<p>I'm looking for advice for my junior S who just came back from a college shopping visit in New England. He's interested in engineering, but his math/science grades and scores are average while his grades and scores in history/reading are amazing. He really enjoys his CAD class as well as chemistry, likes the concept of mechanical engineering, is great w/ people and reads constantly. He claims he doesn't want to major in history, even though he gets A's.</p>
<p>Math/Science Grades and ACT: B's and 23/24 (taking Algebra II now, so no Calc Senior year)
History Grades and English/Reading ACT: A's and 26/34 ACT.</p>
<p>Besides a general liberal arts education, what are typical majors that would help him play to his strengths (reading) and interests (science, hands-on building)?</p>
<p>I might suggest a History (or something similar) major with a minor in Computer Information Systems. CIS is much less math/engineering based than computer science but is still ‘techie’.</p>
<p>Typically requires Computer Science I & II, a database class, systems analysis, and then a few electives. Electives could possibly be design type classes. No math is generally required over the basic intro calculus class.</p>
<p>My son will probably do something similar to this.</p>
<p>Hi Haystack … Thanks for that idea. What would you do w/ history+CIS minor after college? One concern my H has w/ programming is that it is a skill that is easily exported to India or China or other lower cost resource countries, but it sounds like you or your son are using that as a minor to supplement degree.</p>
<p>In the long run, diligence is much more important than smarts when it comes to success in college. If your son is serious about his interest in engineering, he could start out at a community college that has a formal articulation agreement for engineering. He might need an extra semester or summer session to catch up on the math, but after completing his A.S. he would transfer directly into the third year of the program at the cooperating university.</p>
<p>We have far more companies looking for students with MIS background than we have students majoring in MIS at my school (faculty member). In general, they don’t really care if it is a major or minor. Most MIS majors are not programmers. Most are involved with the analysis and design of systems (the programming part can then be sent to India as an example). Another big growth area is with business intelligence and analytics. A common liberal arts area of study with this would be Economics. Statistics and/or math also help with this.</p>
<p>History + CIS degree…really not much of a connection here other than the fact that History is a good liberal arts major. A better connection is probably Econ or Political Science. Urban Policy/Management is a growth area for CIS and analytics (as is Health Care).</p>
<p>This is where many MIS grads will find future employment and it blends nicely with a liberal arts degree.</p>
<p>"What is Information Science?
The information science discipline centers on using technology to solve a wide-range of complex problems that involve capturing, analyzing, visualizing, and managing large sets of data. Every day more than 15 petabytes (15 quadrillion bytes) of data are generated around the world.</p>
<p>Information scientists are concerned with creating intelligence from the data that can be used to solve complex problems like mapping the shrinking polar ice sheets, tracking the spread of infectious disease, understanding customer buying patterns, and helping people manage their health."</p>
<p>There are BS in Engineering Technology programs in a number of schools in the Northeast. Look for those that are ABET/TAC accredited.</p>
<p>These can be found at Vermont Technical College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, UMASS/Lowell, Central Connecticut, SUNY Institute of Technology, RIT, SUNY Alfred (not to be confused with Alfred University), Drexel and University of Maine, among others.</p>
<p>SUNY Institute of Technology is interesting - I’ve just been learning about this school. The state is dumping tons of money into it. They also have a low price tag for out-of-staters, and told me that they are giving all out-of-state students $3,000 a year off the price if they reside on campus. That makes its cost about the same as Vermont Tech’s, and less than UVM’s (I’m assuming you’re a Vermont resident).</p>
<p>Some students may like and do better at the discrete math used in computer science than in the usual types of math like algebra, trigonometry, and calculus.</p>
<p>An option if he wants to go into the IT / MIS type of job and career: Major in something else, but take the introductory CS courses and the advanced ones in operating systems, networks, databases, and security (probably approximates a minor if offered). This should be sufficient for IT / MIS, even though it skips the heavier math and theory. IT / MIS people get hired with much less technical background than this, but it often shows in not being very good at adapting to unusual problems and new technologies, so someone with knowledge of the concepts in selected CS courses may have an edge in doing the job.</p>
<p>Some students may like and do better at the discrete math used in computer science than in the usual types of math like algebra, trigonometry, and calculus.</p>
<p>An option if he wants to go into the IT / MIS type of job and career: Major in something else, but take the introductory CS courses and the advanced ones in operating systems, networks, databases, and security (probably approximates a minor if offered). This should be sufficient for IT / MIS, even though it skips the heavier math and theory. IT / MIS people get hired with much less technical background than this, but it often shows in not being very good at adapting to unusual problems and new technologies, so someone with knowledge of the concepts in selected CS courses may have an edge in doing the job.</p>
<p>Some students may like and do better at the discrete math used in computer science than in the usual types of math like algebra, trigonometry, and calculus.</p>
<p>An option if he wants to go into the IT / MIS type of job and career: Major in something else, but take the introductory CS courses and the advanced ones in operating systems, networks, databases, and security (probably approximates a minor if offered). This should be sufficient for IT / MIS, even though it skips the heavier math and theory. IT / MIS people get hired with much less technical background than this, but it often shows in not being very good at adapting to unusual problems and new technologies, so someone with knowledge of the concepts in selected CS courses may have an edge in doing the job.</p>