Crossroads
I've hit a crossroads. Actually, it appears that I came to one the day I transferred to a Computer Science major, but I was able to ignore it while I took a parcel of general education classes. Now that I've emerged from my first semester (and World Changers) without a problem, I've revisited the crossroads, only this time I have to make a choice! Bummer. College can just never be simple, can it? It's harder to plan and pay than it is to actually take the classes. Anyway, the choice?
Do I continue Computer Science or not? Economics is out of it. That never seemed to be an issue with my advisor, so that will continue to be my second major. The problem lies with the mathematics courses for Computer Science. See, when I was at Ivy Tech, they apparently didn't bother to cover everything necessary to advance me from Algebra to Calculus. Not even close. My placement test when I transferred was dismal and I had a feeling there'd be a problem. Basically, what it boils down to is this:
I take a math class during the summer to prepare myself for Calculus. I don't need to transfer anything, because it's not a prerequisite, but this is just so I'm mentally prepared for Calculus. Sadly, my university doesn't offer anything during the summer, so I would have to go back to Ivy Tech. (Always a scary idea.) Once I do that, I take Calculus I in the fall at IWU, then Calculus II the next semester and so forth and so on. No problem, right? The catch is that I can graduate very quickly, thanks to the points I carried from Ivy Tech. My credits aren't a problem. The problem lies in the scheduling of the math classes. If I do Computer Science, I will take lots of heavy math classes. One per semester. There are 6 classes, so I'd be pinned up in school for almost an extra year JUST taking math classes, even if I start now. I can't avoid them if I stay with Computer Science.
My other choice: Computer Information Systems. Less theoretical stuff. No math. At all. If I did CIS, I wouldn't have to take another math class unless it was General Statistics for Economics. (Which is recommended, but not required.) What's the difference between Computer Science and CIS? I'm not really sure. In fact, let me show you how close the two programs actually are:
Core Courses for Computer Information Systems:
CIS-117: Essential Foundations for Computing
CIS-125: Introduction to Computer Science I
CIS-126: Introduction to Computer Science II
CIS-221: Data Structures
CIS-222: Object Oriented Programming
CIS-225: Systems Analysis
CIS-236: Machine Structures and Programming
CIS-336: Programming Languages
CIS-382: Database Programming Development
CIS-480: Applied Software Development Project
CIS-490: Senior Seminar
(The bold is a class that is not in Computer Science.) That's all I'd have to take for CIS. The remainder of the required hours would be filled up using Economics classes, thanks to an "independent track" option for CIS. Basically, with CIS, you take the core classes listed above and then specialize in either Business, Communications, Graphics, or Mathematics. The math specialization is pretty much Computer Science except for 2 missing classes, so anyone who takes CIS Math Track should probably just pick CS entirely. Okay, that's CIS. Here's CS:
Core Courses for Computer Science:
CIS-117: Essential Foundations for Computing
CIS-125: Introduction to Computer Science I
CIS-126: Introduction to Computer Science II
CIS-221: Data Structures
CIS-222: Object Oriented Programming
CIS-225: Systems Analysis
CIS-236: Machine Structures and Programming
CIS-320: Introduction to Software Engineering
CIS-325: Analysis of Algorithms
CIS-336: Programming Languages
CIS-385: Theory of Computation
CIS-425: Operating Systems
CIS-480: Applied Software Development Project
CIS-490: Senior Seminar
(Again, the bold are classes not in Computer Information Systems.) This, however, is just the core of each major. As you can see, there is little difference. CS does, though, clearly go in the direction of theory and algorithms and the whole "why does it work?" instead of a "how does it work?" focus. To be honest, I'm not even sure I care why a computer works. I've definitely always been interested in how they work! But let's not forget the required math classes for CS:
Computer Science Mathematics and Physics Cognate:
PHY-230: Electronics
MAT-253: Calculus I
MAT-254: Calculus II
MAT-280: Linear Algebra
MAT-353: Differential Equations
MAT-373: Numerical Analysis
These are required. It's not a specialization option like CIS offers... I either do these or I don't get a degree in Computer Science. The problem is that I'm not prepared for MAT-253. I can sign up for it, but I won't understand a bit of it. But even if I were to miraculously understand Calc 1 this Fall, I would still have a massive schedule overflow simply because I have to take each math class separately.
What's at stake? (I know I'm repeating a lot, but I'm thinking it through as I write this.) Time. Lots of time at school. Time at school means lots of extra tuition fees. So while I'm potentially wasting time, I'm also racking up a pretty impressive student loan during that time. Time I could have been graduated and making money in a job somewhere using my CIS/Economics majors. Why would I sacrifice the extra time and money? Is Computer Science really something I want to do? It looks almost identical to the less demanding CIS program, except for the math and theoretical classes.
Do I care about theory? Right now? No. Would I care if I actually got into it? Who knows? If I dropped CS for CIS, would that be the "lazy" way out? It almost feels like I was set on getting a degree in CS and then found out that it's hard, so I decided to take something easy. Almost. Not only is it more a scheduling problem than a skill problem, but, at the same time, I don't really know why I picked CS to begin with. Probably because I had always assumed CIS was just a "I know how to plug in a monitor" degree, but having looked at it, I see it's just as complex as CS in its own right. It just lacks the classes that explain WHY a computer works, but it still delivers on programming and the basic HOW a computer works. Get it?
Also, I might add that since the two are so vastly similar, I could always do CIS first and get out into the working world as soon as possible, and then go back later for Computer Science, since it would almost literally be "okay, I'm here for the math now!" I mean, it's not like CIS is a completely different direction! In fact, it's far more like a degree for a position halfway to Computer Science, and if I ever wanted to go all the way up to CS, I would just pick up where I left off.
So therein lies my crossroads dilemma.