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 Northern Virginia Community College, Tidewater Community College, Germanna Community College, and Lord Fairfax Community College.
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 James Madison, Norfolk State, Virginia State, and Old Dominion University.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Sweet Briar College, Hollins, and Mary Baldwin.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Virginia State, Hampton, Norfolk State, and Ferrum.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Southwest Virginia Community College, Patrick Henry Community College, Danville Community College, and Central Virginia Community College.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Southern Virginia University, Washington and Lee University, University of Richmond, and Hampton.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Ferrum, Hampden - Sydney, Virginia Military Institute, and Sweet Briar College.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Washington and Lee University, William and Mary, University of Virginia, and University of Richmond.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Washington and Lee University, University of Virginia, William and Mary, and University of Richmond.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Washington and Lee University, Sweet Briar College, Hampden - Sydney, and University of Richmond.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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Virginia Commonwealth University • Richmond, VA
Studying Photography (completion in 1992)
• 5/1/2011
"The photo courses were amazing. Everything else was pretty crap."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | Depends on their course of study. From what I've heard, most of the art dept there has been gutted since I attended. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | Not entirely sure. Most of the entire art program was gutted a few years ago. |
| Program Quality | 9 | Great people that led the photography program. Great access to labs and equipment. |
| How Difficult | 8 | Most of the classes I took were graduate courses. As it turned out most people dropped the classes before finishing. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Depending on the course/teacher. Some just read straight from a course textbook, others would actually make it interesting. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | Most basic level classes were offered at various times of the day/week. Specialized/graduate classes were generally only once a week at only one time. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | Free dark room use at nearly all hours of the day. Many of the members of the department would work in there as well. |
| Social Life | 5 | I never really attended any athletic/organized school events. I'm sure there were some of them. |
| Placement Services | 1 | Absolutely no help. None. |
| Alumni Network | 2 | I have no idea. I've never received anything from them. |
ECPI • Glen Allen, VA
Studying Computer Programming (completion in 2004)
• 5/1/2011
"I got a degree. They helped me get a job. I even was allowed to test out of a class and not have to pay for the class - which was really cool."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | If someone is willing to really listen and have long day classes then they can do really well. I was working full-time and had full time classes. I still did really well and it was a great time. However, if the person doesn't take it seriously, and skips classes, they will not do very well since one class day is like a regular week of college in terms of time and content. |
| Program Reputation | 9 | I heard from one of our recruiters where I work that they have gotten good developers from ECPI within the last few years. Back when I had gotten my first development job, I had heard some bad things about people from ECPI, but I really think that is due to the students, not necessarily the teachers. I remembered some kids in the class that would just not show up and I always thought it was kind of crazy since it costs so much per class. It was like they were throwing away money. |
| Program Quality | 10 | Their program was well designed and included HTML, C, C++, Visual Basic, Unix, and SQL. That was a pretty good lineup of languages and systems for someone to learn. I ended up helping others who did not know as much and needed help since I had already been programming for fun for about 8 years before I went to ECPI. |
| Instruction | More than 5 years ago | I attended more than 5 years ago. |
| How Difficult | 8 | It would have been a 10 if I had to deal with COBOL. Fortunately, I did not have to take those very old languages. I do think that it was challenging. The most difficult part was the time to get everything done. I would usually finish any homework at ECPI so that was good. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Every class was hands-on. I had a heard about a class at VCU about 10-15 years ago where it was a "computer class" but there were no computers in the room....it was all book learning. To me that is a joke....yet it actually happened. Our classes at ECPI were VERY thorough and very hands-on...hardly any real book learning. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 9 | They had some online classes. I took about 2 of those. They did not have weekend classes, but you could do evening classes. They did have summer classes which I took. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | I'm not certain if they had tutors. I think it would have been other students if they had any. I used the library there just about once every week. The computers they had were pretty up to date for the time. They had pretty knowledgeable advisors, I thought. I didn't need much help figuring out what I wanted to do. I had been programming for years for fun (making video games and apps). |
