<p>Since this is the information age and computers have such a dominant role, is a computer science degree helpful even if your job isn't relevant to compsci? My parents have been wanting me to get a CS minor...I guess it's nice to have programming languages on your resume in your list of "skills". I don't know what I want to do yet, but say I do something finance-related in a firm, would a CS minor be a bonus?</p>
<p>I think it's potentially quite useful. Even if all you use it for is creating Excel macros, that can be very handy. I also think it would be quite impressive for potential employers.</p>
<p>I should think it might be useful. Keep in mind that it's helpful if you like computer programming. Don't do it if you are going to hate having computer programming as part of your job description. I eventually quit a job that devolved into spending my day with Excel spreadsheets.</p>
<p>If you think a compsci major is about learning programming languages you do not have a clue about the major.</p>
<p>From my (limited) knowledge gained here on CC & reading college websites, I'd agree that CS seems like a very complex, higher-level math-oriented major that goes much deeper than just learning languages. It seems like you'd have to really love that stuff to major/minor in it.</p>
<p>Here's a curveball for you. Comp Sci would be great training for law school. The rigorous, analytic thinking it requires is tailor-made for working your way through a complicated statutes like the Tax Code. And a good sophisticated asset purchase agreement or supply agreement is not unlike a good piece of code writing, structurally speaking (though you don't get to comment the contract). I was a math major and a law school friend of mine was an engineering major, and we agreed that our training made taking the UCC apart and putting it back together much easier for us than for the poli sci majors of our acquaintance (though of course they were very good at other things).</p>
<p>Not to be a contrarian, johnshade---although what you say may be true---I just don't think it's worth it to major in something as rigorous as comp sci (or anything, really) w/an eye to it 'preparing your for law school.'</p>
<p>You can do wonderfully in law school w/any undergraduate major. It's worthwhile to major in something you like and would find it reasonable to work in, should you not go to law school. Then, if you don't do the law route, you still have a career you could enjoy.</p>
<p>I'll answer this in a broader context. I have a "junk collector" education. I took the absolute minimum units necessary to complete my major and the rest of my classes were all over campus. I have a BA in Political Science, but have significant coursework in history, physics (non-major stuff), biology, computer science, psychology, and even a little philosophy, anthropology and business. I can't say that anything I studied in college turned out to be useless later on. If nothing else, sampling different disciplines equipped me with a pretty large set of analytical tools that prepared me for both my career and the other things I've taken up as an adult. CS will focus on developing structured approaches to certain kinds of problem solving. This will come in very handy in life, as long as the student in question learns how to generalize from the specifics.</p>
<p>I had a look at the CS minor at UMass Amherst and it requires Problem Solving, Java II, Data Structures, Architecture and Assembly Language Programming, Computation, Programming Language Paradigms and two other 300 or higher courses. I think that you'd really have to want to do this (for personal interest or future financial rewards) to go through the work required.</p>
<p>The ability to program may be useful in your finance work though. You may want to run model simulations and being able to program them yourself instead of getting someone to do it for you could be more efficient. For that, I think that a few programming courses would be sufficient. The assembler course probably wouldn't be helpful unless you plan to do that for a living (I find assembler programming a lot of fun).</p>
<p>The answer to your original question is YES.</p>
<p>Take the following statement:</p>
<p>"An X with some Y training will have an advantage over one with less Y training."</p>
<p>1) Substitute any career/profession/major you want for X.
