<p>So at orientation, I decide to sit with some buddies I met in my group at lunch.
(This was the Comp Sci Major group).</p>
<p>They are having a conversation about what they do for programming:</p>
<p>Turns out, one is already into building Operating Systems and the other one experiments with lots of open source software</p>
<p>I on the other hand, simply practice building rather "small" applications to keep my skills in tune (nothing on the scale of an OS or Open Source program).</p>
<p>Does that imply that I will not be able to survive CS at Maryland? I really do have an interest in CS, and I try to learn something new at times, but I never have tried playing around with open source software...</p>
<p>You'll be fine. Every CS class has those kids who think they know everything. What's funny is the professors actually don't like those guys. </p>
<p>OOP I is supposedly very easy, OOP II was a cakewalk for me, Data Structures and C (Low level programming) were more difficult, but still doable.</p>
<p>This was coming off of a background where I was extremely good with programming concepts, but never did any programming outside of classes in HS.</p>
<p>I've actually since started loading up on Economics and have forgone taking more CS courses. I'm still a CS major technically, but I think I'm going to wind up switching to Econ. Nothing against the program at UMD, I just don't have much of a love for it.</p>