What to major in when love math and coding but dislike science?

[Anonymous]

another vote for Econ. My daughter is an Econ major and has taken quite a lot of math, statistics, and programming. Also look into specifically econometrics and actuarial science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I majored in math. No science involved. She could double major in computer science. The two go together nicely.

+1
And also did programming so that I could be marketable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a joke? Literally a million things .

OP here, I assure you not a joke. So I had no idea CS didn't involve science. I assumed anything under "college of engineering" would be heavy in the sciences. When I think engineer, I think science. When we looked at colleges to get a sense of what courses she would need, all the colleges we looked at required 4 years of science with 3 years lab work to even apply to the school of engineering so again, I thought CS = science. Science is in the name. Maybe I don't appreciate what science is. Will she not have to take physics and intro to EE as a CS major? Circuits = science to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, encourage her to try fun events like Technica Hackathon (for next year, just finishing this year). My other DD loved that -- it's a big slumber party/hackathon for girls/nonbinary (college, HS & MS). My other DD has never loved coding but loves this (chocolate fountain and swag)! If yours likes coding, seek out fun opps like this.

This sounds great!

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for those who offered suggestions. There are so many suggestions here I didn't know about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a joke? Literally a million things .

OP here, I assure you not a joke. So I had no idea CS didn't involve science. I assumed anything under "college of engineering" would be heavy in the sciences. When I think engineer, I think science. When we looked at colleges to get a sense of what courses she would need, all the colleges we looked at required 4 years of science with 3 years lab work to even apply to the school of engineering so again, I thought CS = science. Science is in the name. Maybe I don't appreciate what science is. Will she not have to take physics and intro to EE as a CS major? Circuits = science to me.

Most competitive colleges expect to see science every year, even if not applying to the engineering school. High school Students generally should be taking biology, chemistry, physics ( those all count as lab sciences)+ a 4th year that could be a different science elective, e.g. earth science, astronomy, or a higher level of one of the lab sciences. I mentioned above that my math-loving son hated science. He took the basic bio/chem/physics and then astronomy.

I think CS is in engineering in most schools but not all. Definitely strong physics + math is needed for engineering schools. But many of the other programs mentioned in this thread are not in the engineering school. Still, if the college has general education requirements they probably can not get through college without a science class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a joke? Literally a million things .

OP here, I assure you not a joke. So I had no idea CS didn't involve science. I assumed anything under "college of engineering" would be heavy in the sciences. When I think engineer, I think science. When we looked at colleges to get a sense of what courses she would need, all the colleges we looked at required 4 years of science with 3 years lab work to even apply to the school of engineering so again, I thought CS = science. Science is in the name. Maybe I don't appreciate what science is. Will she not have to take physics and intro to EE as a CS major? Circuits = science to me.

Most competitive colleges expect to see science every year, even if not applying to the engineering school. High school Students generally should be taking biology, chemistry, physics ( those all count as lab sciences)+ a 4th year that could be a different science elective, e.g. earth science, astronomy, or a higher level of one of the lab sciences. I mentioned above that my math-loving son hated science. He took the basic bio/chem/physics and then astronomy.

I think CS is in engineering in most schools but not all. Definitely strong physics + math is needed for engineering schools. But many of the other programs mentioned in this thread are not in the engineering school. Still, if the college has general education requirements they probably can not get through college without a science class.

This. For high school, regardless of major your should be planning to take all the core classes every year, even if you don't particularly like them. And, you may find you do like something you hadn't been exposed to, or is taught differently than it was in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I majored in math. No science involved. She could double major in computer science. The two go together nicely.

Didn't you have to have some science for your major?

I majored in statistics. 2 semesters of either engineering chemistry or engineering physics required for the degree. I took the chem route. I also needed at least 1 other science course. I took meteorology (kinda helpful, quite honestly).

The CS majors at my alma mater needed both engineering chem & physics, as I recall.

[Anonymous]

I mean what does she not like about science? For me, I learned I didn’t like that science is all about finding out things you don’t know whereas engineering is all about building new things (which usefully you do know because you built them). I’m a computer scientist — it’s pretty much all math and engineering when you come right down to it, and you usually only need to do one class involving circuits to get through a CS college major.

That being said, yeah, your DD is probably stuck talking science all through high school. She’d need to do that for almost any college major. Hopefully she’ll find differentiated HS science more interesting than her middle school curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a joke? Literally a million things .

OP here, I assure you not a joke. So I had no idea CS didn't involve science. I assumed anything under "college of engineering" would be heavy in the sciences. When I think engineer, I think science. When we looked at colleges to get a sense of what courses she would need, all the colleges we looked at required 4 years of science with 3 years lab work to even apply to the school of engineering so again, I thought CS = science. Science is in the name. Maybe I don't appreciate what science is. Will she not have to take physics and intro to EE as a CS major? Circuits = science to me.

Every college for every major is going to expect to see four years of high school science ... and math, and english, and history, and foreign language, and some fine arts. That doesn't leave a lot of room for electives related to a future, potential college major, so don't sweat it. My DC took one CS class in high school, the only one offered, and is majoring in CS in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math, computer science, information systems, business, finance, statistics

This.

Plus, cybersecurity.

PS - actuaries make a ton of money. I’m talking live in a mansion and retire as a super-millionaire at 50 money.

Um, no. Some do, but that's far from universal. The ones working for state or federal government probably don't even cross $200K threshold. I mean, they are all making 6 digits professional incomes, it's far from poverty, but not routinely super-millionaires either.

An actuary with 25+ years of experience in a private company.

[Anonymous]

Also, she might like science better when it gets better in high school. Physics is a lot of math, for example, and they don't teach that in middle school. Doesn't have to decide yet.

[Anonymous]

BACS

[Anonymous]

Be careful — AI will be erasing so many math-related careers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this a joke? Literally a million things .

OP here, I assure you not a joke. So I had no idea CS didn't involve science. I assumed anything under "college of engineering" would be heavy in the sciences. When I think engineer, I think science. When we looked at colleges to get a sense of what courses she would need, all the colleges we looked at required 4 years of science with 3 years lab work to even apply to the school of engineering so again, I thought CS = science. Science is in the name. Maybe I don't appreciate what science is. Will she not have to take physics and intro to EE as a CS major? Circuits = science to me.

but your kid should know...look at the requirements for majors!!!