Hello,
I finished college at a very basic university with a major in psychology. I achieved a 3.7 gpa but that is it. I had trouble getting research opportunities and was not able to get good letters of recommendations from my professors. Now I have realized that I cannot pursue a career in psychology but need to actually start in computer science. I have a passion for computer science too which is good.
At this stage, how can I take actions to be able to secure good letters of recommendation that I will need for my future applications? I am a terrible speaker and do horrible when I have to talk to people, and it just doesn’t work out for me. I am not sure how I can go about becoming “friends” with a professor in a class. Is there any reasonable alternative or any advice someone can give me for going about and finding letters of rec?
I presume you are thinking of doing a Masters in CS. If so, you need to start by taking all the courses that a CS major is expected to have taken. This will include Calculus, for example and probably some additional Mathematics. Next you need to take a software boot camp course to get you up to speed with programming. Finally, talk to the programs you are interested in and find out what their minimum requirements are and figure out how to meet them.
You will have to get out there and talk to faculty and program directors, no one on this forum can give you all the information you need.
Really, a software boot camp? I was thinking of taking cs courses at my community college until I build up enough skills. One problem is that community colleges only offer a small set of CS courses, and I would need much more to complete the equivalent of an undergrad degree. Also, colleges near me have limited options for non-degree seeking students making it very difficult to be able to secure the amount of courses I would need in a timely fashion. This is however the recommendation of CS departments for people like me who are interested in grad school but have little experience.
CS is way too popular, and you’re just not going to get in to all the classes you need as a non-degree student. You need to take Calculus, Discrete Math, Programming, Data Structures, Algorithms, Automata Theory, Computer Organization, Operating Systems at a minimum. I’d say try to get into a 2nd Bachelor’s program, but so many schools have separate admission to the CS major, so that’s not so simple. CS is ridiculously popular everywhere, and you’ll be lucky to find a spot in 1 class/semester.
Most schools don’t let you into their classes as a non-degree student until August, sometimes the week before classes start. Many places don’t even let you in until after classes start. If you’re committed to this, you should go back in time a week and sign up for 2-3 summer classes. At this point, you’re limited to schools on quarter systems.
Have you actually taken a computer science class before? Do you have any real reason to believe you’ll actually do well in classes like algorithms or operating systems?
Perhaps you could find a program in user interface design. There’s a good bit of psychology in that. It might be called User Experience. The current common acronym is UX.
Yes, the CS department at my university, Illinois Tech, has a lot of Masters students who come from disciplines other than CS and in order to get them up to speed and ready for the graduate courses, they have them take two intensive courses which help make up deficiencies. They are considered undergraduate courses and are not counted for the Masters degree. Perhaps it is only me as a physics professor, who calls the two courses “software boot camp” but I think it describes the concept perfectly.
Actually there are “professional Master’s programs” at places like Penn, Cornell, Illinois, CMU, Wisconsin I think. Your opportunities won’t be as great as compared to a “real” Master’s program, but it might fit your background. It’s basically getting a Master’s degree that includes some Bachelor’s level coursework. I suppose you could use it to springboard yourself into a “real” Master’s program, but many schools won’t let you apply for M.S. if you already have a Master’s degree.