<p>It seems like computer science majors come out making $60,000 on average as a starting salary. But, is that from those top 50 schools, or can it be from any school? The college I go to is Portland State University, so it's not a top school.</p>
<p>But it is close to seattle, lol. I'm thinking of switching my major to comp sci, and I'm already a junior by credit hours, but what's another 2 years of college, right? I used to be pre-med but I hate the idea of working 60-80 hour weeks for the rest of my life. I'm okay with those hours for maybe 2-3 years in my early twenties, but not when I am raising kids when I am 30+. (Im female). I'd prefer a regular schedule type of job 9-5, 40 hours a week, that can be fun.</p>
<p>I also really want to design my own website and/or mobile app. I think it would be pretty fun to do this, as I could get all my creativity out and going! That is why I was thinking about computer science.</p>
<p>Do you think it will be worth it to get a computer science degree? I know some people suggest to just study programming on your own, but I need a BS in at least something, and it is paid by my parents (but they will only pay for this particular school, so I can't transfer out since I have to live with them).</p>
<p>My college GPA so far is a 3.5 GPA, and I have done like 2 terms of calc-based physics, biology, and one year of general chemistry already, as I was a pre-med.</p>
<p>ABET accreditation suggests that Portland State has at least a decent CS department. A quick glance at the catalog indicates a good selection of CS courses, including the usual expected ones that a good CS department would have, although you may want to check the schedule to see that they are all offered frequently enough.</p>
<p>I have been asking myself this exact question. I am currently going to Portland Community College and I plan to transfer to a 4-year college in 2015, most likely PSU, because it is nearby and affordable. The lack of information on the web about PSU is driving me crazy.</p>
<p>It sucks to be in a position where one moment you think “after a few years of work experience, it won’t matter where I went to school, and in time, I can be anyone I want to be” and another moment you think “I am getting a mediocre education that is setting me up for a mediocre life.”</p>
<p>The general consensus I get from software developers’ answers to questions like this on the web is that software development is the field in the world with the greatest upward mobility.</p>
<p>If you still find yourself interested in medicine/health (having been pre-med) but wanting to do computer science, have you considered such computer science focuses as bioinformatics, medical data analytics, computational biology, and even cognitive science (which has commonalities with psychiatry, psychology, artificial intelligence and machine learning)?</p>
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<p>However, the industry can have its ups and downs. The dot.com crash in 2001-2003 was a very poor time to be looking for a software development job.</p>
<p>@Halogen, I talked with a CS advisor today at PSU, and it sounds like they have a very decent CS program. They even offer an “internship” program to students in the CS major, where students work part-time at various companies throughout Portland for 2 years while taking classes towards their degree. These students have to work 20 hours per week, and the best part is, the pay is $20 with raises! $20 per hour!!! It sounds pretty awesome. Look into PCEP PDX. </p>