ANy one computer science major?

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Sherif1

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i seriously need soo much help deciding a major, i have no intrest in anything. i volunteered so much this summer and still have nothing on my brain. so i was wondering if anyone can give me insight on computer science major (diffculty etc..) or any mjaor u are in? Thanks for helping me. Man i feel like im screwed forever

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Don't do it unless you absolutely love computer science. Personally, I think that computer science as a major has been weaker than ever, and will soon die out. There just isn't room in this world for people to pursue pure computer science. Instead, the future is in the melding of CS and other fields, such as computational biology, biophysics, etc. I would pursue biology as an undergrad while self-teaching the CS.
 
g3pro said:
Don't do it unless you absolutely love computer science. Personally, I think that computer science as a major has been weaker than ever, and will soon die out. There just isn't room in this world for people to pursue pure computer science. Instead, the future is in the melding of CS and other fields, such as computational biology, biophysics, etc. I would pursue biology as an undergrad while self-teaching the CS.

As someone who graduated with a computer science degree, I can attest to the fact that those who didn't enjoy CS were very, very unhappy and did very poorly.

On the other hand, I did like it and it's a very exciting, fast-moving field.

I disagree completely with the statement that "computer science as a major...will soon die out." That is absurd and is far less likely to happen than mathematics as a major dying out because statistics exists. Pure computation is a very important science: the military alone could keep it afloat, although the countless other applications of the pure study will do that. Not that it's just floating. On my campus, computer science was one of the very best funded departments, and there really is no reason to think that that will stop being the case. Computational biology, like any other inter-disciplinary study, is important, but it's but a niche in CS.

I'm more than happy to engage in a discussion of the future of CS in terms of research or undergraduate study, etc, but I think that anyone who states that it's on its way out would find themselves in a distinct minority.
 
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PhotoMD said:
As someone who graduated with a computer science degree, I can attest to the fact that those who didn't enjoy CS were very, very unhappy and did very poorly.

On the other hand, I did like it and it's a very exciting, fast-moving field.

I disagree completely with the statement that "computer science as a major...will soon die out." That is absurd and is far less likely to happen than mathematics as a major dying out because statistics exists. Pure computation is a very important science: the military alone could keep it afloat, although the countless other applications of the pure study will do that. Not that it's just floating. On my campus, computer science was one of the very best funded departments, and there really is no reason to think that that will stop being the case. Computational biology, like any other inter-disciplinary study, is important, but it's but a niche in CS.

I'm more than happy to engage in a discussion of the future of CS in terms of research or undergraduate study, etc, but I think that anyone who states that it's on its way out would find themselves in a distinct minority.


sorry for the ignorant post, i took one intro class bout computer scinece and i like it alot. however i don't really know how the upper classes match up. like in the end wat do u learn or wat would be the job. all i did in the intro class was make computer games and type codes, was this class leaning more towards computer engineering?
 
Agreed. Computer science isn't going anywhere. If anything, it will be even more in demand in the future. This is something to think about just in case you don't get into medical school.
 
bwells46 said:
Agreed. Computer science isn't going anywhere. If anything, it will be even more in demand in the future. This is something to think about just in case you don't get into medical school.

Yup, I'm a CS major applying to med school this year, anyone else in the same boat? CS is great if you can handle the intense hours programming, you'll learn alot about something totally different from what you'll learn in med school but it's still very applicable to medicine (think bioinformatics, medical informatics, etc). However, if you're looking for a backup career, the job market for CS is not nearly what it used to be (ie. late 90s) what with outsourcing and everything. If you want good job prospects, try EE or even EE/CS.
 