| Social Life | 9 | They didn't have athletics, sports, or really school spirit. ECPI was more of a get your degree and get a career type of school which was what I liked about it. I did end up getting people to play hacky sack almost every day while I was there when we would be on break. Everyone seemed to have fun doing that. That for me, was like a party. |
| Placement Services | 10 | I was working at Capital One at the time I graduated. They decided to layoff our entire building. When I interviewed for my first development job, the Interviewer said it really meant a lot to hear that the guy from ECPI had given great feedback about me since I used him as a reference. It sounded like that was the reason he ended up picking me so that was awesome! |
| Alumni Network | 8 | The only problem was that it seemed it was hard to get with some of the teachers in the timeframe for a class. Since you would only have a class for about 10 days (long days), you really had to get any questions out as soon as you could. I would mostly have to do that by email. |
Virginia Tech • Blacksburg, VA
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2006)
• 8/9/2011
"I was very satisfied with Tech. I could not ask for much more except for more hands-on projects in the first 2 years."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Tech is a great place for computer science. The professors are great, the campus is great, and there is a great community of smart people that want to succeed. People fear that the CS department is overshadowed by the engineering department, but that is not true. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | I think Tech is well known for its computer science program. Everybody in my class got good jobs. |
| Program Quality | 9 | Virginia Tech had a great group of professors and some very rigorous courses. The best part of Tech were the senior projects where you could get hands-on experience. |
| Instruction | 8 | Generally, the professors at Virginia Tech were very good. The only downside were the large introduction-level classes that were taught by TAs who either didn't know what they were talking about or had trouble with English. |
| How Difficult | 6 | For me, programming came easy, so it wasn't too hard. However, I know that many people struggled. The courses were definitely designed to be difficult. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The experience changed over time. In the first few years, everything was book learning, which discouraged a lot of people. But once you became a senior you got the opportunity to work on an actual project, which made everything come to life. So it's a mix. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | Tech had a lot of options. You could do day classes, you could do night classes, and you could do summer school. There were also multiple sections of each class, so you wouldn't have to worry about conflicts in your schedule. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | Virginia Tech was a state-of-the-art campus when I was there. I do not know if and how it has changed since then. However, there were tons of resources and computer labs. |
| Social Life | 8 | Tech was a great place to party. There were always house parties, bars, and concerts to go to. And of course, the football games on the weekend were epic. |
| Placement Services | 6 | The department's career services people were sometimes not very competent. One of them did not even have a college degree. However, for the most part, they were helpful in getting us to find jobs. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | I have had not had much contact with the school's alumni network. I got a job right out of school and I have not spoken to any alumni since them, other than my friends. |
Virginia Tech • Blacksburg, VA
Studying Mechanical Engineering (completion in 2008)
• 8/30/2011
"I would rate this an 11 if I could. The combination of amazing teachers, great classrooms, and the most incredible school spirit provided me with the best education in the world."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Virginia Tech focuses on computers and technology. Anybody pursuing a career in computers or engineering and wants a gorgeous setting in which to study should consider Virginia Tech. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | We've always had a great engineering school. We are known for that, but we aren't as prestigious as MIT or schools like that. |
| Program Quality | 10 | Again, the education was top notch. Teachers cared about our time in their classes. VT is also a top rated engineering/computer school. |
| Instruction | 8 | The education was great. I give only an eight because I feel I was not given the insight of what I would do outside of college. I had no idea I'd be working with computers as much as I do now. |
| How Difficult | 8 | Lets put it this way... I worked hard and I played hard. Junior year was tough with difficult tests. Senior year was filled with fun and little school work. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I feel this was up to the student. Teachers were always available for one on one if need be. The selected textbooks were always sufficient. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 9 | Our school had many flexible class options. I took summer courses and online courses and had a great experience in both. Sometimes classes would fill up fast... as with any other school, I suspect. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | Virginia Tech has a rich history. Although the buildings are old, they are gorgeous. The new buildings are modeled after the old buildings (externally) but always have new technology and the latest resources available. |
