I have recently been admitted into the A&M Engineering program, computer science track. However, I haven’t had much experience in computer science yet, but it does interest me. In general, how difficult is the engineering school and computer science with minimal experience in the topic? Is the major competitive?
Any advice/opinions/knowledge on the topic would be really appreciated!! Thank you!
If you’re already admitted into the engineering program, you don’t have to worry about competing. Don’t worry too much about experience, the program will teach you everything you need to know. I don’t know how difficult the program is specifically, but it is a top program with a very high job placement rate. Hope you love math!
If you don’t have experience with programming yet, I strongly advise you to begin learning at least basic material…you are a Computer Science field; many people have already a decent understanding of at least one language’s syntax.
Benefits: Once you learn one at an intermediate/advanced knowledge, you can learn them all in under a couple days.
Also, you should have fun programming…as it’s what you will be doing for the rest of your life. Just saying. Build apps, mod games, create little applications; there’s a whole joy to Computer Science.
Language to learn? C++. A&M’s entire curriculum revolves around C++. Why? Because the head of the Computer Science department was the person who created the C++ Programming language, Stroustrup.
Would I ever recommend C++? No. Would I ever recommend it as a first-year, first-taught, first-administered programming language for entering Computer Science majors? Hell no. It’s a clunky old programming language that is still relevant for its large usage. Not to say it isn’t good, but it is so dense in material that for a starter language, I would highly recommend something like Java or Python (however if you want the A; take C++)