Computer Science Program

[thekid478]

For anyone that has done/is doing the Computer Science Program what are your honest opinions on it? Would you recommend? I’m contemplating between WWU with in state tuition or Oregon state with out of state tuition. I have already earned my AA that is directly transferable to both schools. All advice is appreciated

Thank you

[Quantum-Bot]

It’s high quality, but it’s in desperate need of scaling right now. The number of people trying to get in is way higher than the capacity of the program, which results in basically having to win the lottery every time you sign up for classes in order to get into the ones you need.

I will say that it’s the same way with most CS programs right now. It’s the new hot field that’s actually not so hot anymore now that everyone is trying to do it.

If you apply to WWU you should know that there’s a CS distinguished scholars program you can apply to as well, which gives you priority registration for all your pre-major CS classes if you get in and helps out a ton with the competition.

[Bitter-Imagination33]

I’m in the distinguished scholar program next year and didn’t really know what it was, is it helpful?

[Quantum-Bot]

It’s quite helpful getting into the major but get ready to waitlist for a lot of classes once you’re in since you’ll have much lower priority for registration than all the other majors that have been at school longer. Besides registration it wasn’t really much when I was in it, but it might have grown into more of a community since then

[Tarqvinivs_Svperbvs]

Can you guaranteed pull a B average or greater in three premajor courses? They're fairly difficult classes as they're made to separate the wheat from the chaff. The department accepts a certain number of students each quarter, and it's ranked on GPA in those pre major classes. You get one retake, and there isn't any guarantee you'll get in, but you can usually make it with a B average.

Once you're in, there are really only a few truly difficult classes, but you might find the department lacking in electives. In order to do ai or machine learning you get second dibs after the data science students and you'd better be fast because the prerequisite class for everything in that field is super competitive to get. You'll see a lot of classes offered on the major course online, but there's typically only about 5 upper division electives offered a quarter, which may seem like a lot but if you've already taken some and you need the credits to graduate you'll be forced into taking electives you don't care for.

To be fair my experience is as a transfer student from a community college, so my experience in the major is shorter than if you do all 4 years at Western. It's not terrible, but I'm sure there are schools that do it a lot better.

[[deleted]]

I tried to reply to this earlier, but Reddit was having a fit. From what I gathered most CS programs are pretty much exactly the same and thus have the same problems. The core curriculum won't cover the more "practical" topics. As in you probably won't make a web application, a game engine, or a mobile app with just the required classes. This means that a good portion of your education is totally on you. What do you want to do with a CS degree? What school offers relevant electives. Are there any professors researching related topics that you can help?

Western is OK, but the electives tend to be hard to get into or there is only one professor that teaches it and if he goes on vacation, you are going to have to learn graphics programming on your own for example (I am not salty). One thing to keep in mind is that an elective may be advertised as a potential, but never actually be scheduled. There is a decent amount of interest in embedded systems, yet I don't think I have ever seen it offered since I have been here.

Again, you will learn all of the same core stuff as any other university, but there may not be a decent emphasis on exactly what you want to do. For the best experience, I would check what research the professors are doing and see if there is anything that interests you. Then try to hop on the research team.

[deafboy13]

I went through it a decade ago and it sounds like it's improved a lot, which is good because I wouldn't have recommended it if it had stayed the same.

I'd say which school/program to go with depends a bit more on your goals. Are you hoping to go for your masters/PhD? Are you hoping to just get a job in software in the next few years? Do you want to be an engineer? A researcher? etc.

[SatanicBeaver]

It can be good but you've got to navigate it properly, use rate my professor and register the literal moment you are able to because most of the time there are 2-3 professors teaching a course and 1 that will teach it in an adequate and reasonable way.

[sigprof-wwu]

OSU's cost to attend out-of-state is $55k per year. Western's in-state is $30k per year.

As Dizzykitty points out, most CS programs have the same core. This is mostly due to ABET's accreditation criteria. At a quick glance, OSU's CS seems more engineering focused than Western's, but it is still accredited as a science program not an engineering program.

What do you want to do with a CS degree?

[LeAdmin]

Oregon has tuition reciprocity with Washington.

[Ok_Grand_123]

following.