My son just got his course selection back for junior year. They didn’t give him Computer Science due to scheduling conflicts. He’s considering majoring in CS or Engineering though this isn’t very firm. Should we really push the school to change up his schedule to try and fit it in? I’m assuming since he might want to major in it, that this is important, but then maybe because it’s not a core class, it actually doesn’t matter as much as I’m worried it will? I feel like so many kids enter college already having done a lot of CS and that this will put him at a disadvantage when applying because he won’t have the ‘fit to major’. His other courses are all core classes plus art and service (both required).
For kids who are thinking of applying to Engineering or CS programs, taking CS in high school isn’t that important. What are important are classes like Calc. As long as your kid has four years of math, and the highest level of math that the school provides, Engineering and CS programs ill be fine. The only reason for your kid to take CS is to get a bit of an idea as to what Computer Science actually is (many people think that it’s just coding).
For kids who are interested in engineering, it’s better to take physics than to take CS.
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2 posts were split to a new thread: Change Courses?
@mwolf He’ll be taking physics next year and will get to the highest math level, so that’s not a concern. My worry is that if he ends up not taking CS or only being able to take it Senior year, it might give the appearance of him not being that into CS and therefore getting dinged in the whole ‘fit to major’ evaluation despite being academically prepared for it.
- make sure the GC states in his recommendation or profile that he couldn’t take CS till senior year
- it’s more important he take math through the highest level offered (and if there’s a CC nearby that offers Discrete Math he could see if he likes it).
3)if he’s aiming for highly selective colleges, he must make sure he doesn’t sacrify his other classes (ie., 4 units of English, Foreign Language through level 3, 4units of History/Social Science, Bio&Chem in addition to Physics, one art class -theory, history, performing or visual/studio .)
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Around 40% of all college students (50% of all engineering students) change their majors. The most important part of “fit to major” is whether the kid has the skills and talents to succeed. Most of students who transfer out of engineering and CS do so because the math is beyond what they can deal with.
The CS classes in high school are really more for kids who want to major in other fields, but need a basic understanding of what CS is. If you look at AP credit equivalents, AP CS is the equivalent of intro CS course for non CS/Engineering majors, and CS/engineering majors often cannot get any credits for this class.
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CS is a highly competitive major. It’s one you really want direct admit. Therefore it’s best to be sure you really want to study it. High school courses give students a taste of things. As others have said math is key, calc bc even multi variable. However to get into competitive schools for CS, they will want to see experience in classes and even outside of class in form of jobs, clubs etc. I would mention the interest in majoring in CS to the counselor and ask if anything can be changed. Yes they can explain the situation in a rec letter, but some schools will expect students to go above and beyond for the classes I.e taking at local cc.
We used online classes (approved by our school) to handle schedule conflicts like this. Specifically VHSlearning.org. We ended up pushing our school to join so other students could take these classes.
Your kid could do CS online, or another class that frees up the schedule for CS at their school.
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Did those classes get added to your child’s regular transcript or did they stay on their own separate one?
They were added to what the school sent to colleges.
I found out about VHS learning from a bulletin board at a high performing high school in a different town, where it was offered for “enrichment.” When I looked it up, it seemed a good solution to the scheduling problems in our small school. My kid did well on AP tests after taking one of their AP classes.
I worked on the local ed foundation and got them to fund membership for our school. That meant that as I remember 25 kids could take classes for free. We used VHS before the school joined and I think back then it was $400. A while back!
VHS offered classes our school could not offer. I loved that some kids were “turned on” by learning via classes like philosophy, or Latin,
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My humanities/social sciences kid did AP Comp Sci and said it was pretty basic, so I’d tend to agree with this.
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AP CS Principles is a class designed to introduce someone who may not know much about CS to the different branches in the field and complete projects.
AP CSA is supposed to be similar to a first semester Intro to CS class for CS majors.
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My d found hs CS classes useless. She learned more doing robotics and sci oly.
Calc and physics C were the most helpful for engineering prep.
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I would imagine that AP CS Principles would be better to introduce people who aren’t necessarily interested in STEM as well as those who are. It wouldn’t so much be a pre engineering course as a “general education” course.
I know AP CS A is supposed to be “the” serious CS course but it seems more limited to me, neither tough enough for real CS majors and too specific to interest others, so that I’m not sure what its goal is.
In any case, to answer OP, neither is necessary to apply to a CS major and I would imagine CS ECS would matter more.
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There are two AP CSs - CS principles is exactly what you describe (CS for non-CS majors), CS A is a real intro CS course- I’m sure some school still don’t give credit for major courses, but many do. My kid will be an engineering major and get them advance standing in a faster sequence (and credits) for having a high AP score in CS A. (Basically a 1 semester instead of 2 semester intro to CS).
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That actually makes some sense depending on how you define it- in robotics it’s programming -CS A is more academic, foundational and theory. It’s not a learn to code quick class…
Could be wrong what your kid is doing in robotics or how the CS courses are taught here you are of course.
Let’s move on from discussing the differences between CSP and CSA. The OP simply stated CS course; for all we know it could be one more advanced. Not that it matters what the course is, the answer should still be the same, particularly since the kid’s schedule is complete with required classes and core classes; CS, no matter how advanced the HS course, is still an elective and shouldn’t supercede required and core.
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Sometimes we do this for future readers no… if we let sit incomplete or misleading info is that good for the community? honest question. creating a new thread doesn’t help that reader.
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It might help others help you if you describe what courses he actually has in his schedule, and what course he would have to drop to replace with CS, and what kind of CS course.
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I agree with others. On the one hand, I would absolutely want to make sure this kid had some real exposure to what CS would be like as a career before they applied specifically for CS programs/majors with direct admission. On the other, I don’t think a HS CS class is necessary for that purpose, and indeed might not be sufficient either. So I would personally not worry about the class for now, but would look for other opportunities to learn more about CS as a profession.
As an aside, I note many very good colleges have general admissions, meaning you are not admitted by major, and CS is just a major you can elect later. A kid really devoted to CS might still prefer one of the direct admit programs, but again this part of why I would really want to make sure that kid was doing that for well-informed reasons.
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