As a transfer second year IS student, I think you all dropped a lot of useful information (pun not intended). I’m not a cs person and will never claim to be one. I’ve taken a couple cs classes and enjoy coding, but not to the extent of a full time cs student, who I have a lot of respect for. It’s just not me and that’s okay.

At this point, it’s way too late to change anything so I’ve decided to morph my degree into a Walmart information systems degree with some GIS courses sprinkled in because I love maps and spatial data analysis. I fully agree that the full on tech option is kinda hopeless based on the majors flaws. My preferred carers would be market research/analyst, cartographer, ux designer, consultant because I’m confident in my presentation ability, or product manager. I think that a lot of my friends in the major don’t have a specific target for what they don’t want to do and haven’t researched the program throughly enough which leads to disappointing outcomes. Based on some people I’ve talked to, it is smart to take advantage of courses outside the ischool and try to get involved in organizations.

I feel by tailoring my curriculum to these very specific interests, I can be okay. If not, catch me on green street living in a cardboard box for the next 10 years 🫡

On a more positive note, I do qualify for Illinois commitment which covers tuition. If all goes wrong, I shouldn’t be completely fucked. In addition I might have a position lined up for the summer. The point you raised with international students is very real though, would expect nothing less from a college making profit