should I go into a math/computer science major?

zigzaggar
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 11:16:36 +0000

I chose to go into computer science because I took a programming class in High school and was pretty much the only class I enjoyed.

I dropped out of High School about six years ago and now I am going to community college, later I will go to a 4 year and maybe get my master’s after that. At my school computer science is also the math major, so yes, you can expect a lot of math. In order to get my Associate’s degree I am required to take up to Calculus III. As far as Programming goes my school requires 5 classes of programming, but 3 of those classes are basically intro to programming in different languages which is a shame because once you know one language it’s pretty much the same thing in another.(think about learning what loops, variables, arrays, and methods/functions are 3 times)

At the four year it seems that I will need to take many more CS classes than Math, but some of those CS classes will make use of Some high level math.

When I go to the four year school I will be required to take Linear Algebra and Discrete Math and maybe a few others. I think the amount of math you would need in the real world would be dependent on what kind of job you go into. A programming job that deals with simulation would probably require more math than a job programming some kind of utility program so your mileage may vary.

I can’t really say you will like it because it is a very strange thing to like. Bugs in programs are frustrating, but I enjoy finding and squashing them. I also like making something almost tangible from pretty much just numbers. You really need to explore whether you like it or not yourself because nobody can answer that for you.

As far as being a girl I think that is a plus. The field is dominated by guys and companies would probably like to hire women when possible to be more diverse, but being a woman always carries some form of inequality that might be amplified in a male dominated field.

I assume you meant a 3.8/4.0 GPA though I’ll admit I don’t know or care much about grades(I did drop out of school after all, but I do have over a 3.9 currently). I also work part time, but not in a CS job so I can’t be to helpful there. This is just to show that you can work and go to school full time as CS major and still get good grades, but everyone’s different.

I think I answered your questions, at least somewhat with my limited experience in the matter.