College drop out looking to go back to school for Computer Science

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

<p>Hey guys. The short question is does it matter which school I go to? And knowing that the answer is dependent on situation, I guess here's an explanation.</p>

<p>I dropped out of college as a senior, and my degree was Literature from UCSD. I currently live in Los Angeles, and have been seriously considering going back to school. But I dropped out because I didn't think finishing Lit would be worthwhile. I want to go back for Computer Science - but I currently already owe around 30K in financial aid that I'm already paying off. Is going back to UCSD for computer science worth an extra roughly 40K in loans to pay off, or should I just suck it up and try to finish at the local CSU for half the price?</p>

<p>The real question now: is that shiny piece of paper from UCSD worth 20-25K more than then the shiny piece of paper I can get from CSULA? And to be perfectly honest, it'll probably cost a lot more than 40K in loans considering I'll have to relocate on my own and likely won't be able to work for a while. But if it really increases my job hunting chances in the long run, I think I'll go back to the UC.</p>

2

<p>Short answer, no. Given your situation it’s probably best you choose the cheaper route.</p>

3

<p>No. Work your butt off and go the cheaper route with your debt already piled up. Work hard and show jobs you know just as much or more. </p>

<p>Btw, see if you can transfer your credits. That will help, and maybe you can go ahead and do a quick Double Major.</p>

4

<p>Just make sure you don’t over your maximum amount of credit hours that financial aid will actually pay for. Look up the “150% rule”.</p>

5

<p>Thanks guys. That’s what a lot of people have been telling me lately, I think I’ll look into which CSU’s are best for me. </p>

<p>Thanks for the heads up on the 150% Rule, I’ll have to look into it after I apply for FAFSA.</p>

6

<p>@OldManDave</p>

<p>If you took a whole bunch of literature classes and are almost done with the literature degree, then it might be more beneficial for you to complete the literature degree, and then get a master’s in computer science later. I say that because of this:</p>

<p>The way that financial aid works is that it allots a certain amount of financial aid for an associates. Then it allots a certain amount of financial aid for a bachelors. Finally, it allows a certain amount of financial aid for a masters. </p>

<p>Now don’t shoot me if I’m wrong, but I think it allots something like 85 credits or something for each degree. So let’s say you get your A.A. degree with a transfer major in literature. So that’s now 65 credits that you spent on that degree. Now you are eligible to get a bachelor’s and it starts over, and you now have 85 more credits to spend on that. However, if you wanted to get something like an A.S. in addition to your A.A. then you can’t because that would be considered almost like getting another A.A., so now all you have is 20 credits left over, and that isn’t enough to complete the degree. However, you do have enough for a bachelor’s because the financial aid resets with each degree. </p>

<p>Now considering the fact that you wanted to do computer science let’s give you an example of that as well. Let’s say all that you are allowed to take is 85 credit hours, and you have already taken 60, then all you have left to complete a bachelor’s degree is 25 credit hours and that’s not enough to complete your degree. However, if you just completed the literature degree, then it would reset and then you would have enough to get a full new master’s in comp sci. </p>

<p>However, there is one more thing that you need to take into consideration, and that’s the prerequistes for the comp sci master’s program. In a bachelor’s level degree, then financial aid will most likely pay for your prerequisites for your degree. However, in a master’s level they will not and you will have to pay out of pocket. So if you were to do a master’s level degree in comp sci with a transfer major in literature, then you would probably have to have at least some of these prerequisites: comp sci 1, college algebra, pre calc, calc 1, calc 2, physics 1, physics 2, physics 2 lab, and physics 2 lab. </p>

<p>Really your best bet would be if you still have enough financial aid to complete a comp sci bachelor’s. This is all really complicated, and really hard to explain, so check with an adviser at your college before doing anything.</p>

7

<p>@JNelsonMarka</p>

<p>Thanks so much for that! I think my game plan now will be to try and completely switch to CS. If either finAid or the Admin tell me
I can’t do that, then I’ll try for the BA in English with a CS minor and try to get into a MA program with that. I really appreciate your help!</p>

8

<p>@OldManDave</p>

<p>Just tell your adviser about everything I just told you about and they will give you the full scoop on the situation.</p>

<p>EDIT: If you have the choice though, try to get the bachelor’s because you could probably get a pell grant for that, which will cover your tuition. However in the master’s program, you can still get financial aid loans, but you can’t get a pell grant to pay for your classes and that could rack up a lot of debt.</p>

9

<p>How far away (in terms of number of courses or credits) are you from being able to complete a CS major? If you have been majoring in literature while not taking any CS and math courses, you may need to take a rather substantial number of courses to complete a CS major, whether at UCSD or elsewhere. Also, doing a master’s degree in CS does depend on some undergraduate CS preparation.</p>

10

<p>Thanks ucbalumnus,</p>

<p>I already plan on spending 3-4 years going back to school. My plan A right now - partly because of the advice Jnelsonmarka gave me above - is to go back to UCSD to finish my Lit degree because I’m literally only missing my foreign language requirement. Whichever language I pick will require at least a year since I would need to take the intro language course all the way up to a literature course in that language. </p>

<p>In that time, I want to try and work on a minor for Computer Science. After that, I plan on looking at a CSU for a MA in CS. </p>

