<p>I know my way around Word and Powerpoint, but I've never used Excel. Would it be worth learning the basics before college, or would it be better to just ask a friend for help when needed?</p>
<p>I know this is specific to colleges, departments, and even professors and courses, but I'm interested to hear your experience with Excel in college.</p>
<p>I used Excel in an economics (upper level research methods course) last semester. It’s probably more important for any white-collar employment you manage to get – I used Excel in a marketing internship last summer and I use Excel for an IT job in a library this summer.</p>
<p>But unless you’re writing VB script and playing with Macros in Excel, there’s no reason to start studying the basics of Excel. It’s very intuitive and easy to pick up.</p>
<p>if your doing business they will teach you. I didn’t know excel either, I got an internship and learned it. Excel is so easy you can teach yourself in fact.</p>
<p>Excel is nice to know. At the very least, you’ll most likely need to make graphs for things like lab reports and research papers. You could have a friend show you the basics before you leave, or you could just ask someone in the research area of your school’s library (or a professor) for help when you need it for something specific.</p>
<p>I would try it out a little bit, I learned it in 9th grade but completely forgot it because I never used it. I do remember that it wasn’t difficult, so either wait for them to teach it to you(sure they will) or brush up on it if you want(maybe if its a req. skill for a job you want to apply for?).</p>
<p>I, too, had to use Excel for an internship. Basic data compiling and graphical analysis. I had limited experience with Excel prior to the internship, but after I fiddled around with everything for about 10 minutes to see what each command did, I was good to go.</p>
<p>You’ll learn it if you’re required to take a computer science class. Of course, you might be like me and forget most of the stuff you’re taught the moment you walk out the door. But it’s not hard to learn at all 
I’ve been using Excel on an internship now, and I’m glad I’m getting to learn it all again. </p>
<p>Learning Excel is great if you’re looking for a non-retail job during college. Job descriptions for secretaries, assistants, office workers, ect. usually want you to have lots of Excel experience.</p>
<p>It is good to know excel. At my old school we had to take a computer literacy test on excel, powerpoint, and word. It was like some stupid computer test that everyone needed to take in order to graduate.</p>
<p>I’ve always known how to use a spreadsheet app like Excel, but as an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science major, I’ve never had to use it in 2yr.</p>
<p>If there’s any situation that calls for storing data in rows and columns, it’s either in XML, CSV, or some sort of database. If calculations are necessary, it’s processed with a separate script. Those, however, were specific to the databases class that I took.</p>
<p>I use it a lot for statistics and biostatistics, as well as for personal use because I really enjoy it. It’s simple enough to pick up, so I definitely recommend at least learning the basics; if a class needs it, they’ll probably teach you everything beyond that.</p>
<p>I’ve used Excel to make graphs for a geology class and to keep track of the homework scores for courses I was grading for (actually, I used Google Spreadsheets for the latter but it’s close enough to Excel to count). </p>
<p>I would encourage you to find out now what sorts of things you can do with Excel. It can make your life a whole lot easier in some situations, but you need to know that it’s there. However, you don’t need to actually learn all of the functions now. Excel is intuitive enough that you can pick it up pretty quickly when you actually need it.</p>
<p>Prob not for college in particular but if you get a co-op or internship position then you should be well versed. Also very good to learn to make lab write-ups easier and make/manage a database.</p>
<p>If you get any corporate job in the future, knowing how to use Excel is essential. If you work in finance or accounting, knowing how to use excel properly is the backbone of your job.</p>
<p>For an engineer or technical major, yeah, you should know how to use Excel. Chances are you’ll become very good with it too. If you do accounting or anything, that’s another no-brainer.</p>
<p>If not, then probably not. It may be useful sometimes, but not essential to know it.</p>
<p>Chances are any technical major that requires knowledge of it will teach you what you need to know anyway.</p>