<p>I am currently in my 3rd yr of school and am taking a bachelor of science with a major in math and minor in cs. I am doing the coop program at my university in which you go on 3 work terms, I'm currently doing my first one. I'm a litte worried about my grades though. I have a 72% average overall and a 73% in my major and a 81% in my cs minor. Are these bad grades and will getting a masters be to difficult with my grades?</p>
<p>I realize that as a Math major you are taking some very difficult courses but since you imply that you have only had one semester as an upper division student, I am assuming your current scores mainly reflect your performance in lower division courses such as General Calculus, Introduction to Differential Equations and Introduction to Linear Algebra. As a Math major you should have gotten a minimum of 85% in these courses. If you get less than a B+ in any lower division course in your major that is a very ominous sign that you will have trouble succeeding in that major. C- level grades, which a 73% is, in your major will not be acceptable to graduate programs. You need to step it up or maybe change your major from Math to CS in which you have a B, albeit a very low B.</p>
<p>I don’t want to ignore the importance of getting higher grades in the mathematics major BUT it will depend on your graduate degree major. Also, if you are minoring in CS then you GOTTA ACE the Math/CS hybrid courses like Numerical “whatever”…where whatever = Analysis, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations and Optimization.</p>
<p>My B.S. degree is in Computational Mathematics which is basically a Math/CS degree. While the BEST approach would be to do well in EVERY course, I did get by with low B’s in the non-computational courses but received A’s in the hybrid Math/CS courses. I would not recommend that approach, but I figure I point that out.</p>
<p>As for graduate school, if you are going to go for a full-time graduate Math program…yeah, a low-B average ain’t gonna cut it. Now if you decide on a part-time/distance computer science or systems engineering program, you will get admitted after taking like 2 or 3 courses first. For that path that I just mentioned, you WILL NEED about 5 years work experience.</p>
<p>Ok thanks very much for your respsones! Im going to retake a couple math classes that I got lower marks in to bring up my average. Hopefully it all works out.</p>
<p>I’m kinda in a similar boat as a math major and physics minor. My overall gpa is a 3.35. My major gpa is a 3.25, however, I did pretty bad early on. I took the honors calc sequence my freshmen year and without my 2 calc classes, my major gpa is a 3.61. What I’ve been told after asking around is to not worry about it too much and just do really well on the math subject gre. What is more important is doing well in upper level courses. I also started doing some work with a professor and by the end of this semester will have a solid year of independent work done.</p>
<p>By the way…and I may be biased but…</p>
<p>A Math/CS degree is BETTER than a CS-only degree. It allows you to trim off the fat of the typical CS program.</p>
<p>What kind of “fat” are you talking about?</p>
<p>As a math major myself, let me tell you, calc 2 was probably the hardest class out of everything I took. It’s easy for any yahoo to come up with a very difficult integral with a computer that is loaded with tricks.</p>
<p>"By the way…and I may be biased but…</p>
<p>A Math/CS degree is BETTER than a CS-only degree. It allows you to trim off the fat of the typical CS program."</p>
<p>What do you mean? And trim off the fat?</p>
<p>A typical CS program requires…</p>
<p>Computer Science I or Java/C++ I
Computer Science II or Java/C++ II
Discrete Structures/Discrete Mathematics
Low-Level Programming/Assembler
Algorithms (may be part of combined Algorithms/Data Structures course)
Data Structures (may be part of combined Algorithms/Data Structures course)
Theory/Organization of Programming Languages
Operating Systems
Compiler Design/Language Processors
Theory of Computation & Automata (turing machines, etc)
Computational Complexity
Computer Architecture</p>
<p>With Electives of:</p>
<p>Artificial Intelligence
Computer Graphics
Computer Networks
Database Systems
…and others</p>
<p>Now to the fat. Unless you are from a rich family, you want college to be an immediate return-on-investment for your working career. One has to be cognizant of what skills are in demand in the computer science area. Of course, most of us who go into computer science (whether as a CS major or Math major) do not aspire to go the Information Systems/Technology route but let’s face it…MOST JOBS ARE IN THAT SUB-AREA. So at least have IS/IT as a backup plan because at the end of the day, bills have to be paid.</p>
<p>Ok, ok…now to the fat.</p>
<p>Low-Level Programming/Assembler - Unless the Operating Systems course requires it (some schools will), not much Assembler is happening in the world.</p>
<p>Compiler Design/Language Processors - Sounds exciting, but let’s face it…probably about 10 jobs nationwide will be in compiler design.</p>
<p>Theory of Computation & Automata - A prereq for the Compiler course. After 20 years in software development, I wish I would have used my electives on something else.</p>
<p>Computational Complexity - Read theory of Computation & Automata</p>
<p>Computer Architecture - Unless you plan to go into hardware. This course may not be needed. Besides, you pretty much pick up all the Computer Architecture you need by just working. I did not take Computer Architecture as an elective.</p>
<p>The Discrete Structures/Discrete Mathematics course if “iffy” for me. For one, this is usually a sophomore-level course. Separate math courses in Combinatorics and Graph Theory basically include what is in a Discrete Structures course and extra details.</p>
