Wake Forest vs. Notre Dame for computer science: which is better overall?

The biggest practical tradeoff is scale versus intimacy. Notre Dame offers a larger and more established engineering and computing environment, with more course breadth, more technical peers, and stronger built-in recruiting for tech and engineering-adjacent roles, while Wake Forest gives you a smaller, more personal academic setting where classes and faculty access may feel closer-knit but the CS ecosystem is not as deep.

For computer science specifically, Notre Dame has the clearer edge overall. Its CS program sits within a stronger technical infrastructure, and students usually benefit from a wider set of advanced electives, more research activity connected to computing, and a campus culture that supports engineering, data science, and quantitative fields at a broader level. That tends to matter once you move past intro classes and start looking for specialized coursework, project teams, and internship pipelines.

Wake Forest can still be a good option if you want a liberal arts oriented education with smaller classes and close faculty interaction. For some students, that translates into better mentorship and easier access to professors.

On internships and jobs, Notre Dame is also in a better position. Its alumni network is unusually active, and the school has stronger name recognition nationally, which can help with recruiting across regions. Even when a company is not targeting only CS majors, Notre Dame students often benefit from broader recruiting relationships and a larger base of alumni in business, consulting, finance, and technology.

So overall, for computer science, Notre Dame is the stronger choice.