>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.
Was pursuing the MS worth it in your opinion after your bachelors? I hear that its something that is not truly necessary, but I want your opinion on it
No.
I did an accelerated BS/MS program so it was only one extra year and was cheap. I mainly did it because I liked school.
But the impact on your income and career is practically nothing. At the company I started at it meant a $10k boost in initial salary but after raises, promotions, and new jobs, the impact on salary is nothing and any initial higher earnings never makes up for the lost salary you could have made while you were pursuing the masters. And nobody cares about it on your resume after your first job either.
If you already have a BS in CS, the only reason for doing a MS is because you enjoy it and it is worth the time and money for you personally. If you have a BS in something else it could be worth it in terms of career but you can usually get your first job in this field with any degree as long as you have taken one or two CS courses along with it, and after your first job, few people care if you don't have a CS degree.
if it's within your economical reach, not a bad idea.
Anything devoid of feelings is good to know, in the end.
Went to Ohio State and got a marginally related degree to CS, got a coding job with 75k starting salary. If you can, see if they offer CIS or something like that since you have 90% of the same job prospects as CS majors but might not need as many classes.
I studied mechanical engineering at Purdue but now I’m back in school for CS. Starting up data structures and computer architecture this coming semester. I’ve gotten A’s in every CS so far. Idk if I’ll get the degree or quit and find a job later on.
CS BS here. I did that. Things got a lot easier when I finished all the non-CS stuff. Been breezing though just CS classes for a few semesters now, just one left. It's less homework than math and even some gen-ed classes.
Don't go for wage slave jobs and actually be intuitive enough to use your job for your OWN gain.
Anybody going to college to get a job is retarded. The point of college is to educate you enough to start your own business making profit for YOU. Working for somebody else is specifically making profit for them and you're never paid enough for your skillset.
Start a small chemistry company doing something you like, or do the 2 years in something else complementary so your skills can be applied easier OR make friends in other fields and work from there.
why not move to chemical engineering?
you need a phd in chem to even have a hope for getting a chem job. even then, everyone and their mother have a phd in chem and theres no jobs
>In other words, Is a bachelors in CS effectively equivalent to a masters in CS?
wtf why would you think so
>take 2 extra years
Get a Master's degree then, faggot.
2 years is a long time. Hiring managers don't care that you have a BS in Chemistry. They only care if you have a 4 year degree.
Does your alma mater also have a CS minor you can get along with your Physics minor? I would check that out or, as someone else mentioned, go for a MS in Chemistry. You could also see if there are some work-study opportunities at your school's computer center.
There is at least one Expert Systems program that has earned a PhD in Chemistry in the field of mass spectrometer data analysis. How good are you in mass spectrometer data analysis?
>Hiring managers don't care that you have a BS in Chemistry. They only care if you have a 4 year degree.
This was good advice 20 years ago. Hiring managers absolutely care about your degree type.
Actually, when I applied for a job in June, this is exactly how it was. I applied to a few research positions in the private/corporate sector with a BS in Physics. All the hiring managers seemed to care about was that I had some sort of STEM degree and I wasn't a complete retard in the interviews. GPA and athletics (team captain) unironically did help. Experiences may vary, but it didn't seem like corporations expect all that much out of applicants straight out of college. They all just wanted someone trainable, who they could rely on to eventually replace the older, more expensive workers.
Most of the developers I worked with did not have cs degrees. Instead of wasting your time and money, spend a year continuing with Chem if you must stay in school and learn cs on your own.
UW Madison is a really good place for a CS degree. Dude just do it.
It's generally a good idea, but you might also be interested in computational chemistry, bioinformatics, or computational biology. Look them up and think before choosing.
www.teachyourselfcs.com
You already have the scientific background, so might as well get an Information Systems degree instead of Computer Science and avoid the overlap.
Why do people major in one degree and then all the sudden decide to major in another? "hurr durr i liek cumputerz im gud at coomputerz durr" if you haven't been programming since your since teens you don't belong in Computer Science.
>CS = programming
By this logic civil engineers should have been wiping floors since they were born.
cool for outing yourself as a wagie, dumbass.
the adults here are talking about careers
Fake and gay.
There is no training whatsoever.
There is no research without a PhD, period.
Just do a Master's program after you get your chem degree and focus on computational fields. Don't waste any of the time or money you've already invested.
>>need help from experts
>>Jow Forums
>Why do people major in one degree and then all the sudden decide to major in another?
Because they discover that their obsession is in a different subject to what they thought it was.
>Does anyone think this is a bad idea?
Most chemists aren't great programmers. Aim for being a computational chemist (mix of chemistry and CS) and be prepared to move to where the jobs are, but they do exist.
Computer Science does teach programming I think the wrong assumption people get is that it is ENTIRELY programming, but that's false because you have to learn Calculus and a bunch of other math related shit. At least in my college we do.
Programming is a tool necessary for computer science. Learning programming in CS is just an artifact, just like learning to use a microscope in biology. It is, believe it or not, perfectly possible to have a real CS job that involves 0 programming exactly like it is possible to have a real biology job that involves 0 microscope use.
Just start a clandestine chemistry lab
t. highschooler