<p>^^ I agree - the OP seems to be looking for something not so technical and something that likely doesn’t require a CS degree.</p>
<p>It’s important for a HS student to realize they likely don’t really know what they want to do though so they may want to consider testing the waters by taking some related courses and then switching majors if needed (and if they declared one in the first place).</p>
<p>It looks like the OP left the thread anyway - no responses to any of the posts here for awhile.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your suggestions! I apologize for not saying anything–I’ve been lurking and seeing what you all had to say before chiming back in.</p>
<p>I can’t help but agree with those of you saying I’d be more interested in classes such as digital media, graphic design, web design, app design, and game design. However, a few things to consider:
~Computer Science degrees are in extremely high demand and I’ll probably have several $55-60K jobs offered to me straight out of college if I go CS. I don’t imagine there is a very high demand in communication/digital media/graphic art/game design degrees.
~The best school for computer science around here is UNC Chapel Hill, which is #20 on US News’s list of Top Computer Science Schools. UNC does not give second bachelor degrees, so if I graduate with a creative degree and decide that I should go back to school for computer science, that opportunity for a prestigious CS degree at low tuition is lost. NC State has a CS program at #49, but it takes several more courses to complete and that #49 doesn’t look nearly as good as #20.
~I have always been strong in math and logical thinking and I enjoy it; I feel my combination of strengths in both convergent and divergent thinking will help me to be a strong CS student. However, I also have no prior experience in programming, which may be a weakness. Honestly, I really don’t know what I’d be getting into.</p>
<p>Please tell me your thoughts/agreements/disagreements on the above points.</p>
<p>I think you should pick a school that offers you the potential of a good computer science degree AND some options with classes such as digital media, graphic design, web design, app design, and game design. Try both for a couple years and settle on what you love.</p>
<p>Initial lack of experience in programming is not going to handicap you; however, you may find the course work to be too tedious for a pure creative type: a lot of your time might be spent scanning hundreds or thousands of lines of code trying to figure out where the bug (often a lone typo) is which prevents you from completing your assignment.</p>
<p>If you’re miserable, that extra $10-20k/year won’t make you happy. Within reason, you need to do what you enjoy, if it’s going to be 40, 50 hours a week for the next couple decades. Graphic designers with great portfolios can make good money, too.</p>
<p>Game design - used to be cool when games from places like EA, Microsoft Studios, and the like were bankrolled like movies. Not any more. If you like graphics and such, go for a comp sci degree specializing in graphics. The growth these days is in mobile gaming and it’s a LOT simpler to code Angry Birds than to code Halo…</p>
<p>turbo93 - I think the kids playing online computer games would probably disagree with you. The new version of Guild Wars just came out and sold over 1 million copies the first day.</p>
<p>TWNeal - a cs degree might get you more money, but are you going to be miserable in that major? It’s a lot of math and programming. My S had the same dilemma because he really wanted to go into the design part of cs, but what he realized was that he needs the basics of cs to truly do what he wants to do. He plans on going to grad school in order to complete the creative design part of his cs degree, which is a pretty expensive plan. His dream is to join Carnegie Mellon’s grad program, which, by the way, you don’t need a cs degree to get into. They bring students in with all types of background to form teams that ultimately will create exactly what you’re looking to do. I tried to find info on it for you, but I couldn’t remember the name of it and couldn’t find it in a search. It’s not at the main campus.</p>
<p>Megan, as with many things, success in the game industry ends up with a few franchise studios (the Call of Duty, Halo, and so on). So, in terms of sales, the game industry pretty much runs even with the movie industry, which is amazing. But a lot of these sale dollars come out of either lots of $50-60 games (the CoD’s, Halos, and so on) or the $1-3 mobile phone apps. </p>
<p>I’ve been playing games since the 70’s (Pong :)) and I’m quite convinced the ‘future’ of gaming is (for better or worse) mobile gaming and easy, inexpensive games (i.e. more Angry Birds and less Halos, and I ought to know, I’ve finished both with distinction).</p>
