Daily Life of BA Comp Sci Major?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
21

<p>[ASSIST</a> Report: ARC 10-11 UCB Articulation Agreement by Department](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)</p>

<p>What do you guys think of this plan? Am I reading ASSIST correctly?
AP out of Math 1A
Take Math 1B (Calculus II & Calculus III…right?) at CC
Take Math 54 (Math 410 & Math 420? Or just one?) at CC during Summer of next year.</p>

<p>1st Sem:
CS 3S
Reading & Comp
Breadth/Electives
Breadth/Electives</p>

<p>2nd Sem:
CS 61A
CS 70
Breadth/Elective
Breadth/Elective</p>

<p>3rd Sem:
CS 61B
Breadth/Elective
??
??</p>

<p>4th Sem:
CS 61C
Breadth/Elective
EECS 42/43
??</p>

<p>Declare BA Comp. Sci Major</p>

<p>I’m a total noob at planning so feel free to critique my plan. I’m trying to keep the lightest load possible during the school year because I will also be part of the Taekwondo team. I honestly don’t mind going to summer school every year just so I will not overload during the school year.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

22

<p>What AP tests and scores do you have?</p>

<p>Also, matching up community college courses is easier if the community college is on the semester system. At American River College, which appears to be on the quarter system, it looks like you probably need Math (maybe 401) 402, 410, 420 to complete all of math up to 53 and 54.</p>

<p>But really, math courses should not be that hard or time consuming (you said you have AP credit, so that implies that you are good at math, right?). You may want to take stand alone breadth courses at the community college so that you won’t have partial credit or partial overlapping course content that you see with math. The courses that tend to be time hogs have labs (mainly science and engineering), computer programming (most CS courses other than the theory ones like 70, 170, 172, 174), or large term projects (e.g. CS 150, 152, 164, 184, but also some humanities and social studies courses).</p>

<p>Do you have previous computer programming experience? If so, you may want to consider jumping directly into CS 61A. If it seems over your head after the first week, you may want to consider dropping back to CS 3 or CS 10.</p>

<p>How time consuming is TKD? Managing the course load of a technical major and intercollegiate sports can be done; see [this</a> article](<a href=“http://innovations.coe.berkeley.edu/vol4-issue10-dec10/athletes]this”>http://innovations.coe.berkeley.edu/vol4-issue10-dec10/athletes).</p>

<p>Why not a schedule like this?</p>

<p>Semester 1:
CS 61A
Math 1B or H1B
R&C or Breadth*
Breadth*</p>

<p>Semester 2:
CS 61B
Math 54 or CS 70
Breadth* or R&C
EE 42 or Breadth*</p>

<p>Semester 3:
CS 61C
CS 70 or Math 54
Breadth* or EE 42
Breadth* or R&C
(declare CS major)</p>

<p>Semester 4 to 8:
Upper division CS courses
Breadth* or electives</p>

<ul>
<li>For breadth, consider AL, BS, PV, HS, IS, SB courses out of the [7-course</a> breadth requirement](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/7breadth.html]7-course”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/7breadth.html); try to include an American Cultures course (course number usually suffixed by AC).</li>
</ul>

<p>You may also want to consider taking courses in an area of application of CS that you are interested in. E.g. Economics 101A, 136, 138 if you are interested in economics and finance applications. Or some Biology and Statistics courses if you are interested in bioinformatics. Etc.</p>

23

<p>As of now I only have a 4 on AP Art history. I will be taking Macro Econ, Micro Econ, Physics, and Calculus next month. I’m pretty sure I will be able to get at least a 4 on all of them except Physics.</p>

<p>So, if all goes according to plan and I get credit for AB, do you still recommend that I take stand-alone breadth courses this summer rather than finish of Math1B at ARC? I don’t really mind taking Calculus II and III during summer. And I would much rather not have to stress on studying Math 1B during the school year.</p>

<p>As for CS3, my school did not offer AP Comp. so I don’t really have any formal education on programming. So I believe I should start with CS3.</p>

<p>As for Taekwondo, it’s not as demanding as football, but it does consume time during the weekdays since practice will be from 9:00-11:30 Mon-Fri.</p>

<p>Thanks for all your feedback ucbalumnus!</p>

24

<p>Can you take both Math 401 and 402 at ARC in one summer? At most schools, you have to take the math sequentially. If you really want to take Math 1B at a community college, [assist.org[/url</a>] lists four nearby (to ARC) community colleges where a single course articulates to Math 1B.</p>

<p>But still, Math 1B won’t necessarily be more time consuming than other courses, since some humanities and social studies courses have time consuming term projects.</p>

