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 Support Specialists
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at Montana State Bozeman.
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 The University of Montana, Montana State Bozeman, Montana State Northern, and Montana Tech.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Little Big Horn College, Salish Kootenai College, and Fort Peck Community College.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Blackfeet Community College, University of Great Falls, Montana State Northern, and Montana State Great Falls.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Carroll College, University of Great Falls, Rocky Mountain College, and Montana State Bozeman.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Carroll College, Rocky Mountain College, University of Great Falls, and Montana State Northern.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Montana State Bozeman and Carroll College.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Rocky Mountain College.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Salish Kootenai College, Montana Tech, Fort Belknap, and Dawson Community College.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
Carroll College • Helena, MT
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2009)
• 9/29/2011
"I received enough instruction in various fields (database design, web design, programming, networking, security) to be able to pursue a variety of paths. The liberal arts education helped me to become educated in areas I would have never been interested in otherwise."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Other potential students would get exposed to different fields with Computer Science and could pursue different careers after school. In addition, the school offers excellent networking with employers in town. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | Carroll is known within Montana as producing sharp and qualified Computer Science majors into the local workforce that can easily cross-train into other fields. Carroll is not well known outside of the northwest. |
| Program Quality | 10 | My school had a very challenging and broad Computer Science program that touched on different fields in IT and math. Many of the courses were directly related to the career I am in now. |
| Instruction | 8 | I had excellent instructors at Carroll who were experts in their field. One instructor was so fast and so far above his students in intelligence that it was hard to keep up. |
| How Difficult | 9 | I don't have a strong math background, so for me required classes such as Calculus, Computer Architectures, Data Structures, and Discrete Math were incredibly challenging and required a lot of work. The networking classes were very challenging in terms of learning the nuances of various network protocols. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | In some classes you simply had to learn the book material before being able to apply it. However, all of my computer science classes were heavily hands on, especially the Cisco networking classes. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 6 | As a transfer into Carroll College I had scheduling conflicts that were probably due more to me being a transfer student than anything else. The summer school offerings were plentiful enough to help me graduate in 4 years. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | The lab hours where our Cisco equipment was located were limited on the weekends and made it difficult for us to do our projects. We had to push hard in order to get off-hours access. |
| Social Life | 8 | I was busy while at Carroll with a demanding off-campus job doing IT support and didn't make time to be as active in campus events as others. However, Carroll did offer quite a lot of activities for students. |
| Placement Services | 10 | My adviser helped me find two jobs while at Carroll. One was a part time job while in school and the other was the job that I hold now two and a half years after graduation. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | Carroll keeps in close touch with alumni through electronic communications and updates the community with news and accomplishments of alumni. It does seem that alumni outreach events cater to the older generation of alumni. |
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