<p>Where does this lead a game designer, tho? I would suggest a very strong computer science background (would not necessarily go into a game design specific program) with a heavy dose of mobile development and art / creative stuff (maybe art minor or animation or studio art or some such). The same 3D graphics the game industry uses are finding their way into consumer electronic products… I’m working on the next generation consumer electronic media players and the like right now and the hardware we’re talking about is high end cellphone spec (dual or quad cores, 1.5+ Ghz, the works). A computer graphics software engineer could work well in my team (we have several). A ‘pure’ game designer, not as much. </p>
<p>Look at it this way. Look at a Halo-class game credits and count how many developers worked on it. You’d be surprised to find the answer… Not Very Many. A lot of game designers end up doing testing, which may sound like fun unless you’re the one stuck testing a karaoke game and get to sing several hours a day (true story). Said singer graduated from an awesome game design college and could not find work after his testing gig finished. His brother is a graphics software engineer and works in my team. </p>
<p>I can’t generalize, obviously, but in my view at least, there’s a lot more choices for people that understand the basics of gaming but have a solid comp sci background (incl. creative stuff and computer architecture) compared to pure game designers.</p>
<p>The CMU program looks awesome… I’ll pass the link on to our HR…</p>
<p>^^^ I’m sending my kid to you for a job in 4 years! He’s planning on getting a degree in cs, but he also has a love for creative writing and photography. So he has a right brain/left brain thing going on!</p>
<p>He loves Guild Wars and some of the others out there that the kids are playing, but he doesn’t just love the game to play it. He is actually entertained with the creativity and originality of the characters, their clothing, the story lines, the music, and everything that goes into the game. He even listens to the soundtrack for fun and is amazed by it.</p>
<p>He tells me his dream job is to work for ArenaNet.</p>
<p>Tw~ my friend went to school for Comp sci… Got offered a job after sophomore year so he dropped out… He’s moved from programming gig to gig and now works for ea sports programming for the Madden franchise. He said he feels like he should enroll back in school and finish the degree just so he can say he did … But he makes three times a year what I do. Crazy!</p>
<p>If that’s the kind of thing you want to do… It can happen… But you have to be willing to move where the jobs are and work lots of long hours. The Weeks leading up to the 2013 game being finished he was working 16 hours days.</p>
<p>I also have a friend with two associates… One in MIS and one in digital media. He’s a director of marketing and design at a place in NYC at age 30. </p>
<p>Also, recently we had postings up at work for instructional media positions… Like people to design and develop our virtual training courses. This includes like flash, captivate, etc. they develop the course content and also do some training. There are bachelors and masters degrees out there for this. It can get quite technical yet you still need design skills… It seems kind of niche so again you’d probably have to move to where the jobs are but i’m sure they probably pay well…I thought about posting since that’s very similar to my IS and art minors but had recently accepted a different position at work in IT and didn’t want to jump ship. </p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with that career goal, but what you are describing is making other people make computers do things. Computer scientists make computers do things themselves. This is often finicky and technical, and it usually require staring at code for hours. </p>
<p>The basis of a Computer Science degree is programming computers to do things. If you don’t want to spend hours coding, you should choose another major.</p>
<p>People get good money with their CS degrees because it turns out programming computers is hard, not everyone can do it or wants to do it, and lots of companies need people to program computers. If you can’t do the technical work, people won’t be offering you the big bucks that they offer to people who can do the technical work.</p>
<p>He should keep an eye on the readmission policy at his school, so that he can go back and finish his degree during the next industry downturn when jobs are more scarce.</p>
<p>I would like to emphasize that the idea of computer science isn’t as uninteresting to me as is being exaggerated in this thread. I am very interested in computer science for the following reasons:
~Computer science is about creating , and I love being an author.
~Computer science is mathematical, and I love mathematics and logical reasoning.
