Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Computer Programmers
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at United States Naval Academy, Montgomery College, Towson University, and The Community College of Baltimore County.
Fastest Response From Schools
- Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the Spotlight schools on this page.
Student Body
- Part-Time: For schools emphasizing part-time studies, consider Coppin State, Capitol College, Morgan State, and Bowie State.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider College of Notre Dame of Maryland.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Bowie State, Morgan State, Coppin State, and Prince George's Community College.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Anne Arundel, Hood, College of Southern Maryland, and Hagerstown Community College.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of United States Naval Academy, Johns Hopkins, Goucher, and Loyola.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of United States Naval Academy, Washington College, St. Mary's College of Maryland, and Mount St. Mary's University.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, United States Naval Academy, and St. Mary's College of Maryland.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at United States Naval Academy, Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, and Coppin State.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at United States Naval Academy, Morgan State, Goucher, and St. Mary's College of Maryland.
Spotlight Schools Search
Spotlight Maryland Schools Related to This Career
- Locations: Bethesda
- Programs: 2 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor
- Locations: Millersville, Owings Mills, Rockville, Rosedale, Suitland
- Programs: 2 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor, Certificate, Diploma
- Locations: Columbia, Greenbelt, Lutherville Timonium, Rockville
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor
- Locations: Owings Mills
- Programs: 8 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
- Locations: Beltsville, Towson
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Certificate
See these schools on a map
Study from Anywhere at Online Schools Related to This Career
- Programs: 3 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor, Master
- Programs: 2 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate
Colorado Technical University Online
- Programs: 3 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor, Doctorate
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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Johns Hopkins University • Baltimore, MD
Studying Technical Management (completion in 2003)
• 5/4/2011
"I got additional points of view in addition to traditional engineering knowledge and appreciation for management aspects."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | You get to see different points of view and learn methods and procedures of managing technical projects. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | Johns Hopkins is a very well known private university and attracts very high quality pool of applications. |
| Program Quality | 8 | A lot of useful information, though there's no overall arch of studies |
| Instruction | More than 5 years ago | attended more than 5 years ago |
| How Difficult | 5 | Requires a lot of homework, especially in teams - but once you put in the work, it's not too tough. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Healthy mix; I think actually instruction in person was very valuable. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 2 | There's a set sequence with not a lot of flexibility. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | I didn't use them much, but I heard from others that they're pretty good. |
| Social Life | 5 | I was not interested at all - I was married already. |
| Placement Services | 5 | I was already employed at the time. |
| Alumni Network | 9 | There's a magazine, online community and periodic events. |
The Johns Hopkins University • Baltimore, MD
Studying Computer Science (completion in 1989)
• 7/20/2011
"An academically rewarding experience - very satisfied with the program. Continue to reap benefits to this day."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I believe the university continues to enjoy a strong reputation. Curriculum continues to be relevant - updated to meet current state of practice. |
| Program Reputation | 9 | In general, Johns Hopkins has name recognition throughout the industry. The program itself is well rated. |
| Program Quality | 10 | Courses were very relevant to my work - I still use some of the key concepts to this day. I was able to gain breadth as well as depth of knowledge. |
| Instruction | 10 | It was directly relevant to my career and covered a broad range of topics. The curriculum was aligned well with what turned out to be my work over the following two decades. |
| How Difficult | 8 | Course work was rigorous, but doable in a part time program. Projects were challenging. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Nature of the curriculum required hands on programming. But in depth understanding of the subject matter necessitated theoretical material as well (i.e., book learning). Many assignments combined both. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | I was able to work full time while attending with little interference with my normal work. Options have expanded since that time. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | Full resources needed to accomplish class assignments were available. Advisors were available and involved. Libraries and other media were excellent. I have used them recently when doing research. |
| Social Life | 7 | Some strong athletic programs and good alumni events. Not as easy to be involved as a part time student. |
| Placement Services | 5 | I rated average because I don't use the service, so I cannot really judge. It seems from others that these services are good. |
| Alumni Network | 10 | I still participate in alumni events at least a couple of times a year (on average). The alumni association offers many events and benefits. |
Towson University • Towson, MD
Studying Computer Science (completion in 1990)
• 11/4/2011
"I graduated and got a great job. I owe them a lot for teaching me my career."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I hear good things about Towson, despite my neglect in keeping up with the program. I can't imagine it has declined past usefulness. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | I have heard good things about recent TU graduates. I have no reason to believe otherwise. |
| Program Quality | 10 | I enjoyed my major, and it was a very exciting time in computer science. Towson was very supportive. |
| Instruction | 10 | My professors were all geeks and coders. Learning from people that love it is amazing. |
| How Difficult | 8 | Kids today get compilers and IDE's, but we had to build our own. Instead of focusing on making awesome software, we had to code frameworks. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There were far fewer books talking about programming in the 90s. We had a lot of theory about software and machine workings, though. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | I took classes in the afternoon, preferably, and there was always the one that made you wake up too early! Back then, there were no online courses. |
| Academic Facilities | 5 | We had a decent amount of equipment. The whole thing was still developing, so it was very difficult and expensive to keep up. |
| Social Life | 8 | Computer guys stuck together. I had a network of friends. At the time, computers were still very strange and foreign, so that didn't help. |
| Placement Services | 1 | No one knew what to do with computer people in the 90s. Can't blame career services for that. |
| Alumni Network | I'm not sure. I haven't ever used it. |
University Of Maryland: College Park • College Park, MD
Studying Mathematics (completion in 2008)
• 1/16/2012
"I enjoy the reputation of my school. The training, however, did not help me much in terms of working as a programmer."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | My school has a good reputation in its CS programs. Many of my friends in CS later got into very good companies. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | The program has a good reputation, but it may be limited to the East Coast. |
| Program Quality | 5 | The school is well-known. However, the effort in helping students find a job is marginal. |
| Instruction | 4 | The classes are difficult, whereas a real work environment usually doesn't require much knowledge. |
| How Difficult | 5 | The program was fairly easy. The workload was light. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I felt that we leaned more toward book learning. Most of my programming skills are acquired later when at work. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 4 | The schedule was very flexible. Students can arrange their own schedule to a great extent. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | Computer labs, libraries, projectors and class room were very systematically administrated. Professors are kind and accessible. |
| Social Life | 2 | My social experience is very limited to my own social group. Although school spirit is high, I never attend any games. |
| Placement Services | 5 | We have a campus career fair and professors sent job-related emails to students often. However, the positions are usually limited to academia instead of industrial environment. |
| Alumni Network | 3 | I do not feel much support. I do not participate the network very frequently. |
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