| Social Life | 10 | Virginia Tech football... need I say more? VT has the best school spirit and the most showing of school colors on and off campus of any school I know in the country. Go Hokies for life. |
| Placement Services | 10 | We had mandatory visits with career services. They set up many job fairs and interviews. There was in fact one building dedicated to career assistance and staff was always available. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | I give a five because I'm not sure. But, I do know I receive a lot of mail and phone calls asking me to be involved. |
University Of Virginia • Charlottesville, VA
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2010)
• 1/21/2012
"Personally, I think UVA matched my needs and desires almost perfectly for a post-graduate CS program. In my opinion, the biggest strength lies in the faculty's dedication to helping the students."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | At the graduate level, the most important consideration when picking a school is whether there are people at the school doing the type of work you'd like to do. If UVA qualifies in this regard for prospective students, I would fully recommend it. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | I believe the current rank of the UVA computer science program is somewhere in the 30's when compared with all relevant departments nationally. I believe this rating somewhat underestimates the quality of work being done at UVA and instead mostly reflects the smaller size of the department relative to competitive schools. |
| Program Quality | 8 | The classes I took at UVA were both challenging and provided a great breadth of knowledge in CS. Furthermore, I've scarcely encountered a group of faculty members that cared more about preparing students for the real world. |
| Instruction | 9 | I was both challenged more than expected and, consequently, learned more than expected. I found myself fully prepared for most tasks I was expected to complete at my current job. Furthermore, my advisor and professors remained available for further mentoring even after graduation. |
| How Difficult | 7 | The program was fairly challenging - especially areas in which I had little previous experience or interest. However, I found faculty to be more than willing to help out when extra help was needed. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The professors were more than willing to help out and aid students whenever necessary in my experience. However, computer science is best taught as a mix of practical coding experience and theoretical knowledge, thus both learning styles had their place. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | Classes fell on all 5 weekdays and generally weren't very flexible if you needed to take a certain class but had a temporal conflict. However, over the course of several years, it was generally possible to take all the relevant classes one would need for their degree without much hassle. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | The computer science department just got a brand new 5-story building with state of the art labs for all graduate students. Additionally, there are generic computer labs scattered throughout campus as well as an entire engineering school library at students' disposal. |
| Social Life | 6 | School spirit and the like tend to be less prevalent at the graduate level, but it seemed to be fairly strong throughout the undergraduate classes. The department schedules many social events throughout the year specifically for graduate students. |
| Placement Services | 8 | There were no specific job placement resources to my knowledge at the graduate level, though I'm sure one could use all the standard channels with some success if necessary. Instead, it is assumed students will work with their advisors to plan out a "job hunt" and find the schools and companies that will best fit their situation. |
| Alumni Network | I have not utilized any alumni resources. I understand these do exist, I just did not find them necessary for my purposes. |
Albany State University • Albany, VA
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2007)
• 1/22/2012
"My school gave me the necessary knowledge to succeed in my area of study. I retained a substantial amount of information taught in my classes."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | My school has a great Math and Computer Science department. My school is also located in a low crime city. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | My school is ranked in the top 25 for HBCU's. It has a good reputation for its nursing program. |
| Program Quality | 5 | The school has competent instructors and a wide variety of programming languages are taught. |
| Instruction | 4 | I need to work harder on my programming. I was given an adequate amount of training for programming. |
| How Difficult | 5 | The computer science program requires a lot of studying. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Most of my classes had a lot of hands on projects. They also gave an adequate amount of book work. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | Most of my classes were around noon, so I had time in the afternoon to study or just relax. My school offered two summer school sessions. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | My school provided all the resources I required to complete my lessons. I often used library material as well as laboratories. |
| Social Life | 5 | I commuted to school, so I did not have the full college experience. I participated in several school functions. |
| Placement Services | I was not aware of any of the job placement programs offered by my school, and I did not do any internships. | |
| Alumni Network | 4 | My school has an alumni program but I do not participate in it. I stay in touch with very few of my school's alumni. |
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