested in programming but since he will not take his first class in that until March, we'll see. However, the TCU professor told him it was tedious work but lucrative. He doesn't mind tedious and likes the fact that he could work by himself. I know FOR SURE that he wouldn't want the computer science degrees that mix with the business school. He likes research, independent kind of things. He has LONG concentratin abilities. ( Much longer than mine!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Maybe... How many of the assignments are collaborative assignments and how many are individual assignnments? Do the required courses fill up so that a student gets pushed into taking another semester or is it easy to get into the courses that you need the semester that you need them? What happens if you flunk a key prerequisite course or its scheduling conflicts with another required course? Do you have to wait a full year to take the course again or can you take it the next semester? (Some courses are only offered in the spring or the fall.) How much lab equipment is there? Is it difficult to get time on the equipment to do an assignment? Are there any cool-sounding upper-level classes? He should ask a student whether it is really possible to take those classes. Sometimes they don't run because they don't make the minimum number of students, or are next to impossible to take because they fill up or because there are too many basic requirements or because they are only offered at the same time as a basic requirement. Is he going to college to get a liberal arts degree to educate the mind? Or is he going to college in order to be trained for a specific career? If it is the second, then I would push for a get-experience-while-in-school college, good-job-placement college because that has a much better chance of accomplishing his goal. If it is the first, then he should pick the college where he is most comfortable. Sigh. The realities of being grownup... Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 (edited) Maybe... How much lab equipment is there? Is it difficult to get time on the equipment to do an assignment? Are there any cool-sounding upper-level classes? Is he going to college to get a liberal arts degree to educate the mind? Or is he going to college in order to be trained for a specific career? If it is the second, then I would push for a get-experience-while-in-school college, good-job-placement college because that has a much better chance of accomplishing his goal. If it is the first, then he should pick the college where he is most comfortable. Sigh. The realities of being grownup... Nan Thanks Nan. About the labs. That is one think I meant to point out in Karen's post. Both schools have TONS of labs. Here are the TCU labs: http://www.cs.tcu.edu/facilities.htm on the next page it says:Additionally, two research laboratories (the Crescent "Smart Homes" lab and the Mobile HCI lab) are available for students to engage in research activies with faculty members. All laboratories may be physically accessed 24 hours a day. Here is the Baylor lab info http://www.ecs.baylor.edu/computer_science/research/index.php?id=42316 Both are ABET (?) certified. But Baylor is very much into this programming contest. Since it he wants to go into programming, that may be a good thing. Edited January 11, 2012 by choirfarm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bostonian Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 He "thinks" he is interested in programming but since he will not take his first class in that until March, we'll see. Hasn't he tried to learn any programming on his own? I would a prospective CS major to have some programming experience. He can try Scratch, Python, or some other language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Hasn't he tried to learn any programming on his own? I would a prospective CS major to have some programming experience. He can try Scratch, Python, or some other language. Nope, he hasn't. Part of it is lack of time. We've signed him up for the Aops computer programming course that goes from march-June. His AP Chem and AP Gov classes will be through with new material in march and just studying for the AP exam, so it should be ok then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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