<p>Hi!
I was looking into Lafayette college and wanted to know some more about their computer science program? What's its reputation? What opportunities are there for potential CS majors there?</p>
<p>The department is quite small (at least compared to Mechanical Engineering)…I think they have about 8-12 students a year (but don’t quote me on that). People usually go to various tech firms. Two students from last year went to Amazon.com, I also know they got offers from IBM, Epic systems, etc. CS department tops the list when it comes to pay after graduation. It’s quite common in CS to start from 80k and above, and last year the top numbers were 100k, straight out of college.</p>
<p>Since it’s so small, do you happen to know what the courses are like or what a CS major’s schedule, in general, is like?</p>
<p>This is the Spring 2015 course offerings:
<a href=“http://registrar.lafayette.edu/files/2014/10/CourseSchedule_S15_final.pdf”>http://registrar.lafayette.edu/files/2014/10/CourseSchedule_S15_final.pdf</a></p>
<p>This is the full course offerings from the department:
<a href=“Courses · Computer Science · Lafayette College”>http://compsci.lafayette.edu/courses/</a></p>
<p>If there’s a course that you want to take, but isn’t being offered that semester, you can easily do an “independent study” with a professor and take that course. I did it three times over the course of four years.</p>
<p><a href=“Bachelor of Science · Computer Science · Lafayette College”>http://compsci.lafayette.edu/program/requirements-of-major/</a>
There’s a sample schedule at the bottom of the page. Generally, CS majors also double major in Econ or Math.</p>
<p>Please contact me if you need any additional info about the CS department. :D</p>
All replies are really good but if you want to ask any specific question about the CompSci department I might be able to help. I’m currently a sophomore Electrical and Computer Engineering major, and have been very involved with the Computer Science Department.
As stated above, there are usually around 10 computer science graduates in the graduating class, but the department seems to be confident that the numbers will continue to grow as the field grows. That being said, several people take the compsci courses even if they are not in that major. With a small department we don’t have the same reputation as the engineering program, but we do have a lot of great connections and employers who love to come back for more alumni. It’s understood that if you study compsci at Laf and make an effort to do some job and internship searches, even if that’s just asking professors, you’re basically 98% (don’t quote me on this percentage) guaranteed a high paying job when you graduate. The professors really care about there students and foster learning as well as helping us get internship. One of my friends was a double ECE and CompSci major but her professors ultimately were what helped her find her internships with NASA.
As for other opportunities, professors will send out emails about internships they heard about and help you land one, but being an undergrad only school there is a chance to do some really cool research. Last summer, after my freshman year, I did computer science research for the neuroscience department. It’s rare for a freshman who has one semester of coding experience to do research, but at Laf it’s encouraged to get into the work if you’re interested. Having research opportunities early on can give you a real leg up.
Laf in general has a really good career services program, I believe it’s ranked as one of the top in the nation, and our alumni love to pull us for internships. I began looking for internships this semester and after less than a dozen interviews I already had two offers. One was a small but known PA company who love the Lafayette alumni they have and the teaching of my first two compsci courses gave me enough knowledge to land the job. I ended up accepting an offer from Johnson & Johnson, where we have several alumni who come back every year looking for an IT intern for their program.Overall, there are several opportunities for finding work and there’s also the opportunity to double major, which some students choose to do.
Hope this helps and feel free to contact me with any question you have!
Do you know if it is feasable to double major in CS and Math or CS and Math-Economics and still graduate in 4 years?
Yes, I believe so. It’s totally do-able. You’ll have to work on your schedule, but it’s been done before. Even if it hasn’t, no one is stopping you. If you need more than 32 courses, simply over-load. Engineering students take 5 courses a semester in a regular semester, there’s no reason you can’t do that either. You just need to fill out a form.
If you want dual degree (BS in one, and AB in one), then you’d have to take a total of 40 courses (I think). You’ll definitely have to over-load then (provided you don’t bring in any extra credits from AP, or summer courses, etc).
@smaroney1 It is possible, but it means a large number of 5-course semesters. You might want to reconsider that option though, because double majoring essentially limits the benefit of a liberal arts education. I personally think it’s nice to take more courses outside your comfort zone. You can always take an online Math course from MIT, but you can’t take an online art class.
That said, I’m just a freshman (CS major), so my view might not be entirely correct. Please inbox me if you’d like further discussion. 
It’s true, that double majoring limits access to the full benefits of liberal arts college, but then if a student is absolutely sure, they can double major, and still have slots to take classes in other disciplines. There are requirements in art and humanities and social sciences and what not, they have to be fulfilled and they fall within the course requirement of a major anyways.
5 courses is overloading, but it’s not that difficult at all. Up until the class of 2015, 25% of the students (engineeirng majors) took 38 courses within four years - and it included at least 4 electives in humanities and social sciences. It’s do-able.
And if two majors don’t work out well for your schedule, you can always do one major and the other as a minor.
Yes you can double major, but two BS degrees usually take students 5 years as said at https://facultyadvising.lafayette.edu/advising/majorsminors/. That being said, if you have incoming credits, you might be able to do it in less. As people said above, you can take 5 courses, but overloading must be approved by the registrar and some courses might have conflicting times. Many CS majors do choose to double or minor in Math, so it is possible. I personally suggest that you wait until you are here and know the workload before being dead set on double majoring. There is nothing wrong with doing a minor but it is possible to double major. And as always, there is a make your own major option if you wanted to create your own path.