What do u think about CS major in Purdue?

I was and I have the interdisciplinary tract of the CS degree. Which is I don't think offered now that there is an applied CS focus.

Straight up. Your first two semesters will be a breeze. When you get to data structures, compilers, and operating systems is were things can fall apart. You will have long impossible projects and if you don't regularly check your email you'll find out that either the professor changed the assignment or given you the answer.

there will be curves. A lot of them in fact. especially in compilers and operating systems. I had a class where the final average was in the 20s and the overall class average was in the 30s. As far as I could tell no one retook that class.

Your professors will have an utter disdain for anything that isn't their own research. It'll be reflected in their attitude in how they teach the classes. Don't believe me? Go to any site that rates professors and look up the poor reviews all the cs professors get and compare that to civil engineering or chemistry or any other field outside cs. They do indeed care more in other fields.

Companies will blow smoke up your ass. you'll be told grand lies like 1 in X go on to work for Google. . Microsoft..etc. When these employers fail to hire you purdue will be there to say you need a graduate degree.

Expect to retake courses. Half the students in compilers are taking for the second or third time.

Be prepared for your peers to be moody, socially inept, and have inferiority complexes. No doubt most of them think they are working on the next killer app. Don't expect to have many friends that like to-do exclusively outdoor activities. Also male dominated.

I have tons more but if you want to major in cs because you like it then do so. But don't have this expectation that cs will transform your life from poor unheard of to silicon valley pioneer or to this six figure earning hot shot programmer who is someone else's boss. You'll most likely be a code monkey. If that's what you ultimately want to-do study programming instead of cs. CS isn't about the programming but programming is the tool they use to solve problems.

/r/Purdue Thread Parent