I recently got accepted to CSUF for clinical psychology. I am currently applying for classes and had a thought that I’ve been avoiding for a long time. I do not enjoy psychology that much. I mainly took it only because I wanted to get out of community college as soon as possible, but I started forcing myself to “enjoy” the topic. It’s a sad truth, but true.
I really want to pursue computer science. I have always been interested in computers and I just wanted to learn more about it. However, I know that CSUF will not let me change majors because I did not even complete one prereq for it. I am my fourth year in college this upcoming year and I am horrified about my choices.
Should I completely drop psychology and csuf and go back and finish all computer science courses? Will I still be able to transfer to a school again in the future? I really want to do computer science because it takes four years as opposed to clinical psychology that requires your masters. Thanks for reading.
While CS is a field where experience/knowledge is more important than a degree – you say you’ve not taken any pre-reqs for it. If you possess very little knowledge, do you expect to finish your degree in Clin Psych and then get a job in the CS field? Who would hire you? I’m not saying you should just suck it up and finish a Clin Psych degree just to get a diploma.
I’m questioning your “aspiration” as a CompSci major. Not a single Pre-req? Should it be any wonder why CSUF wouldn’t admit you into that degree field? If your funds last, I would suggest you go take the long and slow route into CS rather than the quicker route for a Clin Pscyh diploma (which would require a Masters later anyways).
My opinion, as someone involved in hiring engineers and programmers, is that you would be best off to finish your current degree since you only have one year left. In the meantime study computer science on the side. If you could show your chops by contributing meaningfully to some open source projects of interest to you it would go a long way.
If you prove you can handle the work your lack of a CS degree won’t be a big deal. In fact, employers will see the other degree as a positive as it shows you aren’t one dimensional.
However, without a degree in CS you MUST prove somehow that you can handle the work. This means showing that you are a self starter who can teach himself/herself a language, understand a software development life cycle AND contribute meaningfully to a real project. A start might be to take one of those 6 week programming boot camps but that alone may not be enough. Working on an open source project of interest to you (there are thousands out there at places like Sourceforge) is an excellent way to show what you can do. Plus, those projects are very transparent so as a potential employer I can look and see what you’ve contributed
Of course, I don’t fully understand your skills or your situation so this advice should be taken with a grain of salt, but in your situation that’s what I would do.
So, change your major. As a fresh transfer, you must have at least 60 units left to take. Psych will take a grad degree to make a career of and you hate the subject… I don’t understand the dilemma.
CS is a very challenging and time consuming major - it will probably add a year to your stay at Fullerton. You can work with an advisor to find a major that you won’t hate and won’t take too much extra time. Depending on the courses you’ve already taken, Business/marketing might be an option.
You can pick up a minor in CS at Fullerton with just 5 classes…