Hi! I am considering applying to Davidson as EDII as I love the campus, people and atmosphere. However, I am planning on majoring in computer science/art, but I’m not sure how strong the CompSci department is at Davidson. Also, from what I have researched most of the research/internships are geared towards bio majors. Is that true? I would like to know of the Computer Science opportunities at Davidson. Thank you!
Sorry you never got a reply. I don’t go to Davidson nor do I have a kid there so I can’t help you much. However, my son does go to a peer LAC to Davidson and I know others with kids at similar peer schools. Here’s my over-arching generalization comment about CS at small LAC’s, which could be more or less true at Davidson specifically…
Usually it’s the fastest growing major by interest. None of the LAC’s have enough full time professors to meet demand so they bring in visiting ones who can be hit or miss. It can sometimes be hard to get the exact class you want when you want it, particularly pre-major. And in general the LAC’s are ambivalent about the rapid growth of CS because it’s not a traditional liberal arts degree, so many (not all) of them are not acting fast enough to respond to the growth in popularity of the major.
Also, while this probably varies widely from school to school, I have seen a very similar curriculum at many and you should be prepared that it expects you to do most of your actual hands-on learning of coding on your own outside of the classrooms. The curriculum skews very heavily on fundamental theories and concepts of data structures, systems, etc. In any given class you might be exposed to a new language but not spend much time learning it and you’ll be expected to do that on your own to solve the class requirements. This is the polar opposite of the way the many coding “bootcamps” work that deeply immerse you in actual coding but expect concepts to come from exposure and repetition. My son took a core CS course last semester that never even coded a single thing all semester – everything was done in pseudo code. It was interesting and he learned stuff, but if he relied on only the courses he wouldn’t pass any companies coding challenge. I have no idea which is better long term, but just set your expectations…