<p>I heard Like half the people in classes are already familiar with programming :( I don't want to be behind everyone.</p>
<p>Is this true? Is it really super hard for someone who is good at math?</p>
<p>Few questions - are you a hs senior or in college already? If HS senior, what are your scores and what colleges are you looking at?
Knowing none of your background, here is what I can say.
If they accept you into engineering, your current scores/GPA is an indicator that you will be able to handle the program. Having said that, some schools are harder than others. Like getting an engineering degree from say a state school would be easier than say Harvey Mudd or UCB. If you have the aptitude, you can easily catch up. Yes, some kids have dabbled in languages and such but most haven’t. They just come from solid academic background. The first couple of semesters are core classes in most schools. Also if you are worried and want to get a head start, you can do some community classes before your academic year starts.</p>
<p>Engineering in general is a harder major, but the payoff is worth it. Also unlike high school, it actually gets easier in the junior/senior years once you are done with the core classes.</p>
<p>
Not sure why people make statements like these. Many of the strong engineering schools are state schools (UCB, UMich, UIUC, GATech, Purdue, etc). In fact, UCB is a state school (assuming you are referring to UC Berkeley).</p>
<p>hi brutallyhonest, I am an Engineer and just stating facts. Engineers at HarveyMudd and UCB have to work so much harder than Cal State. When I said ‘state school’, obviously I dont mean the state flagship schools. UCB is UC Berkeley by the way. </p>
<p>Some engineering schools ARE tougher than others. I am in the industry now and I can tell you we can see the quality of students from the kind of undergrad schools they attended. (Again, there are the very smart kids also who just chose to go to a local college due to finances but in general, having been in the industry for long, we do find there is some differences in the kind of engineering programs they graduated from).</p>
<p>And yes, State school did not mean State flagships like UNC/Gtech etc but smaller state colleges that just need a 3.0 to get in.</p>
<p>I plan on going to Arizona state.</p>
<p>At ASU, do you mean the [“Software</a> Engineering”](<a href=“https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/roadmaps/ASU00/TSSERBS/2011]"Software”>https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/roadmaps/ASU00/TSSERBS/2011) major at the [Polytechnic</a> campus](<a href=“https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/programs/Campus/POLY/undergrad/Polytechnic;jsessionid=8841D68DA61AE97C86F946F680BE9265.programs17]Polytechnic”>https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/programs/Campus/POLY/undergrad/Polytechnic;jsessionid=8841D68DA61AE97C86F946F680BE9265.programs17), or the [“Computer</a> Science (Software Engineering)”](<a href=“https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/roadmaps/ASU00/ESCSESBS/2011]"Computer”>https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/roadmaps/ASU00/ESCSESBS/2011) major in the Ira L. Fulton School of Engineering on the main [Tempe</a> campus](<a href=“https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/programs/Campus/TEMPE/undergrad/Tempe;jsessionid=8841D68DA61AE97C86F946F680BE9265.programs17]Tempe”>https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/programs/Campus/TEMPE/undergrad/Tempe;jsessionid=8841D68DA61AE97C86F946F680BE9265.programs17)?</p>
<p>The curriculum for the “Computer Science (Software Engineering)” major in the Ira L. Fulton School of Engineering on the main Tempe campus appears to be better balanced. It does not appear to be much different from the general [“Computer</a> Science”](<a href=“https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/roadmaps/ASU00/ESCSEBS/2011]"Computer”>https://webapp4.asu.edu/programs/t5/roadmaps/ASU00/ESCSEBS/2011) major also offered there; this general “Computer Science” major does include an overview software engineering course that is likely to be sufficient background preparation in software engineering methods needed in industry software development jobs.</p>
<p>Note that the ASU (main campus) computer science major is [url=<a href=“http://www.abet.org%5DABET%5B/url”>http://www.abet.org]ABET[/url</a>] accredited, while the ASU Polytechnic software engineering major is not. As the latter is not a well known good school for CS, it would be better to stick with the main campus of ASU for computer science.</p>
<p>At my undergrad and grad school (both top 4 / 5 CS schools), programming skill wasn’t necessary, but a must to graduate with very good GPA. People who come to school without programming skills have much more to learn than those who do. Of course, programming isn’t everything in a CS curriculum, but huge chunk of homework and exams require significant programming skills, and will work to your advantage if you are very capable in programming.</p>