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 Community College of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Abington, Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Berks, and PSU Brandywine.
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 Harcum, University of Pittsburgh-Titusville, Keystone, and Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Shenango.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Cedar Crest, Cambria-Rowe Business College, Harcum, and Wilson College.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, Cheyney, Community College of Philadelphia, and Peirce College.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Peirce College, Eastern University, Chestnut Hill, and Waynesburg University.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Swarthmore College, Haverford, UPenn, and Carnegie Mellon.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Swarthmore College, Washington & Jefferson College, Haverford, and Grove City.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at UPenn, Swarthmore College, Carnegie Mellon, and Haverford.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Swarthmore College, UPenn, Haverford, and Bucknell.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Swarthmore College, Haverford, Bucknell, and Lafayette.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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University Of Pennsylvania • Philadelphia, PA
Studying Computer Science & Engineering (completion in 2003)
• 5/7/2011
"Overall, I found my experience the University of Pennsylvania to be overwhelmingly positive. However, I do wish that the computer science program had been a bit more challenging so as to better prepare me for a career in software development."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | Due to the school's strong liberal arts and business programs, I would recommend it to someone who wanted to purse a career in consulting or business/finance technology. However, if someone wanted to become a true "hacker" or specialize in research, I would recommend one of the renowned technology universities (MIT, CalTech, etc.) |
| Program Reputation | 8 | As an ivy league school, the University of Pennsylvania has an excellent reputation. However, the school of engineering is not regarded as highly as the business and liberal arts schools and is not considered in the same class as e.g. MIT, CalTech. |
| Program Quality | 7 | I was naturally drawn to computer science, and therefore found the topics that I studied to be very interesting. However, I believe that the coursework could have been more challenging and the faculty more engaging. |
| How Difficult | 5 | Completing a degree in computer science is never trivial. However, I believe that the requirements for the degree should have included more mathematics and some of the more difficult topics in computer science that I have subsequently studied on my own (e.g. compilers & interpreters, artificial intelligence, etc.) |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There was a pretty good mix of hands-on and book learning at the school. For example, in the operating systems and database classes that I took, about half the time was spent learning theory and the other half was spent implementing an operating system and a database respectively. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 3 | Weekend and evening options would have been welcome, but were not available for most courses. Summer classes were available but limited. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | The physical facilities (libraries, classrooms, etc.) at the university were all excellent. However, face-time with faculty was typically not readily available, as most professors were focused on research. |
| Social Life | 9 | The school offered a variety of associations, clubs and fraternities as well as many social events. It is this aspect of the university experience that I remember most fondly. |
| Placement Services | 7 | Having started my own business after graduating, I cannot speak to this topic directly. However, I have heard good things about these services from friends. |
| Alumni Network | 10 | The alumni network at UPENN is excellent. The alumni program provides a huge amount of financial support for the university and the network is instrumental in job search and entrepreneurial activity. |
Susquehanna University • Selinsgrove, PA
Studying Information Systems (completion in 2010)
• 5/7/2011
"If Susquehanna had grad school I would have stayed there but they do not. The university is a wonderful place but it has its problems like every other university."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | The department and professors are wonderful. Though if you don't have your own connections to get a job afterward you will have problems because the career center is not much help. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | Susquehanna is not known for information systems or its computer science departments. Though the information systems department is part of the business school, which Susquehanna is known for. |
| Program Quality | 8 | We had a very limited number of courses within the department. The university was more focused on giving business majors minor computer skills than focused on the majors in the department. |
| Instruction | 10 | The professors were amazing. All of them worked in the field in the past and one of them was still doing consulting work for the government while she taught. |
| How Difficult | 1 | Some people had problems with the work because they failed to understand the logic in programming. But once you learned the logic the only challenge was to keep up with the work. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The books we used were to be support materials. We were mainly graded on the practical applications we completed. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 1 | It is a small private school. Classes are offered very infrequently because they do not have the demand to offer them more. Nor do they have the staff to teach more classes. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | Being that there were only four students in the department things were well balanced. We had four professors in the department and shelves full of books in the library, plus thousands of digital resources. |
| Social Life | 10 | I loved Susquehanna. It was the perfect fit for me; a small private liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere. |
| Placement Services | 1 | The career center would like to believe that they are helpful but there is very little they actually do to help graduating seniors. I got my job through grad school -- not with help from Susquehanna. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | They hold events at least once a month. Though most of the events are focused around the university and do not branch out in location much. |
