<p>Can anyone tell me how the Computer Science department is at Vassar?
I know this is vague, any info is good though.</p>
<p>I’ve been wondering the same thing for the past couple of weeks.</p>
<p>I haven’t taken any classes in comp sci, but it’s the first department of it’s kind in the WORLD. Majors seem to enjoy the classes and be pretty stressed out, but they learn a lot(although it’s pretty theoretical compared to other comp sci depts) and seem to have jobs and internships at IBM thrown at them(IBM is right near campus, which is a HUGE plus). The computer science and cognitive science(also a Vassar first) departments seem to both maintain strong ties with IBM.</p>
<p>Could you explain how the department is unique, or how it’s the first of its kind? Also, could you elaborate on how the Comp. Sci majors always seem stressed? Thank you.</p>
<p>I can’t say too much in detail about how it’s unique or stressful since I’m not a student in the dept, but I can say that it’s the first of its kind in that Vassar had the WORLD’S first major in computer science. It was born out of the mathematics dept and became its own major. From there it spread elsewhere and now the whole world has it as a popular major. Vassar had the same thing happen with cognitive science, which was born from computer science, philosophy, and psychology. In 1982 Vassar granted the first undergraduate degree in cognitive science in the world!</p>
<p>[The</a> History of Computer Science at Vassar College - 150 Years, Vassar’s Sesquicentennial - Vassar College](<a href=“150 Years of Vassar”>150 Years of Vassar)</p>
<p>I’m not a student in the department but a close friend is heavily involved. Vassar’s comp sci program is impressive but unique–it is much more theoretical in nature than most programs at research universities. Rather than learning languages first and theory only in advanced classes, Vassar lets an understanding of programming evolve from an understanding of computers and their logic structures. That being said, the program sets many up for traditional success. My friend is a department research assistant as a sophomore (an opportunity primarily accorded to juniors and seniors) and a graduating senior just got recruited by Microsoft. Speaking to your question about stress: my friend gets most of his work done in the weekly lab period and has more free time than most people I know. If you’re dedicated to the topic I believe you’d find the department rewarding.</p>
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<p>My son graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Computer Science and has had six job offers. He found the work pretty challenging and liked the department.</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much. </p>
<p>I am still a novice in all things Computer Science, but I’ll be taking the 101 course (and hopefully 102) this upcoming year and just take it from there.</p>
<p>I graduated from Vassar and would love to think that Vassar had the very first computer science department in the world, but I think that’s not quite true. It may be that it has the first CS department OF ITS KIND in the world. The very first computer science department I believe was at Purdue. Brown also has a long history with computer science. It may also be that Vassar innovated in some other way in computer science beyond being the first to establish a department. Also, maybe I’m just not understanding your assertion, above, about what Vassar was first in. </p>