I’ll try to make this as concise as possible. I just transferred to UIC. I got accepted into the Mathematics and Computer Science program in the LAS college. My long term goal is to get a PhD in Computer Science, but I would am also interested in Applied Mathematics. I am primarily interested in Artificial Intelligence Research as well as Computational Neuroscience.
Will having a BS in MCS rather than CS be a disadvantage?
Curriculum:
Mathematics and Computer Science in LAS
http://catalog.uic.edu/ucat/colleges-depts/liberal-arts-sciences/mscs/bs-math-cs/
Computer Science in Engineering Dept.
http://catalog.uic.edu/ucat/colleges-depts/engineering/cs/bs-cs/
Normally, I would say that would be a fine route. However, the Mathematics and CS degree that is linked to here has incredibly little CS - it doesn’t appear to be a double or combined major but rather a math major with some CS sprinkled in. A total of 6 CS courses (correct me if I’m wrong) at most, with only 2 required, will not be enough for going onto a PhD in a timely manner, or knowing the CS field well.
In this case, I would recommend doing the CS degree, and using some free electives on more math classes. You can probably formally minor in math that way even, so you still have Math formally on your degree.
There’s something to be said for doing a pure Math degree and then going on to CS - it would have its advantages in terms of bringing a really mathematical mindset to CS, which does help - but it means that you would need to catch up on the CS courses you missed later.
Whether or not each degree is a disadvantage depends on your route. AI will need a bit more CS than that first degree offers, but computational neuroscience is really more of a Biology field than a CS field - neither degree would really be ideal for that.