What do people think of UW CSE?

[Aint_No_Bitch]

Hi guys, 

 

I recently visited the UW CSE program and was pretty impressed. Does anybody have any thoughts about how the department compares to the more prestigious/better known places (like MIT, CMU, Stanford)...

 

I'm torn between UW CSE and Caltech CMS (that's Computing and Mathematical Sciences). One thing that makes the decision hard is that Caltech offered significantly more bling (about 10k more...) and isn't asking me to do any teaching. Anybody else in a similar position?

[sherlock_007]

Bump...in the same position as OP.

[Argon]

I don't know if CSE at Wisconsin stands for Computational Science and Engineering like at MIT, but I'd imagine that there isn't too much public opinion on any of these programs yet since they're brand new. The MIT one started last year, and the Caltech one seems to be new based on their website (pretty interesting program - never knew it existed!). My very uneducated opinion is that CSE (and variants) will become increasingly popular over the next few years, but until then they're kind of unique. That being said, Wisconsin is a pretty well respected institution with regards to engineering and the sciences. Sure, it doesn't have the same attention-grabbing nature as Caltech, but I don't know how much you'd have to worry about which one is perceived better. Research fit and secondary factors (location, the people, money, any significant other, family, whatever) are going to be your deciding factor I'm sure.

[Aint_No_Bitch]

Argon,

 

CSE (Computer Science and Engineering) is not a new program (at least not at UW) but just the name of their CS department. It's a traditional CS program. Caltech CMS, on the other hand, is a shiny new program unique to Caltech.

[Argon]

Ah, okay! That changes things. I was thinking CSE was similar to CMS. My mistake! Hopefully somebody else can chime in about CS(E) at Wisconsin!