I am currently attending Hillsborough Community College and will be graduating from here this semester with a computer engineering technology degree that is for transfer to the University of South Florida. I have always been interested in computer engineering. Thing is though i have an even greater love for math, especially statistics. When i get to USF, i now want to Double major in Statistics and Computer Science, with hopes of becoming a biostatician. I was going to major in Computer Engineering with a minor in Microbiology, but i figured that would be inhuman because of all the classes. I am very dedicated to learning and genuinely love to learn. i have a thirst for it. So i figured i go for a duo of majors that could possibly have some overlap. But i wanted to get some unbiased answers from the community:
Question 1: Should i stay in Computer Engineering and minor in Microbiology or would that be insane?
Question 2: How much overlap exist between Statistics and Computer Science?
Question 3: Should i replace one of the majors with a biological science instead?
Question 4: Last but not least, should i double major at all? would it be a waste?
I also heard as well, that job prospects for Bachelor degree holders in statistics are not that good until you get a Masters in Statistics. That is one of the driving reasons for wanting to double major so i could fall back on Computer Science until i complete my Masters. Feel free to give me any advice. I’m wide open. Thanks in advance and i hope you continue your success in your education and career.
It sounds like it would be insane, both in number of credits (engineering majors tend to require lots of credits in specific sequences) and in terms of content (engineering is hard; microbiology would require a lot of memorization and studying). It really depends on your interests and talents and strengths.
Not much in the major but a lot in the jobs that result from it. Both majors will usually require some calculus - statistics requires three semesters of calculus and linear algebra; a computer science major usually requires 2-3 semesters of calculus and linear algebra. A good statistics major will require one or two semesters of a computer programming language. A good computer science program might not require a class in statistics at all, but if it does, will probably require one semester of it. But the actual major classes might not have any overlap. There may be one or two classes at a given college that are cross-listed because of the content - so you could probably use those as electives - but otherwise the major requirements will be quite different.
However, computer science and statistics can be a really powerful combination jobs-wise. Data science is a huge and growing field that is potentially very lucrative - data scientists are in high demand and well-compensated. Your average statistician these days needs a good basic grasp of programming to do work, and knowing SQL and Hadoop and some other programs is a good idea. If you can write your own software to help you do the work you need to do all the better.
Depends. Why? Are you interested in a career in the biological sciences?
It's not a waste but it depends on your interests. Consider also that you could major in one and minor in the other, or just take the appropriate classes.
Bachelor’s degree prospects in statistics are quite good - it’s just that you wouldn’t be an independent statistician yet. You would be quite competitive for roles as a data analyst (and other kinds of jobs with the word “analyst” in the title). These roles usually do a lot of the same things statisticians do at a lower/more basic/intermediate level. Then you could work on your master’s part time and compete for statistician and data scientist positions.
I mentioned about possibly changing one of the majors to a biological science because i had an interest of becoming a biostatician and i thought majoring in a bio science would do me justice…but now i am thinking, just to be safe, job wise, it would be safe to stick Statistics and Computer Science, just because of versatility.
Is it true that employers look at minors, like, it’s nothing? I was considering majoring in Statistics and minoring in Computer Science, but i thought minors probably ment nothing when looking for a job. I could be wrong. I shouldn’t assume.