<p>All throughout high school I hardly had to pay attention and I would still pass with A's and B's.
Now I'm on my first semester of college studying computer science and it feels the same to me.
All it is is lecturing and memorizing key words. I sit on my phone a lot in class using Facebook and yet my lowest grade right now is still a 94%. Even though I sit on my phone I still know all the material.
I feel like getting a degree isn't preparing me at all for the real world and that doesn't give me much motivation to keep attending and accruing 100k dollars of debt.
Would I feel differently if I went to a university? I'm in community college right now. </p>
<p>Yes, you probably would. CC is usually always easier than a university. Is there any way you could transfer?</p>
<p>I’m transferring to university in two years after I get my associates to save money. </p>
<p>What you need to focus on is this: There are some fields that require a golden ticket for admission. That ticket is a college degree. Without it, you sit outside the door. Is it always fair? No. Life seldom is. You will jump through many hoops to get your ticket, but it will pay off in the end. You’re being smart, and saving money where you can. Soldier on and try to have some fun while you can. :-)</p>
<p>But is computer science one of those fields where a degree is the golden ticket to a job?</p>
<p>It would depend on the job, of course. Persons with entrepreneurial spirit can make a go of it without a degree, but the vast number of computer science jobs that pay well do require a degree. Computer science jobs have lots of applicants, and any job that involves managing personnel or expensive equipment will require a degree. A degree indicates that, at a minimum, you can begin something and finish it. </p>
<p>You’re not learning at the academic level that you should. In other words, Community College is too easy for you and you’re like an AP student taking the remedial version of the course - you’re coasting and not stretching to the level of your abilities. Not only is that bad because you’re not getting enough in-depth content, it’s also bad because you’re not learning the proper study habits you’d need to be learning right now in order to be successful in upper-level courses at a good university. Can you transfer into a 4-year university faster than in 2 years?
What state are you in?</p>
<p>For computer science and software engineering a degree isn’t as necessary as other engineering degrees.</p>
<p>For this field you can get hired at smaller, younger companies without a degree. You probably wouldn’t have the skills though that a person with a degree would have. You would definitely have a very tough time trying to get your foot in the door at larger companies. Also, you will be at a distinct disadvantage of just not having any education section on your resume. Your resume would look weak and they would need to take additional time to make sure you have the technical knowledge necessary for the job.</p>
<p>I think people are making a bit too much of a point of the CC vs. university issue. Keep in mind that you’re in your first semester. You’re in the introductory courses right now. You’d be taking essentially the same course at a university, and you’d likely be having just as easy of a time with it. There are plenty of courses at universities that you can practically sleep through with flying colors too. The classes will get harder as you move along. If you’re trying to compare a local community college to MIT or Caltech, then obviously there is going to be a huge difference. But that same difference is going to be present in comparing a mid-level state university to MIT or Caltech as well. </p>
<p>College feels just like high school to me because I commute from my home and my life hasn’t changed all that much. Classes aren’t harder either, but that is because I’m in introductory level general ed classes, and the subject matter is conceptually easy and so is the work load. I expect things to become more challenging when I reach upper division major courses. </p>
<p>I felt that way my freshman year as well and I attend a university. It’s definitely just because they’re introductory level courses. I’m a junior and all I’m taking are 300s and 400s, which are definitely more challenging.</p>
<p>If you can, try to complete your course work at the CC as fast as possible so you can take more challenging courses at a university. You can’t take 300s and 400s at a CC, so until you get there, you’ll most likely continue to be bored. Just make sure you keep up a stellar GPA!</p>
<p>Just get through those first two years. I’m sure the classes will get a little more challenging as you move up. Then transfer and get your degree. I’ll say you need it. </p>
<p>My husband is software engineer or at least started out that way. He has worked in his field for at least 20 years. He said that his will not even look at resumes that do not have college degrees. He said with 1 or 2 yrs. experience his company hires starting at $90,000. Get the degree! Pay off your future debt.</p>
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<p>That depends on the CC. Mine offers them and many of the students take them.</p>
<p>Think of it this way: many high school students take courses at the local community college or take AP classes that are supposed to be the equivalent of introductory college courses. It’s likely because you’re taking introductory courses, but it’s possible that the classwork will never feel particularly challenging to you or that you will continue to do well. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. As you get higher up in your coursework, you’ll get to more and more subjects where you don’t already know all of the material. You may find it a lot more challenging or you may not, but at least you’ll be learning more information directly related to computer science.</p>
<p>Be grateful that you’re finding the coursework easy, so that you have more time to focus on the extra stuff that will make you a more attractive candidate to employers, like internships or other work experience. It’s harder to get as a freshman because you may not have a lot of the skills they’re looking for yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get other work experience to have something on your resume and to get some extra money. It sounds like you have the time. Or you could do some computer science related projects, depending on what skills you already have, or you can learn languages or something in your free time. College isn’t all about classes. Do things outside of the classroom to make you a better job candidate in the future.</p>
<p>There are many different things you can get out of going to college other than just coursework. It is very common for a student starting out at a CC to feel like high school, particularly if their high school was rigorous and their CC is not. It’s not only that. A large part of college is discovering and learning new things about yourself and interests. It has a lot to do with making friends and getting involved in organizations. It is true that it’s less likely at a CC to do these things because people a large amount of people there are just there to take classes and transfer later and aren’t looking to grow with the CC. The courses you take starting out are a lot of the basics and aren’t really specific to your field of study as much early on so it is very common to feel that those basic courses aren’t really exciting. Once you transfer to a university, you should see a lot more opportunities arise, things you can do, organizations you can join, sports teams to watch, and students looking to make friends. Your classes get smaller as a junior and senior taking classes specific to your major too so it starts to feel a little more personal later. Going to a university can still very much feel like going to high school if you make it that way. It is your responsibility to take advantage of what all college has to offer.</p>
<p>The first two years of college aren’t just social while you intellectually cool your heels till more challenging, major- related classes come up. (Or at least, they shouldn’t be, although if you’re lazy you can make them so - but it doesn’t sound like OP is lazy, it rather sounds like OP is frustrated with the slow pace and lack of stimulation to be found at his/her CC).
