<p>ok, i signed up for computer science. now, i am taking AP physics and ap calc. i am finding ap physics to be really hard. so i am reconsidering doing engineering. how much physics is in computer science curriiculum. but i am doing really great in ap calc? so what should i expect from computer science? i am not good at learning concepts ... so what do u all think</p>
<p>if not, what major (no particular science) is good to prepare for medical school?</p>
<p>I started out in CS in an engineering program. Every engineer was required to take at least two physics courses (mechanics and electromagnetism).</p>
<p>CS was too hard for me. I wasn't good at learning the theory behind the algorithms, and that is key to being able to write a good program. I could write straightforward programs but anything that required me to think creatively to solve a complicated problem was beyond me. Also, discrete math didn't make any sense to me either.</p>
<p>But as an engineer you have to be good at understanding theory and concepts. There is no way of getting around that fact. Some concepts you will understand. Some you won't. For two years I really didn't understand the concepts behind mechanics and I had a lot of trouble doing the problems. Once the concepts became clear the problems became significantly easier to do.</p>
<p>after cs, u transferred to another major ? if so what major? do u suggest that i try engineering out for the first year?</p>
<p>people who do cs say it becomes pretty obvious pretty quick if you can handle it, and if you figure out you can't, get out fast. I know there was an earlier thread on this subject, and if you just "stick with it" a lot of times you keep digging yourself a deeper and deeper hole</p>
<p>I 'm taking computer science at hs now and I hate it. I'm just not good at programming. there's a lot of math some simple concepts involved but the hard part, I think is knowing what to type into that blank screen. After you know that, the rest is easy. (and fun too, I may add)</p>
<p>Well, I was in CS for 3 semesters, but I should have quit after the first. I needed to affiliate with a certain major by the end of my sophomore year. In the spring of my sophomore year I switched to mechanical engineering and still did terribly. I transfered to another school because my grades were too bad to continue at the current one. I started over in MechE and got really good at it. My savior was a very good statics textbook that showed me what I had been doing wrong when analyzing mechanics problems. I had lacked the proper intuition. </p>
<p>celebrian said it right. If you stay in too long you will dig yourself into a hole. I thought about leaving engineering altogether because I was having trouble in every class. I would study for hours and hours for one exam not break 60%. But something told that it was possible for me to be good at engineering, and it eventually took a different school to show me that. </p>
<p>So my advice is if you want to do CS, try it out. But if you are having too much trouble, get out. That goes for any major. I kept telling myself that I loved CS but I knew deep down that I hated it. Some schools want you to affiliate with a major but a certain period. Other schools let students take their good old time.</p>
<p>so justin, u did mechanical engineering eventually? u started out as a freshman again at a new college? if i transfer to another major during sophomore year, i have to be in college another year? lol, sorry for a lot of questions</p>
<p>When I transfered I was going into my junior year. I had two years worth credits that could transfer over. But grades at the first school were not good enough to continue but the transfer school had different affiliation requirements. They didn't require me to have completed any MechE courses to affiliate with the major. So I went from ineligible at one school to being eligible at another. Since I had all of my core requirements (calculus, physics, writing courses) out of the way I didn't have to go back to being a freshman. Right now I am in my 4th year of college with "Senior" standing. But I won't graduate until 2006 as a 5th year senior. Change majors added one year onto my undergrad degree because just about all MechE courses are only offered one semester of the year. Many engineering majors operate this way. Due to limited number of resources, courses can't always be offered both semesters. So if you get behind or switch majors at the wrong time you will be in college longer than the usual 4 years. As a matter of fact, the current engineering program I am in now was originally made to be 5 years long. But even today most students at my school take 5 years to complete an engineering degree. If you take more than 16 credits per semester you have to pay extra. And it is impossible to graduate in 4 years unless you take more than 16 credits per semester. Most students have jobs to pay for their tuition, so they don't have the time to pay more than 16 credits.</p>
<p>hmm...CS is not really engineering...I don't think you actually program when you get a real engineering job. Classes like beginning C++, Java are not really that hard...but if it's not your thing I guess it could be.</p>
<p>From <a href="http://www.memagazine.org%5B/url%5D">www.memagazine.org</a> (Jan 05 issue)</p>
<p>Computer scientists are engineers. That's what the national college engineering honor society, Tau Beta Pi, recently concluded anyway, after heated debate among members.</p>
<p>Some members had offered an amendment to the constitution that would have excluded students majoring in any discipline that doesn't have the word engineering in the title or that isn't accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology.</p>
<p>"Computer science is one of many disciplines that isn't universally recognized as part of the engineering community," said Matt Ohland, Tau Beta Pi's national president and a professor of engineering at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.</p>
<p>Computer science originally developed as a math discipline, but now encompasses engineering activities like silicon-chip and computer-network design, Ohland said. Approximately 60 percent of U.S. computer science programs are housed in engineering schools.</p>
<p>Jim Plummer, the dean of Stanford University's School of Engineering in Stanford, Calif., said that Tau Beta Pi members made the right decision.</p>
<p>"The recent debate was fundamentally about whether people who engineer things using ideas from computer science are really engineers," Plummer said. "Our answer to that is, of course they are."</p>