Hi! I’m currently a high school sophomore looking for insight on what I should be doing extra currently for the future.
I’m very interested in computer science and entrepreneurship and starting my own business. What major(s) would I be thinking about for when applying in colleges in the future?
Furthermore, what extra activities/volunteering/interning should I be doing now in order to prepare for the majors and/or be extremely beneficial when applying to the colleges that fit my type?
Get the highest grades you can manage in the toughest courses you can handle.
As far as starting your own business goes, my suggestion is that you get a part time job. Yes, you’ll start at the bottom. That’s the point, to learn business from the bottom up.
I won’t say the typical “Keep thinking about what you want to do”
If you 100% want to do both C.S. and business, then perhaps look into computer science/ computer engineering/ business majors and their curriculums. Perhaps a major in C.S. with a minor in business or finance?
Other advice:
-Learn a programming language. (I’m learning Python right now through this website - http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/index.html)
-Take any Computer Science courses your school offers (AP CS would be great)
-Read up on some C.S. topics that interest you (http://4chan-science.wikia.com/wiki/Computer_Science_and_Engineering - this may help if you’re looking for textbooks)
-See if you can find any good beginner business/ entreupreneurship books that you can read.
Just popping in to say that, although I'm not familiar with Learn Code The Hard Way's book/course for Python, I did use it for C (http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/) and loved the approach. I imagine it's similar for Python and would recommend the site for any of the languages currently offered on it (http://learncodethehardway.org/).
You can start a computer science club at school. You can enter computer science related competitions (some are gender based aimed at females such as NCWIT, and others are for anyone). Competitions range from programming to describing your computer aspirations to creating apps. You can start or join a business club, like Future Business Leaders of America, or start a stock investing club.
You can take AP Computer Science which teaches Java, or you can learn to code in Java and other programs on your own – helpful online tools include Code Academy and various MOOS. You can start reading magazines, websites and newspapers related to computers and business. Compete in the annual high school mathematical modeling contest, that involves a fun computational modeling project.
Regarding majors, if you want to program for a living then look at computer science. If you want to create technology products with computer parts and software inside of them, consider computer engineering. If you really want to analyze big data, then combine computer science with math or find a major that does (a few universities offer data analytics type majors). If you enjoy computational modeling, consider majors in statistics or econometrics or math or finance, with a minor in computer science.
Volunteer to teach basic computer skills to adults, or help at STEM camps and after-school programs. Help a nonprofit with its business and computer needs (many nonprofits need all kinds of help). Intern somewhere in the summer where you can use business or computer skills, or go to a “camp” that develops your computer skills in some way or that teaches you how to write a business plan. You have lots of opportunities.
You activities don’t necessarily have to align exactly with your intended career goal at this point. At the end of freshman year in college, a good number of students change their career plans so it is absolutely not necessary to know exactly what you want to do at this point. If you think you are interested in computer science, then doing an activity or two that displays the interest is good, but you don’t have to only be involved in such activities
When choosing activities to do, you want to make sure that they are meaningful to you. If you are doing an activity solely for the purpose of having something to put on your application, not so good. That is, you should aim for quality over quantity. It is better to have four or five activities that you can talk about with substance rather than 20 or 30 where you have nothing to say about the majority of them. Being able to talk about them with substance means that you can write a meaningful paragraph about it. For example, think about the difference between “during this mission trip, I accomplished this, and that…” and “I showed up to this club’s meetings once every other week for free pizza”. Within the four or five activities, two should be activities that you can talk about in depth. That is, you should be able to write half a page or more single spaced about how the activity has helped to shape you.