I am currently a freshman and I am extremely interested in perusing a career in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or another related field at a top college (my top choice at the moment is Columbia)I have a 4.0 GPA so grades are not my main concern at the moment. My problem comes from the fact that my school offers little to no STEM related clubs, classes etc. and since my school is in a financial crisis at the moment, I doubt any new programs will be sprouting up any time soon. Therefore, I fear that a lack of experience in the major I want to persue won’t look very good for any college.Additionally a very limited amount of AP classes are offered, and said classes don’t start until Junior year. Most kids at my school end up going to community college or work but I wouldn’t like to end up on the same path. Any ideas on what I can do about this situation? How can I start to get involved in STEM?
- You're stressing to much.
- What math and science classes are you currently in?
- Schools won't usually hold not having AP classes against you, but you should take a rigourous schedule
- You're a freshmen, having a 4.0 isn't much to brag about when we're still in the first semester if your first year, don't get ahead of yourself.
- You don't need your club to have a current CS club for you to create one. With that said I know very few high schools with CS clubs because the students aren't capable of really programming and stuff yet.
- If you want my advice I'd say keep your GPA as close to perfect as possible, join clubs outside of CS that interest you, take programming classes (not high school "tech" classes because they're a joke). For example if you're a Florida resident you can take courses on Florida Virtual School for free and if you aren't a resident you can still take classes from them although I think it runs at about $200 a course, but they offer a wide variety of programming courses such as HTML, Java, and C. These are are languages that would be very beneficial to you and if you managed to learn these languages you can do freelance work as a coder/programmer you might find this enjoyable as well as something neat to add to your college application.
Something else I’d like to add is that you should try to be at the calculus level by your junior year of high school. I would recommend trying to complete Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry (high school), and Trigonometry/Precalculus before you start your junior, although it isn’t required because most top tier CS programs will expect you to have taken AP calculus BC by the end of your senior year or to have completed Calculus 1 and 2 at a local CC by the time you graduate. If I were in your shoes I would aim to complete the calculus sequence before you graduate, but this largely depends on your strengths, available time, and if your school offers dual enrollment or early admission. Also one last thing I’d like to bring up is that Florida Virtual School offers AP classes (pretty much any you can think of) but they are work intensive and are very easy to fall behind and fail if you aren’t up to snuff, with that said they can help you catch if you feel that your current high school is lacking or falls behind @VioletStreak
Re #2
No, you are not required to take calculus in high school to major in CS, although it is best to do so if you complete precalculus by 11th grade and calculus is available.
If AP CS principles is offered, try to take that to check your interest in CS. Or go through http://cs10.org on your own.
@Herokid11 sorry for the late response. Anyways, I am currently taking Honors Algebra I and Honors Geometry as well as Honors Biology as my Math and Science classes respectively. My goal is definitely to be able to take AP Calculus by senior year and I’ll look into the courses offered at my community college.And yeah, I’ll definitely try to reach out to my school to see if we can get any kind of technology related clubs going on. The FVS also looks really great.
@ucbalumnus The CS 10 course looks great but where would I register for it? I can’t find anything on the website.
That web site is for a college course. You can go through the reading materials and video lectures on your own and try the assignments to get an idea of what CS is about. No need to sign up for it.
Re: #3, which looks like it used to be #2 when I wrote the reply that is now #1, presumably due to some moved or deleted posts
Once again, you are not required to have calculus in high school to major in CS in college.
@ucbalumnus OP stated that she was interested in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field (I’m assuming electrical engineering or something similar), they then stated they’d like to attend a top college, I took this to mean a top 20 college. If this is the case then they will strongly favor the OP to have finished atleast AP calculus AB. However, if by top college the OP meant top 100 or top 50 then no Calculus in high school won’t be expected.
On a side note I don’t remember exactly because it was days ago, but I could have sworn I was the first to respond to this thread?
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20848514/#Comment_20848514 lists the small number of universities which require or expect calculus in high school (mostly recommended, rather than required – presumably to avoid excluding students who are unable to take calculus due to middle school math placement).
A prospective CS major who completes precalculus in 11th grade or earlier should take calculus in 12th grade. But if a student was placed on the normal math track in middle school so that s/he reaches precalculus in 12th grade, that should still be sufficient for the great majority of colleges where s/he can major in CS.
@ucbalumnus @Herokid11 by top college I did mean top 20 ( an example being Columbia as previously stated), since I’m currently Geometry and Algebra I this year, I do believe I’m on the track to taking Calculus by 12th grade.
You will take algebra 2 in 10th, precalculus in 11th, and calculus in 12th. So don’t worry about it. And don’t worry about exaggerated claims that you need calculus BC in 11th to be competitive.
@ucbalumnus if you’re talking about my claim I want it to be noted that I said Calc BC by the end of senior year (which if you wanna check top 20 colleges CS programs you will see that calc BC was strongly preferred to be done by graduation) I did not say say you need calc BC done in 11th grade to be competitive. I said if I were you (OP), that I would aim to complete the calculus sequence by high school graduation not so much for competitiveness, but because alot of upper level courses in CS and engineering can’t be taken until after the calculus sequence (and ODE), so finishing this in high school frees up time for research, internships, and allows you to take more electives in your major, not to mention you won’t have to wait almost 2 years to get into your actual major classes. Just my 2 cents.
This doesn’t really hold for engineering and especially not for CS. Engineering takes about 1 year of general classes as a base usually, not two. For CS, your level of calculus will have on bearing on when you start your major (assuming not a transfer etc). I get your point and of course it’s better to have it done than not, but especially for CS (the forum this post is on), calculus level is not an important factor for either admissions or CS readiness.
Unless your level of math delays your major courses (not the case in CS, usually not the case in engineering), you will have the same amount of time for research and internships.
An AP credit used for general purposes elsewhere would also fill the same role. Calculus isn’t the defining important part of that, simply going in with more usable AP credit is what enables this.
Point being: Calculus-level is not that important for being ready for CS and not huge for engineering. Given OP’s situation especially, it’s a non-worry here.
I believe there are free coding classes online. I would build some experience with coding. Also, create a guest user account at gartner.com. There are free webinars related to IT - more at the management of IT level. Columbia probably uses Gartner as part of its library for its students as it is one of the most respected IT advisory companies. Can you volunteer at a club that has computers (Boys and Girls, etc.). Many have focused on the High School classes but there are other ways to build your computer science knowledge and resume.
My son is also interested in majoring in CS in college. One of his extra-curricular activities that fuels his passion for CS is participation in FIRST Robotics. They have a Robotics team at his high school, but you don’t need to be a student at the high school to participate. You could find out if there is a team at a school near you.
You’ll be judged based on your school’s background. I didn’t do any engineering EC just sports and asb. I’m a EE now at a top 20 Engineering school. Most of my friends were in similar situations. Focus on grades and ec you enjoy.