Is it too late for me to get a BS in computer science?

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enamdar
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01 Jul 2009, 9:26 am

Is it too late for me to get a BS in computer science?
So I used to consider myself anti-materialist driven by virtue and morality rather than money and sex. So I studied history and planned on becoming an Army officer but dropped out of West Point and went to a state college to major in history. I only studied history to learn military tactics so its useless to me now.

I realize now that $$$ is all that counts. My grades are Bs, so I might get into a low law school. But my new materialism has made me pretty sick of the human species so I would kind of prefer the ahuman activities associated with computers. I'm a pretty poor math and science student but I've studied a lot of Russel and Wittgenstein Analytic philosophy so I think I will be able to look at math and computer logic as analytic philosophy rather than a chore.

The main problem is I'm only 2 semesters away from graduating and I haven't even started taking basic math courses much less CS courses. So I would really have to start my whole 4 year college career from scratch right when I'm about to graduate. I don't think I can go to grad school on computers without a BS.

Any ideas or suggestions?



makuranososhi
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01 Jul 2009, 9:37 am

Tough situation; would talk to an academic counselor at your school. Completing a degree is a good first step; once it is completed, you could then pursue another degree -or- find a way to combine computers and history into a master's program of some sort. Just my two bits... I have almost 200 credit hours and an associate's degree because I kept switching interests, so I am biased towards finishing a degree first then finding the next direction at this stage.


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eeyore710
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01 Jul 2009, 11:37 am

I've got a suggestion for you to think about:
I started off college with a CS major and almost died with all of the math involved. I could write the programs and my logic was good, but once I got past calculus 4 and had to go on to the more difficult math classes it was unbearable. If you aren't a super math brain, there is another way...

A lot of business schools offer an emphasis in technology, information systems, or something of the sort. So you get a degree in business administration with the tech emphasis and you can look at jobs as a database admin or something like that. Plus, the other advantage is that with the degree being in business admin there is more flexibility in the usefulness of the degree if you do the tech stuff for a few years and decide that your calling is elsewhere. That's what I ended up doing...figured out later that I was really a lot happier, and made more $$ as an economic analyst:)

You'll definately want to talk to a counselor at your school about your options..but I would suspect a change to a business degree would be a less drastic major change. Just keep in mind that computer science isn't the only job where you can disconnect from humans for the most part! There are a lot of personality and skills assessments that your school should be able to hook you up with that may lead you to a job title that is more outside the box but a perfect fit. My experience has been that if you follow a path that is "just right" for you and where you truly enjoy what you do, the $$ will follow faster than if you go for a path focused exclusively on the money, regardless of the "average salary" for the field! Promotions come faster when you have a passion for your work!



enamdar
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01 Jul 2009, 10:42 pm

Hey I really love your MBA with an IT major idea. That might really get me out of this dead end!



ruennsheng
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03 Jul 2009, 7:36 am

Not too late... Just pursue your dreams, but you can always start in a community college... much easier I think. And yeah, the idea of MBA+BS with computer science is wonderful!



UrchinStar47
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03 Jul 2009, 12:04 pm

Why didn't you go for a job at Blackwatter or something like that?



ruennsheng
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04 Jul 2009, 10:39 am

Or simply anything that got to do with computers and training related to that field...