<p>I'm majoring in math at Podunk university, but I want to go on to get a research degree in computer science. Unfortunately, the CS program at my university is basically a software engineering program designed to prepare students for a job at one of the local corporate headquarters that fund it, and I cannot move away till next year (after I graduate unfortunately) due to family troubles. Will a degree in mathematics significantly hurt my chances of into getting into a good computer science program?</p>
<p>Also, I've already taken enough graduate level courses in mathematics that if I take another two and complete a undergraduate thesis I'll be able to graduate with a masters in mathematics. Would having a masters hurt, help, or be irrelevant to me getting into a CS PhD program?</p>
<p>To get in most graduate Computer Science programs, you will need:</p>
<ul>
<li>Programming course(s)</li>
<li>Operating Systems course</li>
<li>Programming Languages course</li>
<li>Discrete Mathematics or Discrete Structures course</li>
<li>Possibly a Computer Architecture course</li>
</ul>
<p>Now if you were able to take the above courses at the undergrad level within your Math degree then you should have no problem getting into a grad CS program.</p>
<p>I was a Computational Math major so I had to take some of the CS program anyway and know about various grad applied math and CS programs. You might want to look at Univ of Illinois grad Applied Math program. They have quite a few courses that belong to both departments so you can take 10 or 11 courses and basically dual-major in grad school.</p>