So i heard that computer science is one of the most time consuming major. To what extent is this true?
Can i party like once or twice a week. Im not looking to rage 24/7
and Are there any popular weed out courses for computer science freshman?
I plan on going to either Pitt, Rutgers or University of Maryland
Thanks
Lol. CS is time-consuming in odd ways. One week you have all the time in the world and the next you’re working two days straight on a problem set. It comes in waves from my experience which results in a very nice amount of free time. I did the partying life my first semester at least twice a week. Now I still have the time but elected to use it other ways. But yeah, I have had no time problems with CS through my 3/4 semesters so far.
As far as weed out courses, I haven’t found any at my school: If you can code and have a math/problem oriented mind, you will do well. I guess the weed out is the start of the major: chances are if you both enjoy and do at least decently in the first few classes you’ll be just fine.
The amount of time programming assignments will take is very unpredictable. As a novice programmer, you could get bogged down with one bug that costs you a few hours.
I would plan on spending a lot of time on your programming assignments alone. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to have any fun. Just make sure you get your work done first, and you should still have plenty of time to socialize.
Of course you can. Manage your time well. Even in majors that are time-consuming, the average college student still has a lot of free time.
Weed-out courses differ by university.
@WalknOnEggShells
Ik those bugs can be so annoying to fix but thank god theres a debugger lol, idk what i would do if there wasnt one.
But yea i have 3 years of programming experience in objective c and java, so i should be okay.
Thanks
You can go out partying and stuff. I got plastered once during finals weekend (don’t do that, that’s bad) and still finished strong for the semester. Of the strong CS kids that do party, most will go out like once/twice a week and not at all during exams.
At my university, data structures is the weed out course.Some argue that the computation/discrete math class is like that too
The key is to plan for “partying” time…that is, to do as much homework as early as possible and build in time for fun.
Where’s the “dislike” button when you need it?
Depends; introductory classes are generally hardest if you haven’t had prior experience because you’re just not used to the material. Once you master most of the basic techniques - for/while + nested loops, arrays, recursion, I/O, variable manipulation, etc… - you should no longer struggle as much. You will use those a lot in intro software engineering before moving on to harder CS classes.
Honestly - I’m not too far into the major either. I’ve just taken one software engineering class, which was time consuming and complex at times. However, it was easier than the other classes, such as multivariable calc and stats. Unless you’re extremely proficient at the college-level, you’ll need to watch out for maths and sciences. Those high level maths - discrete math, linear algebra, calc III, etc… - are typically more challenging than CS classes… Luckily, you’re going to be taking more CS classes - of course.
It does get harder along the way, but it’s not too time-consuming. If you finish your project assignments way ahead of time, then you’ll have plenty of time on the weekends to party. As a Computer Science major, I’ve never partied once, but not because I couldn’t. I don’t care for it and I’d rather spread out my assignments over time.
Sorry to hijack your thread @chubby2016
Could you guys tell me, good math books like Schaum’s that can help me with the Discrete math/Multivariable calc(yikes!) work.
I’m gonna major in CS, have taken some classes for Java and C, am not worried about the coding bit. But the math, keeps me awake at night…lol @toocoolforyou @Violet1996 @PengsPhils @WalknOnEggShells
Personally, I don’t use textbooks - I find them even less helpful. Looking up a subject on Khan Academy or WolframAlpha is much more useful to me
@Malcomx99
I personally have found youtube to be more helpful than most books
Just find a video you like and watch it
Keep doing that for all of the concepts
Khan academy is also a great resource
If you’re into video learning, Khan Academy and Youtube are good places to start. I personally don’t like watching videos, they’re usually too drawn out. Math courses normally have online homework, and those sites have the information broken down by the assignment, so you can learn what you need. I’ve found the mini-lessons helpful. And lecture notes, pay attention in class.
Discrete Math is run a bit differently from school to school. Mine throws in a bit of computation and formal language theory stuff. If you want some reinforcement material, here are the lecture slides from the course I took: https://people.cs.umass.edu/~barring/cs250s14/lecture/ . The teacher was a smart dude but could be confusing.
Where there’s a will there’s a way.
If you are really intent on partying, you will find the time to do so regardless of major.