<p>Hi everyone! I'm going to Columbia in the fall and am having trouble deciding a major/minor. I definitely want to meet the pre-med requirements, so I thought I would be a bio or chem major. But now I've started to dabble into comp sci and I think it's cool too. I know comp sci offers good jobs right after undergrad and medicine is years and years of work. I want to have computer science as a back up, or at least take the courses so that if I ultimately decide to pursue computer science I have that option. I hae a few questions:
1. Is it possible to be pre-med and be a computer science major? Would you recommend this? I'm worried about not being able to take other bio/biochem classes that would help me for the MCAT.
2. How DIFFICULT is computer science? Do you have any good resources I could start looking at?
3. What about a computer science MINOR? Do minors hold any weight in terms of job prospects? If I were a bio major and computer science minor, do you think I could still get a job at a company as a programmer/software engineer? Or would I have to be in the biotech industry? </p>
<p><strong><em>VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION</em></strong>=
Is there a limit on the number of OUTSIDE credits you can apple to a major/minor? For example, if I took 10 credits at a local instruction, would they be applied? </p>
<p>Thank you!'</p>
<p>This is an interesting question, bumping so someone with an answer might see it!</p>
<p>a) you havent even started school yet, so i really wouldnt be worrying yet about your major. you may take a class that you are surprisingly interested in, or take a class and realize that you hate something. both have happened to me in college. the pre-med requirements are pretty hefty. most people major in a science as a pre-med. it is certainly doable to be a compsci major and do the pre-med requirements, but it will be very very difficult because computer programs take HOURS and so do some science labs. I took 2 compsci classes, and they were much more work than I thought. I would spent like 20 hours on one programming assignment. I would recommend taking csci1004 your freshman year and see if you like it. you will know. computer science is a major that really tires you out, even to the point that by the time youre ready for a job, youre already tired from it. also concentrating in compsci is an option, but because columbia has concentrations and not minors, there are a lot of requirements anyway. (a concentration is more than a minor, less than a major).
b) you cant apply any credit from outside institutions at columbia, sorry.</p>
<p>my friend is doing the pre-med track with a comparative ethnic studies and anthropology double major, another is pre-med and doing women’s and gender studies, and another is doing pre-med and english. also, some credits from outside institutions can be accepted but not for a major–but you have to fight for it. one of my friends went home and took some pre-med-y classes (maybe orgo?) at UT Austin and Columbia is allowing him to transfer the credits. you just have to work with your advisor and pick a school that’s at least somewhat on par with CU. but they won’t count for a major, just general graduation requirements (need 124 to graduate, only about 60 are the core with another 30-50 from a major, leaving room for electives, which is where outside credits can get nice if you need to take a lighter schedule).</p>