2) Substitute any foundational skills like Math, English or Foreign Language for Y.</p>
<p>a) After substitutions a and b, the original statement will be true.
b) Substituting Computer Science for Y in step 2 will also make the statement true.
c) If you are having trouble reading this post, CS is not for you. ;-)</p>
<p>I'm not a CS person, but I thought I was following it quite well, except I got hung up on the "after substitutions a and b" clause. What substitutions a and b? (and does that nitpickiness mean I'm in the wrong profession?:))</p>
<p>I dunno Garland what do you do? I see a future in debugging programs though. :)</p>
<p>Actually, I proofread student papers a lot of the time, which could be a related skill. (but I bet computer jobs pay better!)</p>
<p>If the CS Minor means that you'd have to take fewer Finance courses, then it could be a net-negative in your chosen major and field.</p>
<p>As a highly trained computer professional ;-) , my 2c is that a minor in Y (see SamK post above) doesn't buy one much. A double major will give you more bang for the buck. A major should be something you have interest in and/or a talent for</p>
<p>Instead of a minor, I would opt for the junk collector educaton of WashDad. Like him, the classes I took outside of my major - Film Studies, Literature, Urban Studies, Western Civilization - were all of value.</p>
<p>Straying away from the area of compsci (and no, I truly don't know anything about the major, as someone pointed out. I have no idea if I'd find it interesting, but I've always wanted to give it a shot because it sounded appealing. For other subjects, i.e. physics, that's never been the case. But I could be totally off)...</p>
<p>WashDad and avoidingwork, you guys are saying that a junk collector education is good...I believe in that too I guess, I think it's great to take a lot of random classes in different areas. But you guys are also saying that all the classes were "of value," so then I thought, how come I don't feel the same way? My school is a top school, it's hard to get good grades, but coming out of my freshman year I don't feel like I learned a whole lot in my classes (especially for those random classes unrelated to my major). It's like I see how much there is I could learn, but then I lose motivation to learn it because it's boring/hard/I think it's pointless, and I cram it all in for the tests but a few weeks later completely forget everything (except maybe the major points, but those didnt take a whole semester to learn). </p>
<p>This has happened for multiple classes, and I hate it because my main goal in college is to learn as much as I can, whether it's skills or knowledge or ways of thinking, and I hate coming out of classes with only a grade that's sometimes not an A - that's the worst thing ever, to not learn anything AND not get an A). </p>
<p>So do I just sound like a horrible student or are these just bad classes? Or does it take some time to have the hindsight to "appreciate" those classes?</p>
<p>I have gotten a lot out of every class I have taken so far, and oftentimes it was not the actual subject matter.</p>
<p>Taking an introductory philosophy class gave me a complete new perspective on math (which happens to be my major). In a mandatory writing class I learned to appreciate Classics. In a few other classes I was completely amazed by the professors - their attitude toward life, their accomplishments, their teaching skills - or by fellow students. In college you are surrounded by many interesting people that you can learn so much from - you only have to approach them and listen.</p>
<p>If you are bored in a class, try to find out exactly why you are not engaged and how the professor could improve the situation; you will likely have to give presentations at some point in your life and there might be mistakes you can avoid. If you have to take another random history class for your gen ed requirements, maybe use the opportunity to experiment with your writing. Organize the paper differently from what you would usually do or use the historical analysis paper to make an argument about the motivation of human beings, and see what sort of feedback you get.</p>
<p>garland and mathmom,</p>
<p>Thanks for pointing out the bug in my post. I meant to say "after substitutions 1 and 2".</p>
<p>avoidingwork,</p>
<p>I am not necessarily advocating for a minor in CS for the OP, but I can think of several ways in which even a single programming course would be valuable for a young professional in a quantitative field.</p>
<p>Perhaps a CIS minor would be more useful than a CS minor for the OP.</p>
<p>There have been several stories yesterday and today talking about Goldman Sachs weathering the banking problems on Wall St better than the other bankers and a comment that they have more IT guys than traders.</p>
<p>nilved,</p>
<p>Its feedback, not failure. Since you've just completed one year, suggest you review what classes you chose and why. Maybe these weren't classes you were really interested in, and perhaps you are now better skilled at reading the course descriptions and determining whether it is a class you will like or not.</p>
<p>Back in the day, there just wasn't the same pressure about grades as there is today. Going to college was a mix of finding oneself, learning, and being independent. At least for my experience, there was little emphasis or concern on selecting a career or choosing a field that led to a career. That is in part, why some of us can look fondly on our education, because that is what it was - an education and not grade grabbing to have a career and make $$</p>