Your example (3 years) is extreme. I could not get 15 CS credits to transfer from one private, 2nd tier US college to another (Boston university). BU refused and i took the classes again and paid for them twice. It put me in the rare position of being able to compare the quality of education at the two institutions side by side.
Hah! Don’t leave us hanging. What was your experience between the two for classes?
I took some community college programming classes in NJ and NYC. Didn’t have to repeat the ones I did. I was in awe at how weak the curriculum was in both cases. It’s not the student’s faults imo that their programming skills were lacking. The classes weren’t challenging.
Yet some of them eventually transferred to State Uni for comp sci. It really amazed me. Wonder how they fared and if that just means that specific state school is just really easy too.
I'd be curious to hear your observations. I did BA/MS at BU in CS (CAS of course) and found the classes often hit or miss, but the ones that were good were really good. That being said, I did have an interest in theoretical CS while many CS undergrads do not, which is what the department emphasizes.
The student:professor ratios at Boston University CS classes were much higher. I didn't realize the importance of that until i had this comparison with the other institution.
It led to many fewer questions by students, teachers assistants (something the other institution did not have and did not need because one professor could attend to all of his students), and in general less interaction between students with each other and with professors/TAs.
The curriculum at both were essentially the same for this set of classes.
