With the recent direct to admit change, I realize that you have to put CS as your first choice in order to be considered for DA. The thing is, I am not entirely sure I want to go into CS as I would rather not have too much hardcore coding. The informatics degree option is also enticing to me because it is less hardcore coding/ mathematics, but I am concerned that they may not have as many resources and job opportunities as the CS department due to being much smaller. I’m stuck in between these two majors and do not know which one to put as my first choice when I apply. Do you guys have any advice or tidbits to help me decide between the two, any pros vs cons, etc.? Thank you
*Also, I am in a dual enrollment program so it would be beneficial for me to go into my freshman year at the UDub with a major on lock, since I’ll have most of my gen-ed credits out of the way by then.
Because CS and engineering, are such competitive DA majors, my UW CS '20 son has been pushing his siblings to declare one of those as their majors because it’s easier to transfer out than into them. You can figure things out once you’re in. One of his friends who couldn’t get into CS, before UW switched to DA, ended up going into informatics.
I believe the job fairs in campus are open to anyone, so I don’t think you’d be limited.
If you want to be in Informatics, apply to that major, especially coming in with dual enrollment credits, you need to be able to access majors-only courses right way.
I’m not sure about job fairs, but there are many recruiting opportunities that are strictly for CS majors, the most sought-after group.
Only you can decide what major to try for–CS has great job prospects but if you don’t like hardcore CS classes what’s the point? Just fyi my kid went in undeclared because he had no idea what he wanted to do. He did well in beginning CS classes but the weed-out physics course was a killer. He never tried to get into CS, but luckily got into Informatics and is a software developer at an excellent tech company in CA.
He had a great time at UW. A friend’s kid graduated from MIT but never liked hard core coding and is unhappy at her developer job in NYC after burning out at a West Coast tech company.
The takeaway for me watching some.of these kids post-graduation is that there is a lot to be said for doing what you like to do, majoring in something you like, as opposed to just going for something to have the best job prospects. I don’t think you can go wrong with either option at UW. And Info is not easy to get admitted to either.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Informatics has excellent job prospects and sounds like it’s your preferred major. Go for it!