I am currently entering my second semester of freshman year at American University. The school itself isnt bad… i love being by the city, i have a friend group, and the parties arent horrible. The classes and teachers are also very good as well… I learned a ton. Learning a ton taught me that I want to pursue the computer and data science field. In our US Politics class, so many influential people came to speak to our class and almost all of them said computer science is sooooo helpful in the poli sci field. Learning this and knowing I want to go down the data science route hindered me to consider transferring. University of Maryland is my #1 school if I were to transfer. It is still near DC, it has football, a way better social life, and their computer science program is 100,000 times better than American’s. The only problem I have is feeling like im gonna regret this decision. I just can not decide lol. If anyone had some helpful tips or words of advice that would be super helpful. Thank you!
Go look up the word “hindered”. It does not mean what you think it does.
What do the people writing the checks for your college have to say about this.
UMd does not have a “way better social life”- it has a different social life (actually several) that might suit you better, but that is not the same thing.
The UMd CS program is indeed strong, but have you ever taken any CS classes? What is your math background? Can you pass the required gateway exams for admission to the CS program??
Do you want to be a poli sci person who is data fluent / good at using CS tools for analysis or a comp sci person who writes programs for hire?
What % of this question is fomo on all the fun you perceive pals over at UMd are having, compared to the fun you are having (“the parties here aren’t horrible”)?
2.My parents want me to go where I am happy. Also, UMD is significantly cheaper
3.Ok
4.Im taking intro to computer science and statistics this semester
5.I think more of the first option. I want to work in polling and analysis and stuff like that within politics
6.Ehh, it was like that at first. Not my friends at UmD tho (I dont have any). I came to American from like 800 miles away. I love DC and just wanted to stay at a school thats near it. I also loveeeee sports and it really does kinda blow not having any competitive sports to watch at AU. The basketball at AU isnt much. I also used to play golf quite a bit and UMD has a course on campus. I try to play at AU but its hard cuz theres no courses nearby
For the ~11 to ~14 semester-length courses that you would take as a CS major, American seems equivalent to UMD for your general goals (and may offer advantages with respect to access, such as suggested by @Hippobirdy).
Regarding your interest in data science, this article discusses various approaches to the field:
The best academic prep for polling and analysis is a major in applied math, not CS. If this next semester is your first actual college course in statistics, you might want to try it out first before committing to it. It might not be what you actually want; you might not be good at it; you might discover something else you want more.
But you do NOT need to study comp sci to do political polling. You will learn programming in your relevant math classes, but the high end theoretical underpinnings of comp sci doesn’t sound like what you are interested in.
How are your core math scores? Did you like math in HS and are you good at it?
@blossom I took all the way up to AP calc in high school. I was always pretty good at math. My only problem is that I always forget stuff after the class ends for the semester. I need to work better retaining
You sound a little like my son, who is considering AU (though hasn’t been accepted yet). He also applied to UMD but we (his parents) aren’t enthusiastic about such a large school where it’s easy to get lost and/or shut out of specific majors. Can you say more about AU? Specifically about the classroom experience and what classes you have taken? thanks!