<p>Hello, I was recently accepted into the Computer Science program in the College of Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. But I live out of state, and it's going to cost around 45,000 a year (including room and board). My parents really want me to go there, and are willing to pay for it, but I am personally uncomfortable spending so much money on a major that I don't actually know much about, and not sure if I'll be good at. </p>
<p>I was thinking of going to either University of Minnesota-Twin Cities or Missouri University of Science and Technology for a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering, and if I enjoy it, then go to graduate school at somewhere like UIUC. I'm worried about disappointing my parents because they were so excited and proud that I got into U of I, and are pretty set on me going there. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I can program a graphing calculator… in other words, very little. And I’ve never really liked math until this year in Calculus AB and last year in Physics… I’m not really sure what kind of math is usually done in Computer Science classes though.</p>
<p>I was thinking of maybe changing to Engineering, and if that backfires I was thinking of trying Pharmacy… and if that backfires, maybe Accounting or Finance.</p>
<p>And yes, I’m from Missouri. I can afford University of Minnesota’s OOS tuition though.</p>
<p>The math used most for CS will be discrete math – counting, combinatorics, linear algebra, abstract algebra, number theory, etc., plus some probability (statistics), as opposed to “continuous” math like calculus. However, calculus is typically required by CS major degree programs. Note also that the important math courses for CS, and CS theory courses, will involve proofs.</p>
<p>You may want to go through this classic introductory CS book on your own to see how interesting you find CS. Note that both the full text and the Scheme interpreter are free, so you can download them and use them on your own computer:
[Welcome</a> to the SICP Web Site](<a href=“http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/]Welcome”>http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/)</p>
<p>barrk123: Yeah they do, but I’ve heard it’s hard to transfer into I’m also not sure if I’m a very business-y person lol</p>
<p>ucbalumnus: Ahh okay, thanks for clearing that up for me. I probably should have done more research on majors before applying to colleges. And thanks for the link to the text book! Not gonna lie, it’s kind of intimidating so far O.O</p>
I’m also not sure if I’m a very business-y person lol</p>