Computer Science needed for physics? WTF?!?!

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PremedGunner

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my skool recommends that i take Computer science 1A (introduction to computer science) before i take physics 4A (general physics), to ensure that the physics students have capable computer skills. i'm by no means a computer expert, but i'm fairly competant as is. does anyone know if i should take computer science, or is it a waste of time.





also, is 18 units in a semester too much? i wont be working, just studying(constantly).






also, this question has been rehashed thousands of times but heres my story. i'm a bio major at a community college. i plan on transferring to uc irvine. medical schools prefer that you dont take all your med school pre reqs at a communtiy college. the transfer requirements to UCI (as a bio major) include all the pre med requirements to med school. therefore, as a bio major, it is impossible for me NOT to take all my med school pre reqs at a community college. therefore, will med schools cut me some slack?

after i transfer, i will be continuing my major coursework at my 4 year, and this will include science courses, therefore i will be able to show that i can do sci courses at a 4 year uni.





thanks for reading/answering all my noob questions.

you are helping me out immeasureably.



and finally, does this sound like a good schedule for a freshman? i am taking english, math, chemistry, and computerscience. this is 18 units. is this too much? any changes do you recommend? thanks
 
Without seeing a course description, my experience says that it will be something along the lines of learning about data collections, use, analyze, etc and possibly some light coding. We had a similar class for engineering that I took my freshmen year which was half excel and half MatLab. It's fairly easy but alot of the information can be useful later down the road.

As for the 18 units, I tried it once my 2nd year and hated it with a passion. You might be different and able to take that load but I would ease into college your first year before trying to work magic.

I'll let someone else answer the bio questions.
 
If it's recommended, then skip it.
If it's a prerequisite and you really don't need it, get it waived.
Find out what Comp Sci 1A entails (most likely not comp sci at all, and just excel/word/ppt), and learn it on your own if you really want to.

18 units on a semester system isn't too much. I usually only opt for 1 extra class above full time regularly, but I've taken double the full time units before without a problem.
Just be ready to drop a class early (before a W) if you feel you won't be able to handle the workload reasonably.

Since you're a bio major it won't matter. You'll be taking 2x more science classes than you have at CC once you transfer anyways.
They only dislike it if you take all your prereqs at CCs and don't take anymore science classes thereafter at the university (non-science majors).
 
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Need a course description as the course name is kind've vague. Judging by the fact that you are at a CC tho, my guess is it's VERY basic stuff and is unnecessary. (Please don't take it the wrong way, but oftentimes CCs have very basic and general intro courses because they assume some fraction of the student population is severely lacking in some subject.)
 
If they're recommending it as a course to make sure you have capable computer skills it's going to be things like MS Word, Excel, etc. If you're posting on SDN and you made it to college, my guess is you have capable computer skills.

Computer science is by no means a 'waste of time.' However, I'd bet that class most certainly is. You won't need it, and it's only 'recommended.'

Side note: The CS department made one of my profs teach this class. He hated doing it, so he took his frustrations out on the students. The class was supposed to be a basics class teaching them how to use most of the MS Office Suite and make basic web pages. He ended up teaching them binary -> hex -> decimal conversions, control structures, computer organization, basic digital circuits, etc. It was pretty much an overview of the entire CS curriculum. Not surprisingly, by the end of the semester there were only a handful of students left in the class.
 
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haha, i won't take it the wrong way, believe me, i'm not proud of going to a cc, i feel like the biggest tool in the world. thankss everyone!!!!!
 
haha, i won't take it the wrong way, believe me, i'm not proud of going to a cc, i feel like the biggest tool in the world. thankss everyone!!!!!

i went to a CC part-time to pursue a subject not available at my four year institution... i actually enjoyed my CC courses more than the four year. atmosphere-wise, the people were there because they really valued their education, would do anything to obtain it, and also have fascinating life experiences. i'm not saying similar students don't exist at the four year, but the latter is chock-full of kids whose parents expect them to go to college and then some sort of professional school. the kids go along and dick around because they can't think of anything better to do... until they decided they actually want to pursue the path on which they were put.

don't bash the CCs 😍
 
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