Questions for Computer Science Majors.

Question for current Computer Science majors?

• So I'm a high school sophomore currently considering majoring in CS, basically since I've been with computers since I was a little kid and would never dream of doing anything with anything else. The problem is my high school, really. I've got great, top grades in my class, a rank of about 1-4/200, and am excellent in math. I took the SATs in 8th grade (talent search) and got 650/560 math/verbal, and am aiming around 700 for both by senior year. My extracurriculars consist of Marching Band, the school musical, and NHS. However, since my school is so small, the highest computer class they offer is HTML. Yes. I know. Kill me. So I've got minimal programming experience, but I'm fully capable of teaching myself online over the summer. So I know I could get into a dang great school with my grades, but not anything like Ivy League with my extracurriculars. My major concern is getting into a school where I would be intellectually comfortable with a environment where I could say, comfortably compare Linux distributions with my peers. So I guess my question is: Should I really concerned with getting into a CS program at a top school (like say, CMU), or would I be just as comfortable in a less prestigious school? Or maybe, what schools should I be considering and what would be reasonable given my specs? Because, I mean really. Every school has a CS program, and many much cheaper than $50k a year...

• Answer:

  I started out as a CS major but switched my second year. However, I may still be able to provide advice. I was in pretty much the exact same position you were in. While it is true many CS majors are advanced, it's also true many are not. I started out with NO programming experience (except HTML and that doesn't really count) and didn't even know what Linux was. I wasn't the only one in that position. I was perfectly fine in my introductory CS classes (the major just ended up not suiting me though I still enjoy programming from time to time). My advice is simply this: Don't worry about it. Go to the school that you want to go to. I found a link with the top CS schools. I don't know how reputable it is, but give it shot. Look at them all and try and decide which one to go to. College choices shouldn't be made on prestige or majors alone. You really want to make sure it's not only a major you're happy with (other majors are computer science-y without being what you would call traditional computer science). Feel free to give me a shout if you want some more info on the schools I looked at or what my experience with CS has been like.