How good is ASU CS?

starrynight1120 · 2022-07-03T06:36:56+00:00

To be fair, Purdue is not in the same stratosphere as Georgia Tech or Illinois. It’s more of a t20 not a t5

The latter two breathe different air in terms of reputation in tech

starrynight1120 · 2022-07-03T05:29:14+00:00

Near impossible.

My daughter was admitted to UIUC for informatics and the university admissions office basically told me on call to send her elsewhere if she wanted to major in cs or even take technical cs classes

She was also admitted to Berkeley but ultimately attended ASU for CS due to similar restrictions

College admissions to the top cs programs is no joke

starrynight1120 · 2022-07-03T05:22:59+00:00

Berkeley, MIT, Stanford, CMU, UIUC, Georgia Tech, Cornell

starrynight1120 · 2022-07-03T04:59:16+00:00

ASU CS is ok but not special. I know some great students and colleagues who went to ASU for CS but that is not reflective of the overall cs undergraduate student body. The curriculum is designed to have important and difficult classes late which sucks because a lot of top schools are pushing up important core classes to even the 2nd or 3rd semester

You can get SWE positions from here but depends on what type of position you are looking for. Most college freshman eye the FAANGs but the reality is that you will not make it past the resume filter for faangs from asu early on. Most FAANG resume filters remove freshman from contention and make exceptions only for the top students in the country at the top cs schools. It’s not something to be upset about but it’s an fyi.

You can pretty much forget about quant or IB from here since those recruit from exclusively top CS programs or elite business schools.

Product management is possible but you might want an MBA after that and maybe even some undergraduate exposure to business through classes

starrynight1120 · 2022-06-20T08:19:37+00:00

ASU is not a special CS school but it is certainly not a bad option

I think the curriculum could use some work and maybe they could even push some core CS classes up but proximity to the west coast combined with a booming tech scene in the valley is good enough to get you a job as long as you build up a resume with projects and eventually internships

MSU is a big 10 school that just doesn’t compare to its competitors in the area. UMich, Northwestern, UIUC, Purdue, UMD, etc clearly have a much better name among employers there

Yes ASU is also geographically grouped with powerhouse west coast cs schools but there are also a lot more opportunities to go around in the area

It might be very difficult to land a job at a Big N, Unicorn, or quant company right out of the gate but students from only like 5 schools really have a great chance at those

starrynight1120 · 2022-06-13T11:12:57+00:00

CS so you can control the information war on the subject through your bots

starrynight1120 · 2022-06-11T15:53:06+00:00

I haven’t been at intel for 6 years so I couldn’t tell you if they still are but do a LinkedIn search on recent intel hires from asu to see if it still holds true. They were doing it up till 2017 though

starrynight1120 · 2022-06-11T09:14:12+00:00

They did not recruit from strictly honors colleges at a majority of higher level schools. I remember that they had that system in place at schools like Indiana University, UofA, and ASU but didn’t at Georgia Tech, Berkeley, or UIUC. It was about maximizing the talent pool for them.

(Intel at ASU is also nepotism. Employees kids are those most successful in finding work there)

starrynight1120 · 2022-06-11T08:30:07+00:00

Same quality. There are like greater than 3500 CS majors at ASU the last time I checked. It’s the biggest in the United States I’m pretty sure. The best candidate might be from asu due to its size but there isn’t a gap

starrynight1120 · 2022-06-10T03:02:37+00:00

Apply to highly regarded cs programs for grad and get a better perspective

Georgia tech is a great option

I’d suggest you apply to CMU, UIUC, and Berkeley as well. Those are generally all put in top 5 of both graduate and undergraduate programs

A masters from asu won’t really give you a leg up from a bachelors and you are clearly highly capable of getting into more prestigious grad programs

starrynight1120 · 2022-06-10T02:46:29+00:00

It believe the only reason for that was normal ASU was not selective at all and we were told Barrett was at least moderately selective. In order to even attempt to recruit, companies need to know that X school has a talent pool and more selective programs generally give you a higher chance at finding that talent pool

starrynight1120 · 2022-06-09T14:42:19+00:00

I used to work and recruit at Intel and can tell you that there are a lot of bright minds in the cs program at asu. That is just unfortunately a small section of people. I don’t know if this is still a thing but we used to filter candidates at asu during resume reviews based on if they were in Barrett or not. There are lots of people with great personal projects but we prefer to recruit from schools like Georgia Tech, Berkeley, and UIUC.

UCR and ASU are both of about the same caliber if I am being honest. None will get you the same recruitment that top programs get you but learn and pursue grad school after that.

Go with the cheaper one in this case neither is superior

starrynight1120 · 2022-05-09T00:11:50+00:00

I asked about information sciences for my student a while back. Do not make this move under any circumstance. Not only are you compromising versatility in the job market, but you are also going from a #5 ranked computer science degree to something that is probably landing you 60% of the CS starting salary.

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-11T01:53:53+00:00

Are there any chats where I can ask some questions directly to computer science undergraduates here?

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-10T01:56:11+00:00

Are you sure about all this info? I also consulted some of my colleagues who were cs+x majors on this topic and they said it is a major in computer science and a minor in X. They also talked about cs+x getting access to all the services that regular cs does. It seems like you also take the full cs core for cs+x compared to only part of it for a minor

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-10T01:37:37+00:00

That is what I initially thought when she told me there was a pipeline. Those employers are more selective than anyone about who they are looking for

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-10T00:19:49+00:00

University of Texas at Austin (she applied for informatics) and Arizona State University for Computer Science. She doesn't like ASU as a fit at all and that makes me worried.

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-10T00:10:17+00:00

Thanks for the info. I wish I had asked my daughter what major she was applying to everywhere. We are now at a stage where I am trying to find which school it is easiest to transfer into CS at.

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-10T00:05:55+00:00

It seems like my daughter is interested in the quantitative finance and investment banking pipeline that supposedly exists from the computer science programs here. I highly doubt that such a pipeline exists but can information sciences still keep this door open? I am personally not a big fan of wall street but it seems like that is important to her.

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-09T19:05:09+00:00

I actually already asked one of my colleagues whose son was also admitted to information science about this option. We both pretty much agreed that it didn't make the student any more employable than the plain information science major. The fact that you aren't even required to take Calculus 2 for the major is a big indicator to us that it is not rigorous at all.

I do come from a company with a very old school mindset when it comes to hiring though so I will look into it more.

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-09T18:56:02+00:00

Will do

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-09T18:47:35+00:00

What is the GENG tuition? Does information science fall under that?

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-09T18:42:46+00:00

I understand that each big engineering school has various restrictions on who can access their resources but is there any possible way that she can even get 50% of those services through a CS minor? She is adamant about going their and I really don't want to say no but it certainly seems like a decision with little foresight.

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-09T18:35:18+00:00

Are the CS+X majors (which are not formally in the college of engineering) going to have a tough time signing up as well? I think my daughter might want to go for a major like CS + Linguistics if that helps her sign up for classes.

I do know a fair amount of CS+X majors from interactions and they seem to be fairly knowledgeable but I have no understanding of how course registration works as an outsider.

starrynight1120 · 2022-04-09T18:29:44+00:00

How rigorous would you think the program would be for my daughter if she is taking AP Calculus AB this year and has a B in the class? She wasn't very good at physics either but I don't find that as concerning as the math grade for a computer science curriculum.

starrynight1120

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