Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Software Engineers For Systems
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at Truman College, Daley College, Harold Washington College, and Wilbur Wright 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 Midstate College, National-Louis University, Judson, and Roosevelt University.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider MacCormac and Midstate College.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Saint Augustine College, Olive-Harvey College, Kennedy-King College, and Daley College.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider John A Logan College, National-Louis University, University of St Francis, and Frontier.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Northwestern University, North Park University, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Loyola University.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Monmouth College, Blackburn, Illinois College, and Millikin University.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Northwestern University, University of Illinois, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Loyola University.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Saint Xavier University, Northwestern University, National-Louis University, and University of St Francis.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Northwestern University, Illinois College, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Millikin University.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign • Urbana, IL
Studying Computer Science (completion in 1989)
• 7/12/2011
"I believe I received a solid education from a reputable university that helped my chances of getting jobs during my career. However, I felt that too much of the burden in learning was placed on me, without support from a faculty that wasn't very interested in teaching."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | I think that the university is a good choice for someone who is a self-starter and wants a good foundation. However, if you need more hands-on and one-to-one instruction, this university is not for you. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | I believe that University of Illinois has a good reputation in the industry. I have often received job solicitations from recruiters based on the fact that I graduated from the university. |
| Program Quality | 8 | I felt that my education provided a good foundation for what I needed in my career. However, it was lacking in some specific skills that most programmers will need in the business world. |
| Instruction | 7 | The curriculum was good, and the course material was relevant. However, most of my learning was self-taught or by teaching assistants. The professors did not seem to care about teaching. |
| How Difficult | 9 | The engineering curriculum was very challenging and weeded out many students during the first two years. More advanced classes were demanding in the amount of time required to complete all of the projects. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There was more emphasis on book learning than hands on experience. Although we did have to do many programming projects, the classes stressed fundamentals and theory more than practical skills. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 2 | I was a full time student who only went to classes during the day, Monday through Friday. If there were flexible class options, I wasn't aware of them, and no one I knew took advantage of them. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | The facilities were good in terms of computer equipment and books. There were many labs where we could work. However, the availability of advisors and tutors was not as good. I felt that students had to learn by themselves or with their peers without help from the faculty. |
| Social Life | 4 | The school is located in a small town without much to do. There weren't many social groups on campus aside from the Greek system. Unless you're interested in joining a fraternity/sorority, life can be pretty boring. |
| Placement Services | 6 | The school provided the usual generic reading materials for career assistance. They also ran a job fair that helped me land my first job, although not many companies participated in the job fair. |
| Alumni Network | 2 | I have not received any support from the alumni. The only time I hear from the alumni groups are when they ask me to donate money. |
University Of Chicago • Chicago, IL
Studying Mathematical Logic (completion in 1971)
• 10/2/2011
"Well... Not only did I learn how silicon doped with boron and/or phosphorus can moderate electrical circuitry to guide satellites into space, I was also taught the evolution of western civilization, from Protagoras to Nietzsche. So, all in all, it was a good run."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | If you want a technical education in the use of the tools, no. If you want to understand the underlying logic of computational science, yes, especially if you're willing to learn a lot of other important things along the way. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | They are not into the applied sciences. They do not explicitly teach computer programming as such. It's not a trade school, e.g., they teach economics, not how to write futures options software. |
| Program Quality | 9 | The U of C takes a theoretical approach to most things (as opposed to the applied sciences). That matched my interests. Digital logic was mixed with Turing machine logic. |
| Instruction | 10 | Very small class sizes. Instructors were leaders of research in their fields. |
| How Difficult | 9 | Things moved very rapidly. Falling behind meant never catching up, and the subject matter was always focused towards the latest academic views, whether in the sciences or the humanities. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The latest in textbooks (e.g., Feynman's lectures on physics was popular at the time) backed up by lectures, study groups, regular classes, and labs (where applicable). Labs were also available for personal research projects. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 2 | When I went there, it was total immersion in a fixed curriculum with very few options. I was forced to take classes I would never have chosen on my own. Those, it turned out, were often the best and most influential. Three cheers for a Liberal Arts education! |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | Absolutely excellent. Huge libraries. Advanced and experimental computing systems (for the time). Small classes. Direct access to professors. |
| Social Life | 1 | "The University of Chicago, where Fun goes to die." Life of the mind, to hell with the body. High drop-out rates from the academic pressure. The major social institution is the library (where no one is supposed to talk). |
| Placement Services | 3 | You are (or were) pretty much on your own. If you survived to get your degree, however, your credentials would usually get you where you wanted to go. No "job placement" as such at all. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | They are good when it comes to soliciting funds from alumni. They offer opportunities for alumni to return for further educational or social opportunities, but I tend to not participate in such things. |
University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign • Urbana And Champaign, IL
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2003)
• 12/13/2011
"I totally love my college. They have a great study environment, and UIUC has set great standards for making the best engineers in the country."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Of course I would recommend it. If anyone wants to major in engineering and he/she is smart enough, UIUC is his/her best bet to a happy and learning college time! |
| Program Reputation | 10 | It is one of the top 5 colleges in the US for computer engineering and computer science. |
| Program Quality | 9 | Computer Science and Computer Engineering are two of the best departments to major in at UIUC. UIUC has a world-class facility and amazing teachers. UIUC's alumni have invented really amazing stuff, like the quantum well laser and transistor. |
| Instruction | 8 | UIUC has some of the best faculty members, as some of them are Nobel Laureates. |
| How Difficult | 9 | All the physics and math courses are super competitive. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Most of the conceptual classes are coupled with a lab class and a discussion class, so that one can understand maximum information from each lecture. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | Class schedule was not very flexible, as there are too many students to accommodate. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | UIUC has over a 100 libraries. The Grainger Library is the largest public engineering library in the US. Tutor assistants were always available when you needed them. |
| Social Life | 7 | There are several frat parties that happen at UIUC. Some events include DJ's coming to the city to party. |
| Placement Services | 9 | The career services center is an amazing place, where every UIUC student can get free advice on building a resume and finding jobs. |
| Alumni Network | 9 | For recruiting graduating students, several highly placed alumni take in a large number of UIUC students. The university also gets gifts from large companies. |
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