Trinity University (San Antonio)

[Sam]

Are you familiar with Trinity Univ? How would you rate it against UT Austin or Texas A&M. The major is Undergraduate Computer Science.

Cost is no object. After scholarships & grants, the cost is the same to me. Thanks again.

[JPatrick]

They always appear on the "Best Schools Lists", but I'm not so sure about that particular degree.

[fluffy]

I'm a former CS major and an all around IT geek... UT Austin has a top notch computer science program and I've never heard of Trinity Univ CS. Never really heard of A&M CS program either. UT Austin would be an easy choice for me here.

[lswswein]

I strongly recommend UT Austin for Computer Science; Haven't heard of trinity

-h

[Jake46]

Trinity University is well-known as an oustanding private, liberal arts college. I don't know anything about its computer science program.

[MasterBlaster]

The only thing that I know about Trinity is that one of the original (and now somewhat famous) studies on safe withdrawal rates and portfolio survival came out of there. If you Google "The Trinity Study" or "The Trinity study on safe withdrawal rates" you'll get lots of links.

So from an ER perspective, how bad could it (Trinity) be ?

[eridanus]

Trinity University has a 5:1 gardener:student ratio.

[lswswein]

Originally Posted by Masterblaster

The only thing that I know about Trinity is that one of the original (and now somewhat famous) studies on safe withdrawal rates and portfolio survival came out of there. If you Google "The Trinity Study" or "The Trinity study on safe withdrawal rates" you'll get lots of links.

So from an ER perspective, how bad could it (Trinity) be ?

Looks like Trinity U was the university from where the prefessors of that study came from. I had "ass"umed that they came from the Trinity in England

-h

[Sam]

Originally Posted by eridanus

Trinity University has a 5:1 gardener:student ratio.

Very funny eridanus. And not far from the truth either

Anyway, Trinity is rated #1 Master University in the WEST by US News. The academic profile of entering freshmen is impressive (slightly higher than that of UT Austin and TAMU). The falcuty:student ratio is tiny.

[Sam]

Sounds like no one on this board went to Trinity. Anyone?

[John Tuttle]

Originally Posted by Sam

Sounds like no one on this board went to Trinity. Anyone?

I didn't go to Trinity,but the daughter of a former colleague (chemistry professor) went there. She majored in Geology and recently finished her PhD in Geology at Arizona and as far as I know she was happy with the experience.

It is a well regarded school. The question should be if the program is better for the student or not. What do they want to do with their degree? What do the graduates of Trinity's CS program do? Are they happy with a large school or do they like having professors who know their name? Do they have other interests that might be better served at a small school or a large school?

[Sam]

Originally Posted by John Tuttle

What do the graduates of Trinity's CS program do?

Good question. How do I go about finding the answer?

[John Tuttle]

Originally Posted by Sam

Good question. How do I go about finding the answer?

Ask them. Go to their web site and I'm sure you will find an email address you can use to contact them. If at all possible arrange to visit the campus and ask to meet a computer science professor. Quiz them about the strengths and weaknesses of their program. Ask them what their former students are doing. Many students at small schools will stay in touch with former professors. I could give you a long list of my students who are now Microsoft millionaires, working at Google, or have their PhD. Of course you don't hear as much from the ones who didn't do as well.

If I had $100.00 for every prospective student I talked to I could have retired at 50.

[fluffy]

You could contact each school's dept for recent grad salary info and possibly some references and compare them. Note that info like that may not be very objective since it comes from the university itself. In independent reports, UT Austin is consistently ranked in top 10-20 CS schools, A&M sometimes makes top 50, and I don't remember ever seeing Trinity. High UT Austin ranking is consistent with my personal experience working with UT Austin CS grads.

As I've said, when it comes to *just* CS I don't think there's much question that the UT Austin program is head and shoulders above Trinity Univ (or A&M for that matter). There of course could be other factors that make Trinity Univ better overall choice in your case.

P.S. I did not go to or am affiliated with any of these three schools

[DFW_M5]

Trinity is an excellent school, as are A&M and UT. To me this would come down to what type of environment a student is comfortable with. Would your student thrive in a smaller nurturing environment or be comfortable in learning with the masses. All of these schools provide a top notch education.

Good luck

[Sam]

Thank you all for the replies. John and fluffy, I will get in touch with Trinity and ask for the infos you suggested.

[pfpelican]

My DD went to trinity. AFIK it's a small private liberal arts college, not known for science or CS.
I'd think for a specialty you'd be much better off going to one of the big state schools. Back when I usta hire programmers, we got lots of good ones from Southwest TX State (I think it's called something else now). I've worked with IT folks from each of the big ones, and would chose the A&M ones over the UT ones ... at least the dozen or so I've worked with here in Houston.

[REWahoo]

Originally Posted by pfpelican

Back when I usta hire programmers, we got lots of good ones from Southwest TX State (I think it's called something else now).

They dropped "Southwest" from the name, now it's just Texas State.

[Orchidflower]

Sam: Just saw this post. Used to know David Weekley of the DW Homes biz. He graduated from Trinity with a real estate degree. He told me that Trinity was considered a "richies" school, meaning kids who went there came from rich families. Have no idea if this is still true as this is 25 year old info., but, if it still is, could be helpful in biz for the college student.

[LOL!]

The graduates of Trinity that I know are outstanding people, but their degrees were not CS. One is a high school teacher. I suggest UT Austin or Rice University if you must major in CS in TX.