<p>Now the protein…</p>
<p>You MUST take the CS core of Algorithms, Data Structures, Programming Languages and Operating Systems. For one these courses teach you how just about how all Algorithms/Data Structures/Programming Languages/Operating Systems work in general and allows you pick up on something new much easier. Besides, those 4 courses will either be prior-taken, taken while a student or on the comprehensive exam for any M.S. in Computer Science program. I would question the need for a MSCS, but that is another topic/thread.</p>
<p>As backup, take the basis of Information Technology & Systems. That basis is that information is to be processed (programming), transmitted (networks) and stored/retrieved (databases) and possibly encrypted during all 3 (cryptology/information assurance). That means take Computer Networks, Database Theory and Crypto/Error-Correcting Codes.</p>
<p>Throw in the Computer Graphics because visualization is getting big and even though your job is not using whatever graphics software you used in class, you will know the “nuts and bolts” to apply to any project where graphics will be done.</p>
<p>A math major can take all of those CS courses within 7 to 8 courses and will be JUST AS QUALIFIED as a CS major for many software positions…while still having a Math degree to pursue the Math-major-only positions.</p>
<p>
Like… math education? No wait, this doesn’t require a full-fledged math major either.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>For an industry career in software development, the most important courses in terms of concepts used in industry, beyond the introductory courses and prerequisites like intro to data structures, etc. (which seem to vary in how they are organized as each school), are:</p>
<p>Software engineering
Operating systems
Networks
Introductory theory (algorithms and complexity)</p>
<p>Next in importance are courses whose concepts are commonly used, but not as universally as the courses above:</p>
<p>Databases
User interfaces
Security</p>
<p>Courses whose concepts are commonly used in some less common subareas, but not others.</p>
<p>Compilers
Digital design
Computer architecture
Computer graphics</p>
<p>Courses whose concepts are least likely to be seen in industry:</p>
<p>Additional theory courses beyond the introductory theory course
Artificial intelligence</p>
<p>If you go into IT (system and network administration), a full CS degree is not needed; the most relevant CS courses beyond the usual prerequisites are:</p>
<p>Operating systems
Networks
Databases
Security</p>
<p>If you go on to do *software development for IT applications<a href=“a%20very%20common%20subarea”>/i</a>, the union of the software development first priority list and the IT list should be the first priority list.</p>
<p>
Whatever happened to data mining?</p>
<p>Will a BS+MS in CS always give better pay? Esp. right out of college? Or is a MS overkill?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Being a database person (data architect) who has worked on numerous data warehouse/data mining projects, I will tell what happened…</p>
<p>About the time the prerequisite data warehouse was built…either all the funding was gone or the clients who asked for the data warehouse got all the information they needed and did not want to pay for the mining portion.</p>
<p>Or…</p>
<p>Instead of building the prerequisite ENTERPRISE data warehouse, a set of data marts were built for the departments/teams who DID get funding and they did not want to wait for the other not-so-lucky departments…so even if a data mining component was built, it would not be robust because the data warehouse (now set of data marts) do not represent the enterprise as a whole.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I am from India and new to this forum. I need some advice on which university I should enroll to?
I have been accepted at purdue,uiuc,minnesotta,penn state,rutgers.
I am waiting for wisconsin madison and umich.
I want to major in applied math and statistics.</p>
<p>Looks like you will have to look at other factors like campus life and such because all of those are good schools. Michigan probably has the biggest overall “name”. UIUC and Wisconsin probably stick out better for applied math. I know Penn State has an “applied math” option. Rutgers is known more discrete mathematics.</p>
<p>The problem is that I don’t know their rankings when it comes to just Statistics courses. Still, ALL of those schools are good. Tough decision.</p>
<p>Out of all of those, Michigan, Wisc-Madison, Minnesota, PSU and perhaps Purdue stand out for statistics. I think Wisc-Madison might be the top ranked program out of all of those, but it’s debatable.</p>
<p>I know Michigan does some tremendous Statistical research for survey data, regarding consumer survey data, etc. If you like the marketing/consumer research side of things for statistics, UMich is probably a good option.</p>
<p>UW-Madison is probably the best program for pure statistics, if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>thanks a lot for ur quick reply. : )</p>
<p>my favorites are :</p>
<p>applied math us news gourman rankings mean</p>
<p>purdue university 19 10 14.5
umich 11 21 16
u of wis-madison 21 5 13
u of minnesotta 5 24 14.5</p>
<p>statistics us news(2007) nrc rankings mean</p>
<p>purdue university 10 8 9
umich 12 21 16.5
u of wis-madison 12 17 14.5
u of minnesotta 20 11 15.5</p>
<p>from this i deduce that purdue is the best for stat while wisconsin madison best for applied math.do u agree? any more suggestions will be thankfully accepted.</p>
<p>Most of a Math BS besides the courses you take in a CS BS major are not necessary for most computer science work, right? But then, all this really depends… but you say it’s better, but why so much better to recommend it?</p>