<p>Do you have any computer programming experience? If not, it may be more worthwhile to take an introductory computer science course at a community college during the summer to make you more ready for CS 61A in the fall. Completing the CS 61 series as early as possible can help you take more advanced CS courses earlier, which can give you a leg up on finding summer internships relevant to CS.</p>

<p>Your AP credit cannot be used against the L&S 7-course breadth requirement. Subject credit is as follows:</p>

<p>5 on Calculus AB = Math 1A
3 or 4 on Calculus AB = [url=&lt;a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/courses_AP.html]you”&gt;http://math.berkeley.edu/courses_AP.html]you</a> can skip Math 1A, but the Math department says that some students may want to start over in Math 1A.](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)
4 on Art History = counts as Art History 10 or 11 for the purpose of declaring the Art History major
4 on Economics (both micro and macro) = fulfills Economics 1 for Economics major
5 on Economics (both micro and macro) = fulfills Economics 1 for Business major
Physics B = generic units</p>

<p>The generic units from the AP courses may increase your standing for the purpose of priority in course registration.</p>

<p>If you do not have any AP English, you must take both halves of R&C. That can be another good course to take at community college, since R&C courses can be hard to get into at Berkeley.</p>

<p>In summary, if you enroll at community college this summer, consider taking (a) an introductory CS / programming course to prepare for CS 61A at Berkeley if you have no programming experience (don’t worry about articulation), and (b) an R&C course, if you do not have a 5 on AP English Literature.</p>

25

<p>I found out that Sacramento City College Math 401 can replace Math1B for UCB! And it’s offered this summer! </p>

<p>[ASSIST</a> Report: SCC 10-11 UCB Articulation Agreement by Major](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)</p>

<p>If it’s not too time consuming, I would also like to take an introductory course to programming, but I do not know which course to take in Sac City because there are four Computer Science Categories. Which one do you think I should take that will get me ready for CS61?</p>

<p>[Los</a> Rios Community College District](<a href=“http://www.losrios.edu/class_schedules_reader.php?loc=scc/summer/index.html]Los”>http://www.losrios.edu/class_schedules_reader.php?loc=scc/summer/index.html)</p>

<p>"Computer Info Science - Apps (CISA)
Computer Info Science - Core (CISC)
Computer Info Science-Network (CISN)
Computer Info Science -Program (CISP)
Computer Info Sci - Security (CISS) "</p>

<p>Also, it is to my understanding that classes taken at a CC does not count towards your GPA, correct?</p>

<p>Thank you so much ucbalumnus for all your help!</p>

26

<p>The CISP (programming) courses are the ones most suitable for pre-CS-61A preparation.</p>

<p>Another way to prepare for CS 61A if you are motivated to self study is to check out the following:</p>

<p>[CS</a> 61A course material and web casts](<a href=“http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/sp11/]CS”>CS 61A Home Page)
[CS</a> 61A textbook](<a href=“http://www-mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html]CS”>http://www-mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html)
[Scheme</a> book](<a href=“http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~bh/ss-toc2.html]Scheme”>Simply Scheme: Introducing Computer Science)
[MIT</a> 6.001 course material](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/]MIT”>Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | MIT OpenCourseWare)</p>

<p>You can do the exercises with the [MIT</a> Scheme interpreter](<a href=“http://www.gnu.org/software/mit-scheme/]MIT”>MIT/GNU Scheme - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation) or another [Scheme</a> interpreter](<a href=“http://elvis.rowan.edu/~nlt/interpreters.html]Scheme”>Scheme Interpreters) that you can install on your computer.</p>

<p>Be aware that taking the Math 1B or equivalent in an 8 week summer session means learning the material at about twice the pace of taking it during a normal 15 week semester. The normal semester pace at a university is already significantly faster than the pace a high school AP Calculus AB course covers material equivalent to Math 1A.</p>

27

<p>Is it likely to land a job in google, Facebook, or other big companies with a minor in CS? Of course they would prefer somebody with a major in this field, but is it still possible?</p>

28

<p>I’d say it’s possible, if you can somehow prove that you’re a good coder/familiar with CS technical information. </p>

<p>HR guys screening your resume might not give it a second look though…</p>

29

<p>Yes; all of these companies employ non-CS people to handle stuff like sales, marketing, finance, etc…</p>

<p>But yes, you can get a software job with a minor in CS (or even no major or minor at all in CS, if you can self-educate the needed concepts), though you’ll probably want to choose the CS courses to maximize job and career utility (e.g. courses like 162, 169, 170, EE 122).</p>

30

<p>I want to do marketing for Facebook. But I would like to have some background about what is going on in the company so that is the reason for a CS minor. I plan to take CS 162,161,169,170. Which would be better for marketing Econ or business?</p>