Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Systems Analysts
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at United States Naval Academy, Sojourner-Douglass College, Montgomery College, and Towson University.
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 Capitol College, Morgan State, Bowie State, and UM Baltimore County.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Sojourner-Douglass College and College of Notre Dame of Maryland.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Bowie State, Morgan State, Prince George's Community College, and Montgomery College.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Anne Arundel, College of Southern Maryland, Carroll Community College, and Hagerstown Community College.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of United States Naval Academy, Johns Hopkins, Goucher, and Washington Adventist.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of United States Naval Academy, Mount St. Mary's University, Goucher, and Washington Adventist.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, United States Naval Academy, and UM Baltimore County.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at United States Naval Academy, Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, and Morgan State.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at United States Naval Academy, Morgan State, Goucher, and Mount St. Mary's University.
Spotlight Schools Search
Spotlight Maryland Schools Related to This Career
- Locations: Millersville, Owings Mills, Rockville, Rosedale, Suitland
- Programs: 5 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor, Master
- Locations: Columbia, Greenbelt, Lutherville Timonium, Rockville
- Programs: 4 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor, Master
- Locations: Owings Mills
- Programs: 4 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
DeVry University's Keller Graduate School of Management
- Locations: Bethesda
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Master, Post- Bachelor's Certificate
- Locations: Hagerstown
- Programs: 3 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor, Certificate, Master
See these schools on a map
Study from Anywhere at Online Schools Related to This Career
- Programs: 4 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
- Programs: 3 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor
- Programs: 17 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor, Doctorate, Master
- Programs: 5 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor, Master
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Bachelor
Keiser University eCampus Online
- Programs: 3 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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University Of Maryland • College Park, MD
Studying Computer Science (completion in 1987)
• 8/8/2011
"It provided a good programming background. It didn't offer analysis and design courses, though."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | I'm not sure how much the curriculum has changed. It is a very good school for programming, but is less so for analysis and design. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | It's the best school in area for commuting students. However, class selection is limited. |
| Program Quality | 5 | The program at maryland was, at the time, more programming oriented. I would like to have seen more design classes. |
| Instruction | 7 | Many of the teachers did not speak English as a first language - it was not always easy to communicate. I learned good programming habits, though. |
| How Difficult | 5 | Courses were designed for those working and learning, so the workload was not heavy. Access to school computers was limited. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I mostly took programming courses that required programming. Although books were available, originally only programming work was required. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | Classes are taught on many evenings and weekends. Usually only one section of smaller courses are available. |
| Academic Facilities | 6 | Limited computer resources and no tutors available. Professors are reachable. |
| Social Life | 2 | Part-time students did not get involved in school activities. There was no effort on the part of the school to involve part-time students in school life. |
| Placement Services | 1 | No placement or career services. They did not exist. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | No communication from school. No established network. |
University Of Maryland • College Park, MD
Studying Information Systems (completion in 1999)
• 9/13/2011
"The school gave me only the knowledge to get a job. I have not yet been promoted."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | The school is flexible in scheduling and the classes may get you a job but can only do so much to help you advance. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | The school caters to working adults who already have jobs and so can get ahead more easily. |
| Program Quality | 7 | It was an interesting program while I was in school but I am disappointed about the real world preparation. |
| Instruction | 5 | Instruction was good but text books were not. Instructors did not always give good examples. |
| How Difficult | 6 | Some courses had a light workload. Other courses had heavier loads. I think it all came out to average overall. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Many classes had practical projects, and they were the ones I preferred the most. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | The school offered classes at flexible times and online. They also offered semesters of different lengths. |
| Academic Facilities | 3 | The school really has no resources of its own. It uses classrooms on other campuses. |
| Social Life | 3 | People who go to this school usually also have jobs and have little time to socialize. The school has no lounge areas. |
| Placement Services | 2 | I do not even know if they have such a program, nor do my classmates. |
| Alumni Network | 2 | There is no real alumni network. What they have is poorly publicized. |
University Of Maryland College Park • College Park, MD
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2010)
• 11/9/2011
"Excellent academics, excellent job placement. Great mix of social life as well."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Definitely one of the top schools in the country, with great hands-on work. Top-notch academics and a great mix of social fun as well. |
| Program Reputation | 9 | Highly regarded; one of the top schools in the country for computer science. Renowned by top tech companies and therefore recruited heavily from. |
| Program Quality | 9 | Excellent academics. Learned a lot from the program. |
| Instruction | 9 | Teachers were effective and thorough. Excellent academics. |
| How Difficult | 9 | Teachers didn't care if you failed; routinely failed many students. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Great mix of the two. Learned from the best professors in the world and was given experience in laboratories. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 9 | Large offering of classes. Available all throughout the day and year. I was able to schedule my classes with ease. |
| Social Life | 9 | Excellent social activities, from athletics to volunteer groups. The school had many offerings of extracurricular work. |
| Placement Services | 9 | Excellent job placement/career center helps students immensely. Recruiters from companies recruit heavily from the university. |
| Alumni Network | 9 | Very strong alumni support from top companies. Alumni actively recruits heavily. |
Strayer University • White Marsh, MD
Studying Computer Information Systems (completion in 2010)
• 11/9/2011
"I loved the accessibility and open schedule of online classes offered by Strayer, and I was able to take advantage of the approachability of the professors. I do, however, feel as if I wasn't challenged as much as I expected to be. The prices of the courses were also fairly steep; if I had been paying for my own education, I would have gone elsewhere."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Most of the people I work with have busy schedules, and an online university is ideal for them, as they can work on their coursework when they have time during the week. They are also in positions where the company pays a portion of their tuition, so the price isn't as bad to handle. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | Some employers would rather see a larger school on a resume, but I feel Strayer is growing in popularity, as its student base is usually over 25 and professional. I feel as though the students in this program could be challenged a little more, with more current technologies. |
| Program Quality | 8 | I was able to take all of my courses online, and being the father of two, this was very important to me and enabled me to complete my coursework in the evening or during slow times at work. The university was fairly expensive; my employer has a generous tuition reimbursement package of $8,000 a year, but with the prices of the classes the way they were, I was only able to take 4 classes a year. |
| Instruction | 6 | Taking the courses online allowed me to ask many questions when I had them, and collaborate with my classmates. The classes didn't really challenge me very much, except for the math-related courses, as I've been out of school for a while and catching up on my math skills took some time. |
| How Difficult | 7 | Many of the classes weren't up to date with current technologies or didn't cover what most people in the IT field do from day to day. The workload wasn't difficult, but there were some professors who expected a lot to be done in one week, i.e., quizzes and research papers due in the same week. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | While some of the courses provided hands-on learning (mostly programming courses), a majority of the courses were 100% book learning. I didn't mind this approach so much, but did welcome the few hands-on opportunities I had. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | For me, who took all of my courses online, this was the biggest advantage of attending Strayer. I could work on my coursework from anywhere I had an internet connection. I was able to purchase some of my books in PDF format, which made it very easy. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | Strayer had available computer rooms, labs and study areas for students to use. I didn't take full advantage of this as I was an online student, but I was able to meet fellow students there 4 or 5 times during my courses to study or work on papers. |
| Social Life | 5 | Strayer didn't offer anything in the way of athletics, but did offer student seminars and get-togethers from time to time. While I didn't normally attend, some of my fellow students spoke about them quite fondly. |
| Placement Services | 9 | While I personally didn't have a need of job placement, the university was always emailing flyers with current positions in various career paths. Also, resume writing classes were available, and I was able to have my resume critiqued by a professional, which helped me to tweak the wording. |
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