<p>Is information systems (with a computer concentration more than business) degree less worthwhile than a CS major? I've searched through the business and engineering forums and on the internet but I want to know experiences IS students had. Is it as marketable as a computer science major? What's the difference between IS and CS anyway? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>When we attended a CMU open house about two years ago when my S was deciding on schools, the admissions person commented that IS had the highest average starting salary of all their colleges. Since he was interested in computer science and bus management, we thought it was a ideal fit, and he briefly considered IS. </p>
<p>However after looking at his specific interests and the depth, breadth, and reputation of SCS he went for SCS first, Tepper second, and IS third choice. He’s absolutely happy now that he went with his SCS decision. </p>
<p>I suggest you look at the CMU site for these two departments and check out the descriptions of the courses and the type of projects they had the students do, and make your choice based on what interests you more.</p>
<p>Sorry, I know this question is off-topic… But, Dad<em>of</em>3, I noticed you said your S chose SCS as his first choice, Tepper as his second, and IS as his third… does that mean you can apply to multiple undergraduate schools at CMU, or did he just order his choices for himself?</p>
<p>They allow you to apply for up to 5 schools, in rank order. Each school considers you separately. You can get accepted by some, waitlisted by others, or rejected. If you are seriously interested in CMU, I highly recommend that you apply to as many of the schools that you possibly can, take your highest pick of the ones that accept you, then transfer to whatever major you desire, making your mind up on along the way. Obviously some schools are harder to transfer into than others, but you can always double major.</p>
<p>I am so, SO glad I came across this thread. I was iffy about CMU because I was too worried about being rejected by Tepper, but now it’s certainly on my list. CMU is amazing, thank you!!
Sorry for interrupting the topic!</p>
<p>I am a CS major, and my roomie was an IS.
From what I saw CS is concentrated more on theoretical/mathy work. So in the CS program, probably in only two of the classes (depending on your background) you will actually be learning programming. The rest is more on how to solve problems, learning different algorithms, how the design of a programming language work and such.</p>
<p>Whereelse IS is more application driven, no underlaying ‘theoretical’ work. My roommate was learning MySQl and databases and was learning web design and such.</p>