<p>hi! I'm just curious as to know what this kind of major is like... It seems intriguing out of all the majors out there and I would love if someone explained why they chose it and what the classes are like/what college they go to. I'm currently a junior in highschool with a 4.8 gpa on a 4.0 scale. I work part time and also run track. I'm in ap calc and I'm really strong in math. I have not had any computer science experience because my school doesn't offer it so I'm unsure if I'll actually like computer science as much as math. I tried java programming (just YouTube tutorials) and would you be doing programming pretty much the entire time or is it more math based? I'm really personable and outgoing, and I'm also a girl. I know a lot of women don't go into this field so that's another thing to consider. Thanks!</p>
<p>I chose to go into computer science because I took a programming class in High school and was pretty much the only class I enjoyed. </p>
<p>I dropped out of High School about six years ago and now I am going to community college, later I will go to a 4 year and maybe get my master’s after that. At my school computer science is also the math major, so yes, you can expect a lot of math. In order to get my Associate’s degree I am required to take up to Calculus III. As far as Programming goes my school requires 5 classes of programming, but 3 of those classes are basically intro to programming in different languages which is a shame because once you know one language it’s pretty much the same thing in another.(think about learning what loops, variables, arrays, and methods/functions are 3 times)</p>
<p>At the four year it seems that I will need to take many more CS classes than Math, but some of those CS classes will make use of Some high level math.</p>
<p>When I go to the four year school I will be required to take Linear Algebra and Discrete Math and maybe a few others. I think the amount of math you would need in the real world would be dependent on what kind of job you go into. A programming job that deals with simulation would probably require more math than a job programming some kind of utility program so your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>I can’t really say you will like it because it is a very strange thing to like. Bugs in programs are frustrating, but I enjoy finding and squashing them. I also like making something almost tangible from pretty much just numbers. You really need to explore whether you like it or not yourself because nobody can answer that for you.</p>
<p>As far as being a girl I think that is a plus. The field is dominated by guys and companies would probably like to hire women when possible to be more diverse, but being a woman always carries some form of inequality that might be amplified in a male dominated field.</p>
<p>I assume you meant a 3.8/4.0 GPA though I’ll admit I don’t know or care much about grades(I did drop out of school after all, but I do have over a 3.9 currently). I also work part time, but not in a CS job so I can’t be to helpful there. This is just to show that you can work and go to school full time as CS major and still get good grades, but everyone’s different.</p>
<p>I think I answered your questions, at least somewhat with my limited experience in the matter.</p>
<p>While math is certainly used and many CS majors are very strong in math, you will be programming or working with code mostly in the real world. I would highly recommend doing some more programming and seeing how you like it. codeacademy.com is a good tool. Python would be a good starting language to learn the logical structures.</p>
<p>If you choose to go into it, and you can get test scores to match your GPA, you can get into the top schools in the field being a girl. I’m not sure if this transfers to the job market, but at the very least it’l certainly help for colleges.</p>
<p>I am a high school senior, but I have self taught for years now and have already interned at software companies and all. In my research I have found that college programs vary in how much math is offered / required, but usually its about 3-5 math classes. The rest of the classes are either programming, computer structure (not hardware), program design, and sometimes some basic hardware stuff usually to bridge the gap between hardware and software communication. Basically, you will have math but its not incredibly crucial, rather a very good support that is used frequently combined with programming.</p>
<p>Try an introductory class when you are in college. My daughter went into CS and was only one of about 6 females in the dept. So yeah, women are very underrepresented. It can create certain opportunities. See if when you are in college you can go to the Grace Hopper conference for women in technology. She is also very outgoing and personable and did not come from a geeky techie type background, just good at math and more interested in science and research. She started doing sciences and did a lot of math because of physics and once she took a CS class it really clicked for her. She had a research oriented department and focused on that and went to grad school to do research. Many people did internships in summer but she did research. She did stuff with facial recognition software, a big cryptography project focusing on e-cash security, and robotics and computer vision for example. She did do internships in grad school for extra money. She was a math-cs major so has a lot more math than most CS people. You will find a variety of type of people in the classroom.</p>
<p>If you are starting your freshman year with either Pre-Calculus or Calculus I…you can major in CS. What you would want to do is take a beginning/intro CS course (one geared to students without prior background) before taking on the introductory C++ or Java courses that are usually given freshman year.</p>
<p>Don’t worry since in a typical CS program, one would only take a max of 4 CS courses within the first 2 years of college: </p>
<p>Introductory Object-Oriented Programming (C++ or Java) I
Introductory Object-Oriented Programming (C++ or Java) II
Discrete Mathematical Structures (may be given by the Math dept at some schools)
Computer Organization</p>
<p>That’s 3 “pure” CS courses and a “Math to support CS” course, so in essence, you have 4 semesters to complete the 3 CS courses since the Discrete Math course can be taken WITH one of the CS courses. That means that you can still start off with a “Intro to CS with prior experience” course during your fall semester of your freshman year and still be on schedule to graduate in 4 years. *<strong><em>at most schools</em></strong></p>
<p>You can try out some CS on your own to see how you like it. There are websites like codecademy.com that have free, step-by-step lessons in a bunch of different languages to teach the basics. Check out code.org for more suggestions on how to get started and try it out. I didn’t do any programming until I got to college and did a bit in one of my classes. It turns out that I really like it, and I wish that I had started earlier!</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much!! i will definitely check out the codecademy website. One last question, is there any colleges you guys recommend?? I live in IL so im looking at schools in IL or somewhat close/bordering. So far U of I at Urbana and Marquette seem like a good fit but any more suggestions would be much appreciated</p>
<p>Rose Hulman has a great tech program if you can see yourself on campus (its a tech school so guy/girl ratio etc). I looked much more in the Northeast personally, but RHIT was one of my safeties. It is probably a safety for you as well numerically, but it will prepare you very well for the real world and carries a great rep in midwest tech (assuming you want to work there as well).</p>