<p>Georgia Tech is a "match" school for me I suppose, leaning toward a safety (4.0 unweighted GPA, all honors/AP courses, 2140 SAT, 760 CR, 710 M, 670 WR, varsity athlete 4 years, decent amount of clubs and community service, LOTS of musical XCs). I'm applying to several schools for their very, very selective programs in audio engineering/music technology, and I originally decided to apply to GaTech with the intent of majoring in something ECE related with a minor in Music Tech. I saw it as a safer(ish) pick, but one that I could still see myself being happy at.</p>
<p>Useless backstory aside... ;)</p>
<p>The Computational Media program at Georgia Tech has recently caught my eye. I was wondering if any of you wonderful people on here are students in this program or have sons or daughters or first cousins or friends' friends' friends and would be willing to share some info about it with me? :D</p>
<p>Basically what I want to know is what it's really all about. I understand that it seems to be focused on the computer programming side of creative media and entertainment. Cool stuff. But if anybody has some specifics they'd like to share about the curriculum or just whether they enjoy the program, I'd greatly appreciate it. :)</p>
<p>I’m a second-year CM major here at Tech so I’ll try to answer any questions you have. To start off, here is my version of a general overview:</p>
<p>Basically, a CM degree is comprised of two distinct course types. On one hand, we have the Computer Science side of things which covers programming and other technical-related topics. While, obviously, we don’t get the same depth of coverage as a conventional CS major, we are still exposed to a good span of core principles which provide a great foundation. On top of that, we are given room to explore the Media or People threads within the College of Computing.</p>
<p>Then there are what we call Language, Communication, and Culture courses which are offered by the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. These courses expose us to the more creative side of the program. Many of these courses cover graphic design, film studies, technology theory, and the list goes on. LCC courses tend to be less challenging, but I still learn a lot and find them to be pretty interesting.</p>
<p>Just like you, when I came upon the CM program, it piqued my interest because it really is a cutting edge program. Because of this mixture and because it is so broad, CM majors get a lot of exposure to so many different fields. Many of the people in this program, including me, are most interested in games design/development or film production. However, these aren’t the only paths available to explore.</p>
<p>As I said, let me know if you have any specific questions and I will try to answer them.</p>
<p>I was just curious and debating that major. I was wondering is the major alot of programming or is there more to it. I dont mind the programming classes but I dont want that to be all. I am a more design oriented person than a computer science one. Could you give me more information about the balance between the two or what the othe classes are like besides the programming. Any advice would be great</p>
<p>I’m like you in regards to being a designer first and a programmer second. While you will learn a good bit of programming and technical related topics (keep in mind Tech is not an art school), by no means is that the overwhelming majority of what you will encounter. In fact, the degree program is split right down the middle. What I mean by that is for major-specific requirements, CM students take 31 hours of CS courses and 30 hours of LCC courses. </p>
<p>To give you a better idea of this… for instance, I am currently taking a course on the principles of visual design. For this class, we have several graphic design projects which we primarily use Adobe Creative Suite programs to create. However, I’m also in a Java course which provides me with knowledge of object-oriented programming. Another thing to note is that some CS and LCC courses may overlap, such as LCC 2700 (Intro to Computational Media) which has several projects based off of coding interactive applications such as games. </p>
<p>Being a designer first as you said are the programming courses hard or are they fun to you. Can you tell me more about what the programming classes are like versus other classes. I am concerned with the fact I dont mind programming in the sense it will give an advantage instead of doing just design but i dont want it to be programming only because that would not be for me. I just curious about the balance. I just dont want to get in over my head. I feel if I do say just design i wont have as many marketable skills as say in comutational media I wont have to necessarily depend on a programmer but programming is not my favorite thing but i dont mind doing it I just dont want to have a career as aprogrammer if you understand what i am saying. Any advice would be great. Oh and thanks for the response.</p>
<p>peprofession89, the major strikes me as more of a programming major than a design major…after all, this is a tech school we’re talking about. But then, I was the one who started the thread asking questions so you’d probably be better off listening to whatever TheLastDeity has to say! :D</p>
<p>Thank you for the information, TheLastDeity. Sounds like a really cool program that’s right up my alley. I feel like CM would mesh well with the music technology minor at tech and provide a nice foundation for audio for digital media, which is what I hope to get into after college.</p>
<p>Quick question: how hard do you think it would be to just go ahead and take the extra programming courses to double in CM and CS? I hear double majoring is brutal at Tech but it seems like there would be a very significant amount of overlap in the coursework that would ease the burden.</p>
<p>You’ll likely spend more time on homeworks and projects for CS courses than other classes, but that is to be expected. From what I have been exposed to so far, they haven’t been that bad. However, that would all depend on the professor, helpfulness of TA’s, the specific course, etc. Don’t feel too intimidated by it all as there are plenty of resources available to students for help with CS. With that said, I’ve only been to my TA’s office hours once. </p>
<p>Anyways, the degree program is varied and certainly leans more toward the technical side of things, but it leaves plenty of room to incorporate your skills as a designer. Since CM focuses on various forms of digital media, you’ll come across plenty of instances when you’ll need to use graphic design to improve the aesthetics and usability of your creations. However, I want to emphasize that you’ll need a good knowledge of both skills to excel. Even if you don’t have the programming skills now, as long as you’re driven to succeed and are passionate about what you want to do, you’ll develop them over time.</p>
<p>@ RoKr93</p>
<p>Doing so would require you to take the major requirements for CS and then take 36 hours of extra course-work for your second undergraduate degree in CS. You’re probably right that the burden wouldn’t be as great since the material would already be so familiar. However, you may want to look into the 5-Year BS/MS degree program with CM/DM as an option as well.</p>