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hi, i go to a junior college in illinois now and i am going into computer science (or more specifically, computer networking). For a while, i was hooked on going to DePaul because i thought it was the best CS school around. after researching more, i find that it was not in the top 100 ranked cs schools. i hear the university of ill at champagne is good, but which is better depaul or illinois?

By Humbleservant (Humbleservant) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 09:52 pm: Edit

For comp sci, you'd best go to MIT, cornell, stanford, carnegie, berkeley or caltech.

Illinoi is not too highly ranked by NRC rankings, which are prolly the most respected rankings.

By Rana (Rana) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 10:48 pm: Edit

How about the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay...you might as well go to where the jobs will be...see the linked article:


http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/8263034.htm

By Brunoniana (Brunoniana) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 04:20 am: Edit

Gourman's ranking is 1. MIT, 2. Stanford, 3. Cornell, 4. Berkeley, 5. Carnegie Mellon, 6. Illinois, 7. UW-Seattle, 8. Princeton, 9. Yale, 10. Brown

By Cubekid (Cubekid) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 03:37 pm: Edit

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?757/7612

on that, it shows the following ranking:

1. Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1. Stanford University (CA)
1. University of California-Berkeley
5. University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
6. Cornell University (NY)
7. University of Texas-Austin
7. University of Washington
9. Princeton University (NJ)
10. California Institute of Technology
10. University of Wisconsin-Madison
12. Georgia Institute of Technology
12. University of Maryland-College Park
14. Brown University (RI)
14. University of California-Los Angeles
14. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

illinois looks good from that... and if you're willing to go out of state, ut at austin has a pretty cool honors program

By Guitarshredder (Guitarshredder) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 04:43 pm: Edit

My dad got a computer science degree from Depaul. I don't really know much about computer science programs at schools, but I wouldn't go just by the rankings. Seems kind of silly.

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 05:03 pm: Edit

So hows your dad doing now with that degree?

By Patches (Patches) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 05:25 pm: Edit

As far as I know, U of I is definitely much better than DePaul. My older brother studied CS in Champaign, and he now works for the university and has already been promoted. He seemed to enjoy it and think pretty highly of the program.

By Stug (Stug) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 05:58 pm: Edit

Yeah, I've talked to a CS prof at a local University (U of TN), and he said the tops were like Stanford and Illinois.

By Jimthema3 (Jimthema3) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 10:27 pm: Edit

first off, thank you all for responding. i guess now my decision is between illinois and depaul; which is a huge price difference, but as i am looking into illinois, it seems to be more geared towards computer engineering, like designing hardware and software. i am not too sure what a "computer science" degree is exactly but i was heading towards computer networking. depaul has a bachelors degree specifically in "network technologies". would i be better off paying less and getting a general cs degree or paying much more and getting a more focused degree?
Also, how is depaul not even in the top 100 cs schools? this is a tough and balanced decision

By Rocksolid4 (Rocksolid4) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 11:37 pm: Edit

pay less, more general.
you can focus in on networking at Illinois or in grad school- but you never know what you'll find that you love (perhaps a teacher taught stuff badly) and a general degree is invaluable, esp in CS. Plus Illinois is cheaper and more prestigious. That's what i'd recommend, but ure call
good luck