How hard is computer science?

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

<p>I'm going into a North Dakota State University as a freshmen next fall and I have a couple questions for the major.</p>

<p>Is computer science a major for only math geniuses? As being in Pre-calc now and a senior in high school I somethings find it challenging(mostly because I'm not trying as hard as I did in previous years) but If i apply myself more I would ace the course. I scored low on my act, composite score of 20, math score of 21 and science score of 24. I have some knowledge in programming, but its very little/basic knowledge. </p>

<p>I am motivated to do well, I study hard for my AP classes and do well on most assignments. However I am not a good test taker, I have kept my GPA at a stable 3.3+ .</p>

<p>I have a passion for the way things work, I love working on computers and understanding the way software and hardware interact.</p>

<p>Like I said before, I'm kind of lazy at the moment, i'm starting to pick back up but I am motivated to succeed and if take hours upon hours studying in college I will do it. </p>

2

<p>Unfortunately all Computer Science majors require a tremendous amount of Math. Most require at least 2-3 semesters of Calculus followed by another 3 semesters of even higher level mathematics classes. If Math is a sticky point, you might want to look at degrees like Computer Information Systems, (sometimes called Management Information Systems) which are still computer majors but a little less Math intense and slightly more Business intense. </p>

3

<p>One issue with math, is that it comes very easy for some people, so others get scared off because they think they can’t do it. However, it you work at math, chances are that you will be able to learn whatever math it is that you do need to learn. A lot of learning results from plain and simple desire turned into concentrated effort. Give yourself permission to get through the math on your own schedule - not someone else’s. Just keep plugging away, and do every single problem in the textbook over, and over again until you understand each of them.</p>

4

<p>I’m a mathematics major (it turns out I’ve taken all of the math courses you’ll need) so I can speak on the math courses. I’ve taken around 20 hours of CS but I’m not going to be able to speak on how important math skills are to a CS major’s job prospects since that’s not my major.</p>

<p>I have pulled up the CS Bachelor’s degree plans for NDSU which are right here: </p>

<p><a href=“Academic programs | North Dakota State University”>Academic programs | North Dakota State University;

<p>For all courses you will be taking just add the “General Education Requirements” with the “Major Requirements” and then add that with either the BA or BS requirements. Most will be under the BS category.</p>

<p>Required mathematics courses on the degree plan for the BS:</p>

<p>Calculus 1
Calculus 2
Discrete Mathematics (under the computer science department department)
Probability
Statistics </p>

<p>That’s 15 hours of mathematics compared to about 50 hours of computer science you will be taking. The discrete mathematics course is through the computer science department so I wasn’t sure if I should put it on my list or not.</p>

<p>Calculus 1 and 2 are common core starting courses so they’ll be taken by a huge variety of students of different majors. This will include many students that are not good at math or have a major that is not really tied much into math which will be good for you when competing for the class average or curve on the exams. Your pre-calc course will probably be a better indicator of how well you’ll do in these courses than the other 3 math courses you will be taking but I still wouldn’t just assume that it’s going to go exactly the same way as pre-calc went. I’d say these are typically fair in difficulty. Not blow off and not ridiculous.</p>

<p>Discrete Mathematics is listed in the CS department for your school and has an introductory computer science course as it’s pre-req so I guess it’d be a large portion of CS students. At my school we have “Discrete Mathematics” in the math department and “Discrete Mathematics For Comp Sci” in the CS department. I guess for you this would be considered 50/50 math/cs. It’s about logic and proofs so it’d be a little different than anything you’ll do in high school. As opposed to doing computations, it’s more about showing why something works/is true or why it is not true.</p>

<p>Probability has Calculus 2 as a pre-req. It will likely be mostly a combination of engineering majors, math majors, cs majors, physics majors, and possibly some Biology or Psychology or Philosophy students or something. This will draw on a few concepts from calculus but for the most part will be pretty different. The average student in this course and your statistics course will be a little better at math than the two Calculus courses.</p>

<p>Statistics also has Calculus 2 as a pre-req and will probably have a similar combination of majors. I noticed NDSU has “Introduction to Statistics” which I think would be taken by people who need a statistics course but maybe their major is less relevant to it. I guess this could to some degree filter out students who would otherwise be forced to take “Statistics” so this could have a higher percentage of stronger students than in your probability course since the weaker students may have taken the introduction version. This course will be more similar to the probability course than the calculus courses.</p>

<p>I personally don’t think any of those mathematics courses are “killer” courses. It could be a lot worse. Those courses aren’t bad in difficulty typically and I also feel as if they are pretty useful math courses too. </p>