Of course try UC Berkeley. It's a bit of a crapshoot - I know people who have gotten into MIT and rejected from Berkeley but also the other way around.
Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
41–50 of 110 posts
Re: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
#42I was very impressed by UT-Austin and the community there. They also have a honor's program for CS majors (Turing) that you may be able to get into with okay grades but good experience. But even if you don't get into that program, you'll still be taking classes with those folks. Also think of the relationships between schools to get in the "back" door at places where the competition might be higher. For instance, at…
I was going to suggest UT (before I read that the OP is in Cali) simply because of the UT network. It constantly amazes me how many people either went to or support UT.
Then again, I'm in Dallas, so take that with a grain of salt :)
Re: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
#43What state are you in? Most states have at least one good public university, and these are generally fairly easy to get into and fairly cheap (if you're from in-state). If there's not a good one in your state, try one in a nearby state. It'll be more expensive and harder to get into, but still generally cheaper/easier than a private school. I can personally recommend UNC-Chapel Hill (nice campus, small town, good mix…
I was just going to say, "Pick the best public university in your state." But you beat me to it.
So, I'll add that admissions are usually nicer to in-state students (the UT system in Texas is extremely generous about who they admit from state high school graduates, for example, and cheap to attend for Texans). Since the OP has revealed he's in California, he's even better placed, though I think state schools are significantly more expensive in CA (but what isn't?), but the quality of education available at some state schools is excellent.
UC Davis and Berkeley are both very well-regarded in comp sci (as are many others). I know that a large number of UC schools are on Google's "will hire from" list of universities (as is the previously mentioned UT Austin).
Re: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
#44I would highly recommend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for a computer science curriculum. The location is beautiful plus the education is top notch. There is no graduate program so even though the school has 20,000 students, classes never get over 40 people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Polytechnic_State_Un...
Re: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I second that, although I am a Cornell grad so I am biased :) Cornell also accepts a huge amount of transfers. It's somewhere around 20-30% when I was there. But be aware of the stats on sites like US News. The engineering school is much more competitive to get in.
You can always apply to another easier-to-get-into program within Cornell and then transfer into the engineering school. You just need a 3.0 your freshman year. You can even take all engineering courses before you transfer if you want to, not that I'd recommend it if you're trying to get a good GPA. (Also a Cornell grad.)
I'd recommend against that. A friend of mine did that, and its a huge pain in the ass. Just apply to the engineering school directly. They hold you to a pretty tough requirement to switch colleges, which puts a lot of stress on your first couple semesters.
Re: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
#46Option #1) Go to a junior college, do your best and transfer to a real school. (EDIT: In Cali, your grades will count as full "university" grades, so a 3.5 GPA will be taken as a true 3.5 university GPA when transferring) Option #2) Simply try to get it the best school possible, top tier or not. If you aim low, guess what? You're gonna have low results. There are universities that exist to privide workers for the eco…
The junior college route can work well. I went to Orange Coast College for 1.5 years and then transferred to Stanford. Many of my friends transferred to Berkeley. There are some really good instructors at junior colleges here in California. You'll have to do your research to find out which ones they are, but when you do, they will often take a personal interest in your success. You'll save a ton of money, get the education you deserve (read this again), and leave with a nice brand name on your resume. Highly recommended.
The only downside is that most of the value of college isn't the classes or even the professors, but the relationships and friendships you form with your student peers. It's tougher to find people you'd want to be friends with at a junior college, and when you transfer, you'll have to start all over again. But it worked out fine for me.
Fred
Re: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
#47All I can say is, make a list of places and go visit. I ended up at a (very) small private school about 400mi away. When I visited, the head of the CS department talked with me in his office for over an hour. From that conversation, I learned: A) He is completely brilliant and extremely competent B) He teaches about half of the upper-level CS courses C) His dissertation was in an area that strongly interested me Afte…
He must be a genious if he is an expert in half of all the available CS topics!
Re: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
#48Are we really at the point where the only schools that count as "top-tier" are MIT and Caltech now? I can't believe people here are talking about Berkeley like it's some sort of a fallback option.
Look at http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/com/s...
Sure it's for graduate schools, but I have to imagine that it tracks pretty close. In my experience, most of the programs there in the top 20 are all pretty comparable.
(FYI, University of Michigan, loved it)
Re: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
#49Study abroad, for example here at the ETH Zurich.
If you are good, there won't be a problem to do your master at one of the top US universities, or at least do an excahnge year there or a master thesis.
But you must understand german ;)
Re: Ask YC: what non-top-tier college to apply for?
#50Go after those top-tier schools. If you're slacking off on homework working through SICP, you're probably top-tier worthy. People who go after their interests are by definition more interesting. Don't weigh yourself on the standard metric because you're not standard. And don't let that hinder the selling of yourself in your applications. I would much rather hire a person who has started a startup before than one from…
Oh, I'm certainly going to apply for the top-tier schools. I'd just like to have some other options open.