<p>My plan B is to switch completely to CS when I go back to UCSD, but after talking to my counselors I doubt they will let me (considering I’m one requirement away from my Lit degree). Because of that I plan on applying to CSULA and Cal Poly SLO as well, just in case I change my mind and just want the CS BA. I don’t want to directly try for the CSULA CS BA and forgo UCSD because after talking to my friends who have graduated and becoming engineers - I do think that UCSD can still give me an advantage when job hunting.</p>

<p>Either way, I want to start towards a career in CS rather than finish a Lit degree with options that I am no longer interested in pursuing. Thanks for your help!</p>

11

<p>Note that preparation for graduate study in CS is described here:</p>

<p>[Graduate</a> Program Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) | Computer Science and Engineering](<a href=“Graduating PhDs in 2012-2013 | Computer Science”>Graduating PhDs in 2012-2013 | Computer Science)</p>

<p>You may want to consider this list when planning to take CS courses, even if you will not be able to complete a CS major. Even short of a CS major, you may be able to enter employment in computer jobs, if you have a strong enough motivation to self-educate anything needed (note that continuing self-education is necessary in the computer industry anyway, although a CS major will have more “base” education in CS).</p>

<p>At UCSD, the introductory sequence is CSE 8A/8AL, 8B, 12/15L, 30/100 (4 quarters) or CSE 11, 12/15L, 30/100 (3 quarters). Math would be CSE 20, 21 started concurrently with 8B or 11.</p>

<p>[Computer</a> Science and Engineering (CSE) Courses](<a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/courses/CSE.html]Computer”>Computer Science and Engineering)</p>

<p>Note that some community colleges in the LA area offer courses equivalent to some of these UCSD courses, so you may be able to get a head start on the sequence cheaply before returning to UCSD. This may allow you go deeper into the sequence (i.e. take courses more advanced than CSE 100) after returning to UCSD.</p>

<p>[ASSIST</a> Report](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)
[ASSIST</a> Report](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)
[ASSIST</a> Report](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)
[ASSIST</a> Report](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)
[ASSIST</a> Report](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)</p>

<p>Note that community colleges also offer beginner and intermediate foreign language courses, so you may be able to do those there and only need the literature course(s) at UCSD.</p>

<p>But be careful of the unit limitations:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/front/UgrdDegReq.html[/url]”>http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/front/UgrdDegReq.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>Yeah, most CS Master’s programs will not let you count intro courses, while a bachelor’s program will. So for the MS, you have to finish your BA, take the prereq classes not for degree credit, apply for MS admissions, then do a year or two of coursework. For the bachelor’s you have to do a year or two of coursework. I think the bachelor’s makes much more sense.</p>

<p>A master’s is overkill for most programming jobs anyways. A MS in CS with a non-CS (or related field) bachelor’s may actually be less marketable than a bachelor’s in CS.</p>

13

<p>finish at UCSD. Check your transfer requirements if you have previous transfer work. You can take your foreign language at community college if it is not specifically mandated by your major to take foreign language in residence. </p>

<p>Then just to let you know, Oregon State has a post bacc BS in computer science that is online and only takes at least a year after you get your BA. Might want to consider that option as well. </p>

<p>[Tracks</a> – Computer Science – Undergraduate Degrees Online – Oregon State University Ecampus – OSU Extended Campus](<a href=“Computer Science (Postbacc) Bachelor's Degree Online | Oregon State Ecampus”>Computer Science (Postbacc) Bachelor's Degree Online | Oregon State Ecampus)</p>

<p>Your thoughts on a career track will determine how you want to get your CS degree and which courses.</p>

14

<p>Keep in mind that UCSD is a top 20 school. That 25k extra would be a worthy investment considering the recruiting that is done on campus.</p>

15

<p>Perhaps the cheap plan to graduate from UCSD would be to:</p>

<p>a. Take the beginner/intermediate foreign language courses at CC to get to the level needed to take the literature course(s) needed for the current major.
b. Take the CC courses articulating to UCSD’s lower division CSE courses 8A/8AL/8B or 11, 12, 15L, 20, 21, and 30 in order to be ready for UCSD’s CSE 100 and more advanced courses.
c. With the above complete, attend one or two quarters at UCSD to complete the foreign literature course(s) and take CSE 100 and more advanced CSE courses as desired.
d. Graduate from UCSD.</p>

<p>But be careful of the unit limit when transferring CC units.</p>

<p>Remember that UCSD’s value in CS is in the upper division, since lower division CS courses can be taken at CCs. If you are prepared to do upper division CS courses, then you will be able to make the most use of any time you have at UCSD.</p>

16

<p>@Lookin4ward Thanks for that. I think deep down I agree that the UCSD degree might just be worth the extra couple billion pennies it costs.</p>

<p>@NavalTradition That’s very important information for me to know, thanks!</p>

<p>@UCBAlumnus First off, I really appreciate your feedback. I talked to UCSD and they basically said I can’t transfer over any more JuCo units because I’m already past my limit. And even more, I’m pretty much at my limit for UCSD units as it is, so switching majors won’t be allowed for me.</p>

<p>I asked them if my best option for CS would be to switch Universities and they haven’t gotten back to me. Depending on their answer, I might consider finishing my Lit degree and just taking the CS minor classes without their approval, and just see what they say when I’m done. But I really appreciate your help, it’s making this decision seem a lot more plausible, even if I still have a ways to go.</p>