<p>I have been invited into the FSU honors program and I just found out I was accepted into UF. My plan is to major in computer science and I have heard that UF would be a better school to go to for that type of major but does the marginal difference between the quality of education of the two school outweigh the benefits of being in the honors program at FSU (such as priority for choosing classes and a nicer dorm freshman year)?</p>
<p>I’m doing computer science at UF also. I heard it’s a better program at UF.</p>
<p>I knew this posts would begin to pop up! lol FSU OR UF??? OMG!! -_-</p>
<p>UF definitely.</p>
<p>I am a computer science major here at UF, so of course I am biased, but here a few points you should consider with this decision:</p>
<p>Curriculum - [CISE</a> :: Academics : Undergraduate Students](<a href=“http://cise.ufl.edu/academics/undergrad/]CISE”>http://cise.ufl.edu/academics/undergrad/) <– this is a listing of the degree programs offered. CSE and CSC are the 2 “computer science” majors (CSE being in the engineering college and CSC in college of liberal arts and sciences–main difference is the gen eds required). If you click on the one you’re interested, then download the counseling sheet pdf you can see all of the required classes for the major. While I obviously know a lot more about the UF classes than FSU, I can say that I have friends in the FSU program who have showed me their syllabi before, and I think that UF offers much more challenging class content. Also just a note, at UF we use primarily Java, and FSU uses C++.</p>
<p>Teaching - It is usually best to have professors who (at least somewhat) like teaching and will make the class an interesting and enjoyable experience. Unfortunately this is not always the case at UF, but I have a feeling the same is true at FSU. Double unfortunately is that UF is losing (arguably) the best undergraduate lecturer in CISE this year due to college mandated budget bs. I would say there are definitely still some good professors in CISE though.</p>
<p>Outside the classroom and job stuff - here at UF we have a top notch programming team, if that interests you. It’s very accessible and if you work hard with them you will get to travel to competitions and most definitely land some internship/job interviews. FSU has no notable programming team to speak of. During my time here our teams place very well in the acm southeast regional contest (one of our teams came in 2nd this year, and almost went to world finals) and I don’t even think FSU competes.
Also, here are a few big companies that recruit quite often on campus: Microsoft, Amason, Disney, Harris, Lockheed Martin</p>
<p>Hope this helps you with your decision.</p>
<p>What’s the difference between CSC and CSE? Which one is better?</p>
<p>The primary difference is which college’s general education requirements you have to meet. Since CSE is in the college of engineering you have to do more math and science-y requirements ( chem1, physics 1-2, differential equations, &c). On the other hand, for CSC you have to take a foreign language, a biology credit, I think maybe an extra social science… stuff like that.</p>
<p>In terms of actual computer science classes, they are basically the same. CSE makes you take more technical electives ( which imo are the fun classes ), so that could be a plus.</p>
<p>Usually people who are only doing one major will do either CSE or CEN (Computer Engineering with a software emphasis… which is roughly equivalent to CSE plus an electrical engineering minor). People who want to double major in something like math or economics usually do CSC so they don’t have to fulfill 2 sets of gen ed requirements.</p>
<p>Not sure if I should post this here or on the Engineering boards…but do you think CS would be way too difficult with someone with absolutely NO prior programming experience? I wanted to try it, but I’m not sure if I could handle it…</p>
<p>I’d like an answer to this too^</p>
<p>no, they dont expect incoming freshmen to have programming experience. dont let lack of experience be a factor.</p>
<p>there is, however, the risk of not enjoying programming very much. if you don’t have any interest in programming outside of class and for things that are not assignments, you’ll probably run into problems. the purpose of the CS program is not primarily to teach you how to program, though your future employers might expect that you have been taught how to program.</p>
<p>as someone somewhat knowledgeable about programming and the CS program, i would strongly advise you dabble a little bit before you arrive. its not at all overwhelming or difficult; practice some stuff on [url=<a href=“http://codingbat.com/]CodingBat[/url”>http://codingbat.com/]CodingBat[/url</a>] and read up on java a little bit. web programming is also a start. but like i said, it wont kill you if you don’t have any experience.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for replying. I just hear that most Computer Science programs are usually small and filled with people who are legit PRO’s at programming and the like. I just don’t want to be so behind everyone…
I think I’ll probably take an intro to CS or into to programming course at my local community college during the summer…if you read this would you recommend I take the Intro to CS or Intro to programming course?</p>
<p>Once you learn the concepts taught in CS then learning a programming language is just a mater of practicing the syntax. That being said, UF requires that you take an intro to CS class, so it would be a bit redundant to take one in the summer. I’d say go with the programming class if it is in Java or C++, so that when you get into the intro CS class at UF you have a firm grasp on a real language (which is a big plus).</p>
<p>Thank you for replying too, data! I don’t remember the course description so well but I swear I remembering reading that they used python in that class…hmm. I guess I can also check out a book on Java at the library…thank you for the suggestions. :)</p>
<p>For reference, here are the undergraduate FSU CS areas, which include [computational</a> biology](<a href=“http://www.bio.fsu.edu/compbio.php]computational”>http://www.bio.fsu.edu/compbio.php) and [computer</a> criminology](<a href=“http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/p/academic-computer-criminology.php]computer”>http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/p/academic-computer-criminology.php): </p>
<p>[FSU</a> Computer Science -](<a href=“Computer Science, FSU”>Computer Science, FSU)</p>
<p>Here is a nice accomplishment by UF’s computer science department:</p>
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</p>
<p>[University</a> of Florida News – UF leads world in reconfigurable supercomputing](<a href=“http://news.ufl.edu/2011/02/15/supercomputing/]University”>http://news.ufl.edu/2011/02/15/supercomputing/)</p>
<p>Ok I hope someone reads this since I didn’t want to start a new thread…
But I was wondering what kind of computer requirements would be needed for computer science? Like what specs would be best. The website doesn’t even list anything about what the minimum requirements are. I just want to know so I can buy a good laptop that I wouldn’t have to change if I decide to go into comp sci.</p>
<p>I severely doubt you’ll run into any problem so long as you buy a modern computer. Programming in general isn’t too hardware intensive, and if you require something crazy you can probably use the cluster or some such. My roommates are using their computers from 4 years ago for it, and it works just fine.</p>
<p>Just get something reasonably powerful, especially if you want it to last 4 years.</p>
<p>Thanks! so any powerful laptop…are there any brands you recommend? I’ve had trouble with dell many times so I will definitely not buy that …</p>