>Go to UW Madison for 4 years, for a degree in chemistry
>Currently in senior year.
>Realize Chemistry BS job prospects are ass
>Decide to take 2 extra years to get a degree in computer science from the same school
Does anyone think this is a bad idea? Any other computer science majors here?
Why not just go for a masters in chem?
Even a masters in chem has pretty bleak job prospects with poor room for growth. A chemistry Phd takes years to get and youll make close to 100k, but a bachelors in computer science will have you making that with less work and with higher potential prospective salary.
How would you get a degree in only 2 years? I suggest you just go try to get a job with what you have. If you want to be a programmer you don't need a computer science degree to do that.
I checked my schedule, and i could finish all the requirements in 2 years in a reasonable schedule. I failed to mention this before, but I completed all my math requirements because I am also a physics minor. Are you a computer science major?
Not the guy you're responding to, but I have a friend that transitioned from biology to CS with great success.
However, seeing that you're in your senior year and have already gone to uni for 4 years, I'd say you're probably better off staying on course and then getting some programming/IT certifications afterwards.
Sometimes it's possible to get into master's programmes even though your bachelor's was in something else, go ask a student councillor or something if you can take some extra courses in order to get accepted into a CS master's program.
Hey. Thanks for your help. If I happen to notice that the masters program also takes 1-2 years (not including requirements needed to apply), and I would most likely have to leave the state of Wisconsin for it (I am a resident), Would the bachelors be equivalent to the masters for CS?
In other words, Is a bachelors in CS effectively equivalent to a masters in CS?
No
BS/MS in CS here.
A big problem you are going to have is that since you presumably have all of your non-CS requirements knocked out, you will be taking semesters where your entire course-load is CS courses. This will be an insane amount of work and cause burnout even to someone who excels at CS and loves it. Since it isn't even your first choice it is clearly not the subject you are most passionate about, which tells me you will have it even rougher.
I don't know what your background with CS is, but if at all possible, I would try really hard over the next semester to try to get a software developer job with the chem degree. Once you have a year or two of experience nobody will care about your degree. Interviews for software developers out of college tend to not really require much knowledge beyond CS1 or CS2 although you will want to do a lot of practice on leetcode.