~Computer science provides excellent opportunities for entrepreneurship and starting businesses–ideas I am very fond of as well.</p>
<p>I have decided that due to the insurmountable-among-my-interests value of the degree, I will definitely be pursuing computer science. I am currently a student at a small private university (where I am attending free of charge due to my father’s employment at the university), and will be transferring to either UNC or NC State to pursue computer science. At UNC (the preferred choice), a BA in CS will take three semesters of study and a BS in CS will take four semesters of study. If I plan appropriately, I can pick up some Communication courses along the way, reenter the small university I am at now for free, and pick up a second degree in Communication in only one semester after I graduate with my CS degree from UNC or NC State.</p>
<p>So here are my two options:
~Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
~Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science, Bechelor of Arts in Communication with a concentration in Digital Media (two separate degrees)</p>
<p>Both options will take four semesters after my initial transfer. If I’m going for the bachelor of science, then I don’t care to pick up the communication degree because it will mean I am entirely devoted to computer science. If I go for the two bachelor degrees, it will mean I am interdisciplinary in my career outlook. This will be a decision I will have to make myself after being exposed to some computer science coursework, however I would like some input about the value of a double degree in these two fields and what kinds of jobs I would be able to specialize in that combine CS and Communication.</p>
<p>Side note: Here are some other BA’s offered at the small private university that I would also be able to attain a second degree in if communication doesn’t complement computer science well: Psychology
Elementary Education
Religion and Practial Theology English (Creative Writing concentration)
Social Studies
History
Special Education
Human Services
Sports Management
Music Studio Art
Political Science</p>
<p>I have bolded the majors of the list that interest me most. Would any of these majors complement computer science better than communication studies?</p>
<p>How are you going to get a B.S. in Computer Science at UNC in four semesters if you have never taken a programming course? This sounds like fantasyland to me.</p>
<p>In response to Cardinal Fang: I would take a Java programming course next semester (before I transfer to Chapel Hill or NC State). I will also have all my mathematics requirements completed for both schools at the end of next semester. The only courses I won’t have taken care of are the computer science courses themselves which will only take 3 semesters (6 courses) to complete for a BA at Chapel Hill, four semesters (10 courses) to complete for a BS at Chapel Hill, or four semesters to complete for a BS at NC State.</p>
<p>I just looked at UNC CompSci BS and they indeed require 11 courses in the major. The way I read the BA requirement was for 10 courses. NCSU was 13 or so. For comparison, my beloved directional state U (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) was 15 or 16 major classes (which I did in 2 years) but it was not fun at all… </p>
<p>If courses are offered in the summer things could be easier (tho the summer I took 3 senior level Comp Sci classes was one for the record book…). I would go for the 2 year incl a summer or two…</p>
<p>Turbo: The reason you’re reading that UNC’s BA is ten courses is because three of those courses are “computing or computing-related courses,” which I have already fulfilled by taking extra math courses at my current university.</p>
<p>NC State has computer science offerings in the summer but from what I can tell UNC is going to require most of their classes to be taken during the fall and spring semesters. To be able to fit a UNC BS in four semesters or a BA in three semesters, I am going to need to take three computer science courses at a time for one or two of those semesters. I hope that won’t be too overbearing.</p>
<p>CS courses with programming assignments can be rather time consuming; so can computer hardware courses with design projects. However, CS theory courses have similar workload as math courses.</p>
<p>A lot of more advanced CS classes have multiple prerequisite classes, so you won’t be able to take them for several semesters. Also, you need to take into account possible time conflicts between required classes from semester to semester. Finally, some popular classes might be filled. It seems unlikely that, as a practical matter, one can get the right combination of 11 CS classes completed in only 3-4 semesters.</p>
<p>I did 16 in 4 semesters and 2 summers, so it is doable but with little margin for error. Nice if you’re a poor student from Elbonia but 2 years of 21 credits a semester was a bit over the top… </p>
<p>I would say 4 semesters and a summer for 12 courses are doable, assuming the OP gets into the hang of it quickly. While at Cajun State U. we did not have much ‘competition’, and it was in the 1980’s, today, in a nationally ranked place like UNC or NCSU one would be taking courses alongside kids who have been writing software since age 10 or so…</p>
<p>A friend’s kid went to Iowa State (another excellent school) and had a bit of a hard time on that alone… To minimize ‘assignment shock’ I would spend some time on the web sites of both schools to see how class policies are (i.e. how much assignments count, team or individual, etc). No fun writing 5,000 lines of code only to have it count for 10% of your grade…</p>
<p>I’m amazed at your confidence in being able to take three computer science classes in one semester, seeing as so far you have taken zero computer science classes in any semester and you don’t know how to program. If you want to study computer science, why are you not studying computer science right now? I hope at least you are solid in linear algebra and calculus-based probability, and that you have some knowledge of discrete math.</p>
He’s planning on getting a degree in cs, but he also has a love for creative writing and photography. So he has a right brain/left brain thing going on!</p>