Carnegie Mellon University • Pittsburgh, PA
Studying Electrical And Computer Engineering (completion in 2012)
• 7/10/2011
"I went to my school to get an education, and I've learned more than I could have imagined. I have met some fascinating people while I have been there, and everyone is extremely passionate about what they do. However, I sometimes wish there was more of a "college experience" element to my education, and that they turned down the stress a little."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | My school will get you a job, and will provide you with all the tools you need to succeed there. Most the companies I've talked to about recruiting love CMU for their consistently high quality students. However, if you are honestly looking to go to college to party, and happen upon a degree along the way- this is the wrong university for you. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | I believe we are consistently ranked in the top ten by various groups for EE/CS/CE. However, many people who are not in the profession still have never heard of Carnegie Mellon. |
| Program Quality | 9 | My school is pretty serious about ECE/CS. My main complaint is that it actually weeds out many students from the major with a difficult curriculum that may have otherwise been very successful. |
| Instruction | 10 | Again, I have learned a lot and have extremely talented faculty. The professors are not only some of the best in the profession, but many of them are willing to go to great lengths to help students. I had one professor who gave us all his cell phone number, and said we could call him with questions at any time of the day or night. |
| How Difficult | 10 | I personally new 10 people who failed out or dropped the major my freshman year (from my group of friends). More failed/dropped later- and I myself have struggled with the time commitment each class requires (some with 40+ hours required a week in order to get a passing grade) |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Most engineering and computer science classes require a lab portion to prove you understand how to apply the theory. My major also requires a capstone, or a semester long senior project class. However, the theory is also emphasized through problem sets and exams. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 4 | In theory, we have a fairly flexible schedule- with summer and evening options. However, for my year for my major, scheduling is quite inflexible because the requirements were changed in such a way that certain classes must be taken in a particular semester if you hope to graduate on time. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | We have nice computer clusters and student labs that are open all day (and night). Tutors are accessible for lower level classes, and study groups are often formed by the students in order to work on problem sets and labs. Professors accessibility varies greatly- some give you their cell-phone numbers and are accessible 24/7, others seem to rarely attend their own office hours. |
| Social Life | 4 | I have close friends from freshman year, and from study groups. If you are looking for a school to party- this one, with an ECE or CS major, is the wrong school.Parties are available, but people who go are either in one of the non-engineering schools or they do not tend to make it past freshman year. |
| Placement Services | 8 | Most people seem to get work, but I'm not sure how much of that is our career center. Our most successful career fair is run by the Society of Women Engineers. Hundreds of companies, and almost the entire student body attend. |
| Alumni Network | 7 | We have a fairly good alumni network- especially through my major. They host events over the summer for alumni to aide networking- like cruises, brunches etc. which are both fun and a good way of meeting people in the ECE/CS field. |
Temple University • Philadelphia, PA
Studying Masters Of Business Administration (completion in 2011)
• 7/12/2011
"Temple provides a very good experience at a bargain price, In fact it was rated as the #1 MBA value in the United States a few years ago. The IMBA and Executive programs, which can be taken overseas, cost considerably more, however."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | Getting an MBA is a career strengthening move for anyone who wants to be a consultant of any kind, and an excellent choice for IT professionals who will interact with customers or start their own businesses. On the other hand, it may not be a requirement for those who want to delve deeper into theoretical computer science or software engineering, since those students might be better served by a specialized master's degree. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | Temple has a fairly good reputation. The EMBA program is ranked in the top 50 worldwide. The traditional and professional programs are praised even by University of Pennsylvania professors. |
| Program Quality | 8 | The quality of the program is very good in general, but the quality of both professors and students is, of course, variable. For most of the classes I was lucky to have very good professors. |
| Instruction | 8 | The curriculum is very practical and business oriented. Of course the MIS course was relevant to the IT field, but more interestingly, the MSOM course contained a lot about project management, specifically IT projects. Learning how businesses operate helps to more accurately understand customer requirements. |
| How Difficult | 8 | Some classes were quite difficult, while others were easier, but all involved a heavy workload. Very few, if any, of the classes were "easy pass" type courses. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Of course the mix of "book learning" vs. practical learning varies by course. Courses like Statistics and accounting lend themselves more to an academic approach. Other courses blended more real life situations into the mix. Almost all of the courses use cases for teaching, which adds a touch of realism. Further, the Professional program ends with a consulting experience. Students are encouraged to bring problems from their workplace (if any) for discussion in the classroom. Guest speakers also share their experiences of running companies, etc. with the students. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | The MBA program at Temple is offered in the following formats: 1. Traditional (Full time, daytime, week days) 2. Professional (Full or part time evenings) 3. Executive (Weekends) 4. Online 5. International MBA (Rotating across 3 countries) I am not aware of whether the online courses have to meet in person sometimes, or what the scheduling restrictions are. Although several formats are offered, all will take considerable time and have demanding schedules. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | Temple has a new state-of-the-art building for the Fox School of Business at their main Philadelphia campus. The other campuses (i.e.. Center City and Temple Japan) are office building style, and adequate. Computer labs are available in most buildings. Software is not included in the tuition, unlike some other schools (such as Drexel). |