Sherif1 said:
i seriously need soo much help deciding a major, i have no intrest in anything. i volunteered so much this summer and still have nothing on my brain. so i was wondering if anyone can give me insight on computer science major (diffculty etc..) or any mjaor u are in? Thanks for helping me. Man i feel like im screwed forever

Well I am a Computer Systems Engineer which is more like a combination of EE & CS. It is a great field and is not dying anytime soon. The poster that said that is not very well informed. The only thing I would advise you is to do computer engineering instead of just Cs if you are interested. The reason is because most of the out-sourcing jobs to India & CHina are in CS(i.e programming and software development). But if you get into hardware design, ASICs, FPGAs, embedded systems, you can really do some cool things and still have job security. Also you must really have patience to understand computers, programming and hardware design in general otherwise you will be frustrated.
It is not for the weak in mind.

Good luck to you
 
To each their own, thats my philosophy. I would never be able to do computer science. I have no itnerest in programming and if I had done it, my grades would have been much lower. However, some people did CS and did it very well, probably better than they would have been if they had chosen to be straight up bio majors. I say, try it out for a semester or 2, if you dont like it, switch.
 
FenderB2004 said:
Yup, I'm a CS major applying to med school this year, anyone else in the same boat? CS is great if you can handle the intense hours programming, you'll learn alot about something totally different from what you'll learn in med school but it's still very applicable to medicine (think bioinformatics, medical informatics, etc). However, if you're looking for a backup career, the job market for CS is not nearly what it used to be (ie. late 90s) what with outsourcing and everything. If you want good job prospects, try EE or even EE/CS.

Im a CS major appyling this year also
 
Orth2006 said:
Well I am a Computer Systems Engineer which is more like a combination of EE & CS. It is a great field and is not dying anytime soon. The poster that said that is not very well informed. The only thing I would advise you is to do computer engineering instead of just Cs if you are interested. The reason is because most of the out-sourcing jobs to India & CHina are in CS(i.e programming and software development). But if you get into hardware design, ASICs, FPGAs, embedded systems, you can really do some cool things and still have job security. Also you must really have patience to understand computers, programming and hardware design in general otherwise you will be frustrated.
It is not for the weak in mind.

Good luck to you

Actually, EE and EECS jobs are starting to be outsourced too. The job security is slightly better than CS, but that may change in a few years.
 
Sherif1 said:
sorry for the ignorant post, i took one intro class bout computer scinece and i like it alot. however i don't really know how the upper classes match up. like in the end wat do u learn or wat would be the job. all i did in the intro class was make computer games and type codes, was this class leaning more towards computer engineering?
I graduated in CS and am now an MS2. Intro CS is quite unlike upper level CS.

At the start, you learn basic coding techniques, simple algorithms, and familiarity with one, perhaps two, languages.

As you progress, the emphasis goes away from coding and goes towards problem solving. Data structures (e.g. queues, stacks, trees) and algorithms are emphasized, and it is up to you to implement them for practice. Often, your class will culminate with one hideously difficult project that will require synthesizing everything you know and putting in ungodly hours.

By the time you graduate, you will accustomed to approaching problems systemically and solving problems in a clear, methodical fashion. This is what CS teaches you, more than anything else.
 
PhotoMD said:
As someone who graduated with a computer science degree, I can attest to the fact that those who didn't enjoy CS were very, very unhappy and did very poorly.

On the other hand, I did like it and it's a very exciting, fast-moving field.

I disagree completely with the statement that "computer science as a major...will soon die out." That is absurd and is far less likely to happen than mathematics as a major dying out because statistics exists. Pure computation is a very important science: the military alone could keep it afloat, although the countless other applications of the pure study will do that. Not that it's just floating. On my campus, computer science was one of the very best funded departments, and there really is no reason to think that that will stop being the case. Computational biology, like any other inter-disciplinary study, is important, but it's but a niche in CS.

I'm more than happy to engage in a discussion of the future of CS in terms of research or undergraduate study, etc, but I think that anyone who states that it's on its way out would find themselves in a distinct minority.

I meant to say that what CS as a major teaches alone will not give "enough" to graduates so that they can easily pick up jobs in certain fields. It's becoming more commonplace that people who learn a certain area pick up bits of CS by self-teaching and are able to get the jobs once given to pure CS graduates. It's not a fair world, but that's the reality that I see with the current CS graduate market.
 
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