<p>Information systems (or management and information systems, or information technology, or computer and information systems (not science)) is typically a business oriented major with some lower level technical content aimed at managing computers and their software, rather than designing computers and their software like computer science is aimed at.</p>
<p>If you major in such a thing, it is a good idea to take the computer science courses for the introductory sequence and operating systems, networks, and databases, in order to get a stronger technical background in those areas, which will allow you to better solve difficult problems and adapt to new technologies than most people in the field from a business background.</p>
<p>I can say that the information systems track is generally not a deep programming track. I doubt any of them would go much beyond AP CS regarding programming skills. The focus is more on managing information systems within a business environment. You would likely have at least a basic finance course requirement as a core requirement at any business school worth attending. Generally you have room for a few business and non-business electives, so you could use those for more programming and finance courses if you wanted to. But I do not know the specifics for Wharton, you would have to look at that yourself.</p>
<p>I just picked those schools as examples because I attended one of them and I just took a couple other well known schools as examples. You could investigate this at other universities on your list. Generally this will be a concentration only offered at universities, since it is usually part of the business school/program – and most liberal arts colleges are not focused on pre-professional programs like business.</p>
<p>Information Systems seems to be a MBA topic I would like to study (as offered at Wharton). I think learning about actual programming would be better for undergraduate for 2 major reasons (please dispute if you see another side):</p>
<ol>
<li> CS programming helps me get a job while I go to graduate school</li>
<li>If I became a manager of programmers or an employer of a small group of programmers, I believe I should know what they are doing (connecting to a job related to CS). I should also be able to step in to edit and fill in for employees when needed. </li>
</ol>
<p>Overall, I really do like what I’ve heard about Information Systems so far, but CS seems to be a more appropriate area of study to undertake first. Steve Jobs was recorded for saying (in his biography) something along the lines of that no matter how far he would fall, he could always be a decent employee at Altair. </p>
<p>But Jobs never needed to do that, did he? So while it might sound like a cool thing to say, it wasn’t really a very useful thing for him.</p>
<p>IT is very much a “what have you done for me lately” field. And no matter how hard you try, if you move into management, eventually you will manage people who code in languages and use technologies where you have no hands on knowledge. And it is pretty rare for a manager in an IT situation to step in and “fill in for employees” when needed (my developers would kill me if I touched their code while they are on vacation even in the areas where I know the programming language and technology ). It definitely helps to have some technology/CS background because it gives you a “sniff test” when managing things (Are they telling the truth about what is going on? Do they even know the truth? Where are the pitfalls and things that will trip us up if we don’t plan well?).</p>
<p>If your goal is IT management, then I say cut to the chase and get the undergrad business degree with an info systems-type concentration and some extra CS classes, and skip the MBA altogether. Save your time and money (and this is coming from someone who has an MBA).</p>
<p>But I am also going to say again, as I did on your other thread. You are way too worried about this for a high school sophomore. You can’t plan your life out 10 years in advance. Stop trying so hard.</p>
<p>@intparent Haha definitely true. I’ve taken this a little too far today. Thank you for teaching me so much information about this career field, though. It really has been interesting to see what I might be doing in the next few years. </p>
<p>You could apply differently depending on the school. For instance CS at CMU has a 6% admit rate so unless you’re comfortable you could get into Caltech, apply to the business school and do a CS minor as suggested. At other schools, apply directly to the CS major, especially if it’s in Arts&Sciences and isnt impacted.
At some colleges, provided you apply to the right college, you can apply undecided, and at LACs typically you can apply to any major during admissions, and change your mind when you register, and again after a semester, without penalty of any sort since LACs have broad education requirements that mean you can switch into and out of subjects, test what interests you, etc.</p>
<p>I don’t believe any school exists that quite fits all your objectives. You’ll have to compromise on one or more of them to optimize some of the others. In particular, it seems to be very hard to get “large” (let’s say > 10K undergraduates) and also keep classes consistently “small” (let’s say no more than 10% of classes having 50 or more students). UPenn comes close, with just under 10K undergrads and just under 10% of classes having 50 or more students. But then, Penn is not rural. The national research universities that come closest to LAC-like class sizes would include Chicago, Duke, and Tufts. However, these schools (and the Ivies) do have some rather large classes (> 100 students)… and they aren’t “rural”. (<a href=“Avg Class size? - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/708190-avg-class-size-p1.html</a> – note that this is a little dated but if any listed school looks promising for class sizes, you can look up more recent numbers in the “academic life” section of its US News entry)</p>
<p>If you do want rural, then you’ll probably wind up with fewer internship opportunities. </p>
<p>There are historical reasons, and economic reasons, why the US college landscape looks the way it does, and why you won’t find exactly the ideal you describe. One that might come pretty close is Pomona College. It is a small LAC but in a consortium with 4 other nearby LACs on the outskirts of Los Angeles. It is very selective, though.
<a href=“http://www.cs.pomona.edu/”>http://www.cs.pomona.edu/</a></p>
<p>@MYOS1634 thank you. Do you know if there will be a lot of elective choice if I apply to CMU’s business program?</p>
<p>@tk21769 by large student bodies, I was actually thinking 4k+ undergraduate. I believe jobs and internships aren’t terribly hard to come by even in rural areas, due to a small school’s strong alumni connection and the easier process over the web. Of course I don’t expect every single one of my requirements to be met. It was merely a description of my ideal school, so I was looking for anything that came close, perhaps sacrificing one or two at most.</p>
<p>Look at the school’s actual class schedule to find out how big the classes are (or, if not listed, whether it uses the lecture + discussion model and how many discussions are associated with the lecture in classes of interest).</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus like you said, Econ and cs courses are likely to be on the larger side everywhere. I think I’ll look more at LACs. Also, since the trend is usually class sizes diminishing as the topic gets more specific and advanced, I think I’m fine if the class sizes start out large in introductory courses.</p>
<p>With LACs and other smaller schools, the flip side of the situation is that many of them offer fewer advanced courses, or offer them less frequently (e.g. only once every two years). Check the catalogs and schedules carefully (the same as you would for checking class sizes – generalized comments are not necessarily applicable to all majors or departments). A convenient cross-registration agreement with another school that “fills in the gaps” can be helpful in some cases, but you need to check how convenient the cross registration is and how well the other school “fills in the gaps”.</p>
and I just took a couple other well known schools as examples. You could investigate this at other universities on your list. Generally this will be a concentration only offered at universities, since it is usually part of the business school/program – and most liberal arts colleges are not focused on pre-professional programs like business.</p>