Try to transfer to a good 4-year university. What state are you in? (People on this forum probably have ideas to suggest.) What’s your budget?
If you have no other choice than to be at the CC, challenge yourself. It’s NOT normal to be a student who gets A’s doing basically nothing and you’re not learning what you need to in terms of time management, frustration handling (like: getting stuck for 30mn on a tough problem and still not giving up), synthesis of complex material, etc.
You need to find a pace and schedule that makes you do at least 2-3 hours of homework a day (in a university, 1 class period = 2 hours of homework, meaning that you’ll have AT LEAST 4 hours of readings/problem sets/activities/lab a day - and it’s not possible to go from zero to 4 smoothly.) If that means increasing your courseload to 18 or 21 credits, do it (if your grade becomes a B or less, drop the 3 extra credits before they hurt your GPA or turn into a W). Try to seek out a professor and see if they need a research assistant or someone to help them - go through work study, perhaps. Get involved in an academic club - or create one (asking the department’s chair). Are you in your CC’s honors program? If not, join - or at least try to get into honors classes and/or get an override from your adviser so that you can take a couple honors classes. </p>
<p>Pretty much how it is. I can generalize to say that 75% of lower division courses are at the same level as AP. If you took a lot of AP in high school, the first year or two is likely to be a cakewalk. </p>
<p>All I can say is keep hammering away and wait until upper division–if you’re doing well now there is a good chance you’ll do well then too.</p>
<p>There are huge differences in rigor across schools. How many students at CalTech, Mit, Princeton or Penn are sitting around waiting to be challenged while collecting A’s or B’s. No. Some with 800s across the board and straight A’s in all honor, APs or actual college classes are struggling to pass, especially in STEM. Learning it hard. If you are not having to work you are not learning much. college should not be glorified high school or camp. How A’s at gut schools can be considered the same as those from tough schools is beyond me. You are being ripped off if you are not learning. If it is easy, you are not learning much.</p>
<p>Introductory-level CS course work can vary considerably between schools (unlike in some other subjects, where introductory-level course work is more standardized). If your CC (or university) does not have the strongest (in CS) students, then its introductory-level CS courses may be structured to accommodate significantly weaker students than you are (e.g. it may take two CS courses in that school to cover what one CS course in a school with stronger (in CS) students covers).</p>
<p>Following up on what @ucbalumnus said : OP may want to look at the CS curriculum at the 4 yr univ. he/she plans to transfer and make sure they will accept the CS credits from the CC. CS departments are fussy that way exactly for the reasons cited above. It seems to me too that the Intro CS course at the CC may be at too low a level. Before the SPirng semester starts, OP should find out the curriculum at the 4YR univ. and see how things match up. In New Jersey, we have njtransfer.org, a web site that tells you what courses transfer where with the state system. It’s a bit clunky, but better than nothing. Is there something like that at OP’s state? Some universities will also post what credits will transfer somewhere on their website - use a Search feature to find out.</p>
<p>If OP is sure the credits will transfer, but is concerned about rigor, I would suggest that he/she go on to Edx.org or COursera.org and do some independent study on the many Intro CS courses they have - to occupy all that free time from taking a non-rigorous course. The OP will get some extra challenge and better prep for the upper level courses later on.</p>
<p>Would it be possible to at least take a core CS course at the 4 yr. uni as a non-matriculated (visiting) student (may be in the summer), before you transfer so you can see what lies ahead? As a prof at a four year university, I have found found that transfer students (usually our best students) have to jump through many hoops once they get here, but through no fault of their own. The 2+2 option then becomes 2+ 3 very quickly. </p>