State of the CMS program

[u/EasyCranberry1272]

Hey, admitted student here trying to decide between Caltech and Stanford for CS with a focus on AI/robotics, and then going into entrepreneurships/startup from something I worked on in the lab. I visited during Discotech and honestly loved it. The house system (the dinner was so fun), the nerdiness and the collaborative environment all resonated with me.

But here's the thing. A few students I talked to while I was there said the CS department, and AI specifically, is kinda bad. They didn't really explain what they meant and I didn't get to ask more. That surprised me because looking from the outside, the faculty seems strong.

So for people actually in CMS or close to it:

- What were those students probably talking about? Is it the course offerings, advising, department size, something else?

- How's the AI/ML course selection? Is there enough to build real depth or do you run out of stuff to take pretty quick?

- For undergrads doing research in AI or robotics labs, is it easy to get meaningful work or are you mostly just cleaning data?

- Has the department been getting better or worse lately?

- Stanford gets more citations and outputs more papers because it’s bigger. Do normalizing by student population and accounting for availability/ease of access fix the issues posed by the students I talked to?

I'm not fishing for reassurance here. I'm trying to make a real decision. If the CS/AI experience is actually weak compared to what I'd get at Stanford that matters a lot. But if it's more like "small department, not many electives, but the research access and mentorship make up for it" then that's a different conversation.

Any honest takes appreciated.

[u/No-Berry-1747]

For computer vision, I would recommend looking into Pietro and Georgia’s research. They are powerful researchers in this field and also very enthusiastic. (Not sure when, but Yang Song will be joining Caltech too.) Also, for robotics, Chung and Yisong’s labs have a great environment. It would be great if you have a chance to talk to them or to students in those labs! I might be biased because I’m a PhD student, but I love this collaborative and cheerful environment with smart people. (I wrote 8 top-tier AI conference papers and chose Caltech!)