UMD Cuts Computer Science Class by 50%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also looking ahead, other than UMBC, does anyone have any CS school suggestions for a current underclassman that will likely have a 3.8 UW GPA and mid 1400 SAT.

DS #1 choice is UMD CS. He did also apply to UMBC. Peer schools applied to: VT, Penn State, NC State. Stretches applied to: UNC, GT. Planning a few privates Jan. RD. (Central MD public, 1550, 4.0 UW, APs, solid ECs). Within 6 hours of DC with that profile you can also find decent CS programs at UDel, a couple of the SUNYs, Ohio State, Purdue (similar to UMD, very hard to get into CS), Rutgers, Indiana. and many on DCUM are bullish on GM.

We went into the process in Sept. feeling pretty good about UMD. Even if direct admit was a shakier prosect, that wasn't an issue because it wasn't hard to transfer in. Now there is a possibility of not getting the direct admit and having to look at one of his other (much more expensive) options. Anyway, fingers crossed it will all work out.

There are also private options of course, but I was focused on the less expensive state schools. The larger private programs like RIT or WPI are likely higher cost even with some merit, than out of state schools.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get it, don’t we need more CS majors, not fewer? Why would a state not be trying to graduate as many competent cs majors as possible? I get not admitting people who can’t hack it, but shouldn’t anyone with the grades and test scores who wants to try be given a chance? This seems incredibly short-sighted for the economy of the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it, don’t we need more CS majors, not fewer? Why would a state not be trying to graduate as many competent cs majors as possible? I get not admitting people who can’t hack it, but shouldn’t anyone with the grades and test scores who wants to try be given a chance? This seems incredibly short-sighted for the economy of the state.

They're prioritizing quality over quantity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U can still take the core CS classes ..just not graduate as a CS major. Employers care about which classes you took and do you know your stuff

Do college grads put down what classes they took in college on their resumes? That's new. I don't think I did that. I just put my degree, GPA and experience.

Yes they do. I interview engineers and CS grads. Many put down course names like algorithms etc. its helpful.

I don't care what your major is. I'm looking at your experience. Most new grads don't have a lot of work experience outside of internships so they detail about the projects they've worked on. The project could have been either as an intern at a company or as school assignment. When I interview you and I talk to you specifically about what YOU did on the project, I can figure out if you have the knowledge and experience that I'm looking for.

I don't care about how you pick your employees.

Different poster. You don’t seem like the sharpest tool in the shed.

+1

DP here. Many employers expect transcripts as a condition of employment. I am shocked that more people do not realize this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U can still take the core CS classes ..just not graduate as a CS major. Employers care about which classes you took and do you know your stuff

Do college grads put down what classes they took in college on their resumes? That's new. I don't think I did that. I just put my degree, GPA and experience.

Yes they do. I interview engineers and CS grads. Many put down course names like algorithms etc. its helpful.

I don't care what your major is. I'm looking at your experience. Most new grads don't have a lot of work experience outside of internships so they detail about the projects they've worked on. The project could have been either as an intern at a company or as school assignment. When I interview you and I talk to you specifically about what YOU did on the project, I can figure out if you have the knowledge and experience that I'm looking for.

I don't care about how you pick your employees.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CS majors and classes are enot important for the high paying jobs the unwashed masses are clamoring for. It's not a big deal. programming is the easiest skill to learn for free on the Internet.

CS is not just about programming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it, don’t we need more CS majors, not fewer? Why would a state not be trying to graduate as many competent cs majors as possible? I get not admitting people who can’t hack it, but shouldn’t anyone with the grades and test scores who wants to try be given a chance? This seems incredibly short-sighted for the economy of the state.

Why don't Harvard and MIT accept 100,000 students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it, don’t we need more CS majors, not fewer? Why would a state not be trying to graduate as many competent cs majors as possible? I get not admitting people who can’t hack it, but shouldn’t anyone with the grades and test scores who wants to try be given a chance? This seems incredibly short-sighted for the economy of the state.

They're prioritizing quality over quantity.

No they aren't. They are a large bureaucracy with no interest in meeting the needs of their customers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U can still take the core CS classes ..just not graduate as a CS major. Employers care about which classes you took and do you know your stuff

Do college grads put down what classes they took in college on their resumes? That's new. I don't think I did that. I just put my degree, GPA and experience.

I put the languages that I could program in and the skills I have in networking and certifications I had.

Right, that I can see, but I don't think "taking a java class" on the resume is really that useful.

If you're a Data Science major, I don't care if you took a class on Java because that only tells me you know enough to pass that one class. That doesn't mean much.

It's very hard for non majors to get into a class for an impacted major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:U can still take the core CS classes ..just not graduate as a CS major. Employers care about which classes you took and do you know your stuff

If you want to be a CS major, it is better to go somewhere you can actually major in what you want. Go to UMBC if you need in-state, or find a private college that offers good merit where you can major in CS (no direct admit).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's one way to prop up unpopular majors. You can be a math or physics major and take enough CS classes to be indistinguishable from a CS major

But if I want to be a CS major, I may not want a full on Math degree or Physics degree. Why torture yourself with that if CS is what you want? Find a school that will let you major in CS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it, don’t we need more CS majors, not fewer? Why would a state not be trying to graduate as many competent cs majors as possible? I get not admitting people who can’t hack it, but shouldn’t anyone with the grades and test scores who wants to try be given a chance? This seems incredibly short-sighted for the economy of the state.

They're prioritizing quality over quantity.

+1 If they want to keep the class sizes to a manageable degree, they're going to have to cull the weakest.

I'm thinking maybe they have seen too many students struggle in CS. They've also upped the GPA requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U can still take the core CS classes ..just not graduate as a CS major. Employers care about which classes you took and do you know your stuff

If you want to be a CS major, it is better to go somewhere you can actually major in what you want. Go to UMBC if you need in-state, or find a private college that offers good merit where you can major in CS (no direct admit).

+1 this might up UMBC's desirability, which is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did they explain why they are doing this?

Guessing because they don't have the professors/space to teach more students.

So those saying "just major in something else and take CS courses" I don't think that will be possible. They are likely going to limit the courses to those in the Major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it, don’t we need more CS majors, not fewer? Why would a state not be trying to graduate as many competent cs majors as possible? I get not admitting people who can’t hack it, but shouldn’t anyone with the grades and test scores who wants to try be given a chance? This seems incredibly short-sighted for the economy of the state.

They don’t have the professors. None of the schools do. There was just a big article about Pomona basically cutting its CS major because it can’t staff the department in California. Not enough people got CS degrees decades ago and I think most universities want phds which aren’t that common for CS folks. I think the immigration debacle of the last few years is also playing into this, but not sure—-from what people tell me, the CS majors from other countries aren’t that great as far as the higher skillsets.