<p>Hi, I'm currently a senior at a UC majoring in Econ. Lately, I've been feeling like I made the wrong major choice. I was interested in Econ at first, but now it isn't as appealing to me. I tried to switch majors my sophomore year of college but I was told by an academic advisor that I wouldn't be allowed to because I would have to stay an extra year and they wouldn't allow it. Later I found out that the stupid counselor had no idea what she was talking about as another academic advisor said that I could have switched but by now it was too late (in my junior year). Thus I kept on with my Econ major, but I've always been interested in computer science (the major I was trying to switch to) cause I took philosophical logic courses and the professor told me that if I enjoyed it I would enjoy CS. Anyways, I did some searching and I know that its common for people who go to grad school in a completely different field from their undergraduate major. In my case though, would it be possible to go from Econ to Computer Science? I'm currently trying to teach myself basic programming and I'm thinking about doing post-bac programs after college, but what else can I do? Another option for me would be to enroll in a local community college. Any tips? Thanks, appreciate it in advance.</p>
<p>You want to wrap up 3 years of hardcore tough classes? You need at least one year of utmost dedication to programming and CS concepts (discrete math, algorithms, etc…) What grad schools are you considering? There is the GRE Subject test for Computer Science, if you take that test and ace it that’s a good indication that you’re qualified however not all grad schools accept that (maybe the top schools do only)</p>
<p>I see. Thanks for being the only person to respond…Anyways, would it be better if I just take courses at a community college and through a local university through Extension Programs? I know most Grad School programs don’t state that you need to have a CS major, just knowledge in some specific areas.</p>
<p>You could always self-study, however it would be nice if grad schools can see you took CS classes and aced them. So yes, I do recommend taking classes but focus on the CS GRE subject test. I am sure there are learning opportunities geared specifically towards that test. Anyway, when composing your grad application make sure you mention a compelling reason why you decided to switch majors. Saying you were simply not interested in Econ anymore is vague and you might come off as someone not very committed. What are the schools you are thinking of applying to? Are we talking Stanford/Berkeley/MIT CS here?</p>
<p>Those are possibilities, albeit not very realistic ones haha. I’ll probably be aiming for the UCs.</p>
<p>Good luck, then… Just make sure you are really committed to this because it is a significant career change (going from a social science to applied science/engineering). Once you show the grad committees you know the basics (GRE CS test) and that you are committed and up to the challenge, they might let you in. Also, you could use the fact that you’re an econ major to your advantage… For example, you might say you would like to do research in network economics or such</p>