| Social Life | 5 | Temple has a large athletic program, which I don't find to be desirable or appropriate at an academic institution. Also, the athletics are mainly attended by undergraduates who attend the main campus. The business school holds various events, including cultural dinners, galas, happy hours, and guest speaker events. Nonetheless, most people taking an MBA program are quite busy, and so tend to socialize less than full time undergraduates might. |
| Placement Services | 7 | Temple is a large university, and thus of course has a large career placement office, but falls behind many of the Ivy League schools when it comes to things like on-campus recruiting for MBA candidates. There is also a facility for online job listings, and mailings are often sent to notify students and alumni of new offers. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | Temple is very well known in the Pennsylvania area and also overseas, due to Temple Japan and other international campuses. Alumni dinners, happy hours, etc. are regularly held. Many alumni have gone on to start their own companies as well. On the other hand, some events could have a larger turn-out. |
University Of Pittsburgh • Pittsburgh, PA
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2013)
• 7/14/2011
"I love my school. It is the perfect fit for me, a computer science major, or any person looking forward to getting the full collegiate experience."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Computer science at Pitt is challenging, stimulating, and fun. The atmosphere encourages higher learning and is a great fit for students of all backgrounds looking to get ahead in computer science. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | Before I began attending, I was unsure of my school's reputation. However, it is neither positive nor negative. |
| Program Quality | 10 | I have no complaints about my program. All of my professors are friendly, knowledgeable, caring, and helpful. The learning environment is very accessible and down to earth. |
| Instruction | 8 | Most of the professors teach at the college level. However, some of the introductory courses are taught at a lower level than expected. |
| How Difficult | 5 | Computer science comes easily to me. However, the courses are intellectually stimulating. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There is more book learning than hands on work. Not many classes offer practical programming experience, but the ones that do are very programming-intensive. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | Many summer and evening classes are available. In fact, many courses are offered in the evenings, which is convenient for both full time and part time students. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | The labs are state of the art and are constantly upgraded to the latest technology. Professors are always available for office hours and the quality of TA's is alright. |
| Social Life | 7 | It is a great school for getting to know people. The party scene isn't too bad either. The people are friendly and welcoming. |
| Placement Services | 9 | Pitt is actively engaged in fitting students with jobs. The career services office is always available to assist with resume building, job searches, interview training, and much more. |
| Alumni Network | 7 | There are many alumni who remain actively involved in Pitt. There are many networking opportunities which can lead to potential jobs/references/etc. |
Susquehanna University • Selinsgrove, PA
Studying Information Systems (completion in 2010)
• 8/1/2011
"They helped me learn a lot of things. But at the same time, they were not helpful after graduation."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | no | You will learn many things, but most of it will not be useful because the industry is unwilling to use the newer languages and technology that is required with them. They would rather stick with what they have because they think it works well enough. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | Susquehanna is not known for many of the majors they have. The ones that they are known for overshadow the rest of the majors. |
| Program Quality | 5 | We were pushed to the side because we were not one of the majors that Susquehanna was known for. But some of our professors were the most amazing people ever. |
| Instruction | 5 | I learned a lot of different languages in which to program. Though, many industries still use the older languages and are unwilling to upgrade to more efficient languages. |
| How Difficult | 3 | Only at the end of semesters were things a problem, and only then because of the number of projects that needed to be completed at the same time. Other than that, the work was really easy. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | It really depended on your major. As an IS major, we learned the theory first from the book and then we did a project with that theory. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 1 | It is a small private liberal arts school, so there is a wide variety of classes. But those classes are typically not offered on a regular basis or even multiple times a semester. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | The library could get almost anything for you that it didn't have. Our professors basically were around at all hours of the day and night. |
| Social Life | 5 | Greek life was the main social experience for people. Thus, those who were not in the greek system had few options. |
| Placement Services | 1 | Career services is only useful for individuals who are looking for management positions in business. For any other jobs or for those looking to go to grad school, they are worthless. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | The alumni network mainly is on the east coast. So, for individuals who move away, they have little to no support from alumni. |
Temple University • Philadelphia, PA
Studying Information Technology (completion in 1995)
• 8/15/2011
