Computer Science in 3 years

Applying to College
1

<p>I am an international Student and many of my friends will do their bachelor's degree in the UK. It only takes them 3 years to do so and in the US, it's 4. As far as i'm concerned, the first 2 years aren't hard because they are preparing you for the next 2. Is this true?</p>

<p>I know you can graduate in 3 years if you pick more classes and I know friends who have done that in other majors.</p>

<p>Do you think I would be able to major in Computer Science in 3 years?
I don't mind having 4 or 5 classes per day if that is what you need. I just want to save time.</p>

<p>Did any of you do that?</p>

<p>Any tips?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance</p>

2

<p>Are you coming in with any AP or IB credits?</p>

<p>It may also depend on whether the CS program is in Engineering or not.<br>
*
I don’t mind having 4 or 5 classes per day* </p>

<p>The problem may be getting classes that don’t have labs that over-lap. Also, at many schools, you’re charged more if you take more than - say - 16 credits per semester. </p>

<p>You also have to have time to actually do the assignments.</p>

3

<p>No, I have no credits whatsoever. I come from the European Baccalaureate so, no.
Thanks for the info btw :)</p>

4

<p>4 or 5 classes per day will most likely not be allowed to a freshman at most colleges because that would exceed the maximum number of semester hours allowed a freshman.</p>

<p>If you come in with a lot APs or IBs, you can potentially complete in three years. The issue you face is that in the US getting a college degree usually requires 120 or more semester hours (and CS is very often the “more”), colleges generally prohibit a freshman from taking more than 17 or 18 of those hours in one semester and also require you to take a lot of courses that are general education courses that you will likely personally believe are not needed for computer science. In other words you are going to have to take things like history or literature or geography, etc., that have nothing to do with computer science but are designed to give you a “broad” educational background. Moreover, if CS is in the engineering college of the university you will also have to meet engineering requirments including taking chemistry and some physics courses and the engineering required semester hours for a degree are often well north of that 120 hours.</p>

<p>Also, just be aware, and perhaps this does not apply to any internationals from your country, but US colleges annually have many freshman who come in with high test scores and high GPAs in high school, who believe themselves invincible, assume they can easily take the maximum number of hours per semester allowed, and then by the end of the first semester find themselves on probation with their grades in the tank because their beliefs were based on what they did in high school, and college is very different place, including by providing far more opportunities than you can imagine to do something other than study full time.</p>

5

<p>In the higher level US Universities, Computer Science is a very intense program. Such universities include private universities such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and several of the Public State Universities such as University of Illinois, UC Berkeley, University of Texas, and a few others.</p>

<p>CS graduates from these universities with a very strong academic and summer intern record do extremely well in the job market. Graduates with lesser records often struggle to find compelling jobs.</p>

<p>The typical signature of the strong CS graduate is 4 years of CS, 2-3 compelling intern positions, and, increasingly often, a MS degree. In some cases these strong graduates do their MS degree after a year or two on the job, and often with some level of company help.</p>

<p>The CS programs at the universities that I’m referencing is NOT 2 years of preparation and 2 years of concentrated study in CS. The very best students take advanced math and (often) related engineering courses (often “EE” related) along the way. They program and are involved in CS assignments all along, often even in non-CS specific classes. They graduate with the systems depth that is critical to many modern CS assignments.</p>

<p>At lesser universities, and some of California State Universities come to mind, the CS program is fundamentally different from the one I described above. It is very “credit” and “course” oriented. Prerequisites are clearly identified, and it is often straightforward to get credit for some of these. It is quite easy for some students to complete the requirements in 3 years. These students however are less likely to be considered for the higher level CS “engineering” positions – such as those at the Microsofts, Googles and Facebooks of the world.</p>

<p>So in the end the answer to your question depends on your skills, your potential and your interests.</p>

<p>As a side comment, I think comparing the British and to the American education process is problematic. They are very different. The “3” versus “4” year question comes up for all degrees. The US process is not focused on concentration during “high school” – i.e. “A” levels. For someone who’s been through the British process, the difference between “top” universities and and others is still very much as I’ve described for the US universities. For someone with 3 A* and a CS degree from Cambridge the job market is wide open.</p>

6

<p>Even outside the US, Engineering degrees including Computer science require 4 years to graduate. I would not recommend it and your 3 year CS degree (if at all you get a college to sign off on that) will not be looked at favorably for future graduate school. I have friends with CS major, and mine is close as well, The first year is high level math and then you get into algorithm, data Structures. All of these are very hard courses. Personally a 3 year degree would not be credible for a lot of schools.</p>

<p>If you just want to be a programmer, yes, you can just take some language classes and you don’t need a CS degree. But most employers want a CS degree (or a related major) for new Software Professionals that they hire.</p>

7

<p>Well, thank you all of you for the long responses. I have new perspectives to consider now.</p>

<p>However, I don’t understand how would companies see having completed a 4 year degree in 3. Doesn’t that mean you have worked harder?</p>

<p>And, University is there to work hard right? I’m talking about saving a year of your life which is quite valuable right? I could start the Master’s Degree a year earlier and all that…</p>

8

<p>What’s the hurry? Taking an overload of classes may compromise GPA. In most top colleges, CS is quite challenging. Some folks do a MS (5 year). That is more do-able. There may not be too much flexibility in getting ahead as there are course pre-requisites. And summers, you want to do internship at companies not bury yourself in summer school. That is what will get you a job ultimately.</p>

9

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<p>Yes, or smarter. You can certainly try, but many students find that taking overloads every semester is beyond their capacity. On the other hand, some do succeed in completing a 4 year degree program in 3 or 3.5 years.</p>

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<p>Often, the motivation is to keep total undergraduate cost down.</p>

<p>Another motivation, which does not appear to apply to the OP, is that a very advanced student (lots of AP/IB/A-level credit, community college courses, etc. before high school graduation) may complete all of his/her major courses and other requirements in the second or third year and be itching to do graduate study then.</p>

10

<p>Nice point there ucbalumnus, considering that financial aid for international students is very limited.</p>