Son is interested in taking the national merit scholarship at University of AL. He will have a large numbers of AP credits and wants to study computer engineering. Previous posts for this major are not great. Wanting to hear thoughts from students who attended the 2019-2020 school year? My son has taken coding (python/Javascipt), AP Computer principles and AP Computer Science A in high school. He will test out of CS100 and Math 125 and Math 126. Starting with CS101, CS 121 and Math 301, will he be at a disadvantage starting as a Freshman taking these classes? Anythings else we need to know about this major? Sounds like it is a challenging major that might be more theory based than application based and currently has an interim chair of the department.
If he is unsure of whether to take advanced placement, he may want to try the old final exams of CS 100 and Math 126.
It does not look like the old final exams for these courses are easily findable on University of Alabama web sites, so he may have to ask the departments for samples.
However, syllabi for the various courses can be found at https://syllabi.ua.edu/front/#/Browse . He can compare the content listed in the syllabus for CS 100 to what he knows already. Math 125 and 126 syllabi are available also (though these look like fairly standard single variable calculus courses). There is a small bit at the end of Math 126 about vectors, dot product, cross product, etc. that may not have been covered in AP calculus BC, but he should be able to self-study that if he is otherwise good with the rest of the course.
S19 looked at Alabama for CS, and in the end he choose to go to another school. I really liked Alabama, we spent one full day meeting with the honor college, professors having lunch with a student, as well as a tour of the campus. They really went out of the way for us, given that visiting colleges are not really happening, I would think that the honors college could set up you up with CS student how could answer your questions.
My son came into Alabama with about a semesters worth of credits. He was able to earn his undergraduate degree in Computer Science in 3 years and stayed for a 4th year and earned his Masters in Computer Science. He landed a fantastic job with Capital One and has a year under his belt. He says he had a great experience at Bama. My son had no problem starting out in CS101. He did tell me though that he had to tutor a lot of computer engineering kids in programming as many of the computer engineering kids had to go into programming to find jobs.
Alabama is a great school and they really look out for the kids. I have a second child there now and probably the third and last child will go there next year to study computer science. He actually looks good for the national merit scholarship as well. Good luck to both our kids!
I can’t speak as a student. But as an employer located in Birmingham, I can say your son is on his way to a strong education. I’ve hired interns from Alabama, and can tell you I was delighted with the preparation they had. I can’t say that for all colleges in Alabama.
Did your son end up at UA? If so, what are your thoughts on the CS program?