"I got a good value education. It was close to home."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | It's a good in state school. You'll meet lots of nice people. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | Temple is a highly rated school. It's a source for labor in the Philadelphia area. |
| Program Quality | 7 | Temple had a very good academic program as well as a great intern program. |
| Instruction | 5 | I had many non tenured, part time professors. English was not their primary language. |
| How Difficult | 6 | The program was intense. I needed over ten IT classes to complete major. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | More hands on in programming. professors did not teach from texts often. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 9 | Many classes were offered. I never had a problem in getting the correct class in the time slot I wanted. |
| Academic Facilities | 4 | The computer lab was average. Advisors were scarce. |
| Social Life | 7 | I had fun and learned a lot. Temple s a fine school. |
| Placement Services | 2 | Not very good. Career placement was minimal. |
| Alumni Network | 4 | The school did not have a robust referral network. Getting my initial job was difficult. |
Thompson Institute • Harrisburg, PA
Studying Executive Data Management (completion in 1991)
• 10/2/2011
"There were a lot of ways I was not impressed with the school. However, it provided me with a 2-year IT degree so I could get my foot in the door of an IT job, so it served its purpose."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | no | The school was bought out by Kaplan. However, if they still existed I would not recommend them. There are too many other options with more flexible schedules, including online, available now. |
| Program Reputation | 1 | The school was bought out by Kaplan, so they must not have been doing very well. I have no idea what Kaplan is like. |
| Program Quality | 5 | It was a long time ago but I remember they required that I take not only client server based languages but also mainframe things like RPG and COBOL, which I had absolutely no interest in. The range of classes, such as accounting, sociology, psychology, and typing, definitely helped me by providing me with a broader range of knowledge. |
| Instruction | 6 | The teachers overall were knowledgeable and engaged. However, some of them were just going through the motions and obviously teaching was just a job to them. |
| How Difficult | 3 | I found the classes overall to be pretty slow-paced and easy to keep up with. The only exceptions were the accounting classes. The corporate accounting class had a faster pace and higher expectations. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Most of the classes were book learning oriented. Some of them were more of a mix, such as the programming classes. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 1 | The schedule was Monday through Friday from 8:00am to about 3:00pm for full-time students. Hence, I worked restaurant jobs to pay the bills while going to school. |
| Academic Facilities | 5 | I really don't remember much about these types of services. It has been twenty years since I graduated. |
| Social Life | 1 | The school provided almost no such social events. I was working three restaurant jobs at the same time so I could not have attended these anyway. |
| Placement Services | 2 | Job placement and career services assistance was pretty much non-existent. It took me two years to get into an IT job and the first job was in a help desk capacity before I worked my way into a development position writing in C on a SCO UNIX platform. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | I have not heard from the school since I graduated. It was basically a “good riddance” attitude. |
Drexel University • Philadelphia, PA
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2011)
• 11/6/2011
"I was, of course, satisfied. The immense workload is offset by the advantage of the co-op program. I came into the field much, much better prepared than my colleagues who went to other schools. Some of them fail to write even the simplest programs or can't find the length of an array."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Again, the co-op program is well worth all of the hardships. Being able to have that internship as well as have real world programs under your belt is a huge plus when trying to find a job. How many other schools will let you leave with something that's actively used potentially world-wide? |
| Program Reputation | 9 | Drexel is mostly known for its engineering department. That said, CS recently joined the ranks as an engineering class. It's not as renowned as Carnegie Mellon, but it is still up there. |
| Program Quality | 9 | The Computer Science tracks at my school were all sink or swim. Since Drexel has 10-week terms, we had to often learn 15 weeks of material in a shorter time. This let us learn more, but was incredibly brutal. |
| Instruction | 6 | Really, most of the classes were a 'learn it yourself or you'll fail' deal. Often, the teachers would assume that everyone knew the language or could learn it in a week - which is a useful skill to have anyway in this career. |
| How Difficult | 10 | As I said before, the 10 week terms made the material brutal. Combine that with every class having the same times for midterms and projects, and it was hell. I think about 2/3 of the entire class switched majors or dropped out. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | For the CS department, it was very 'throw you into the fire.' We had required books that taught theory, but if you can't program what's given, you fail almost immediately. Coding is very, very hands on. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 6 | Drexel does offer all kinds of options - night classes, summer classes, online classes. However, the classes during these times are limited, especially in certain tracks that require specific, specialized classes. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | We had a lab and a linux cluster that we could use, which was really nice. Besides that, we had all the basic amenities and if we really wanted to, we could borrow laptops. |
| Social Life | I am not really that big on socializing. Actually, most of my college career was comprised of doing tons of work and trying to keep up in class. I cannot speak to the social aspect since I didn't really have time. | |
| Placement Services | 10 | Drexel has a program, called co-op, that is basically a required internship for all students. This internship makes it much much easier to get a decent job straight out of college. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | It's pretty decent, though I don't use it at all. There were a number of societies we could all join to keep in touch and up to date as well. |
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