Undergraduate Admissions

The department does not require admissions into our programs - any student admitted to Indiana State can declare a major or minor within our department. For information on applying to Indiana State, see the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Should you Major in Computer Science

If you are beginning your college career or considering changing careers, you may not be certain whether Computer Science is right for you. Here are some links to pages to look at to try to get a better idea.

• Computing Careers, ACM
• Why Major in Computer Science, Princeton
• Why Computer Science is Awesome, Stanford
• Computer Science, Wikipedia
• Code.org
• Job Statistics on Computer Science
• Search google, bing, etc. for "why major in computer science", or "should I major in compute science"
• Talk to someone with a similar background to you that has majored in computer science. If you are in high school, ask a councilor if they can put in touch who someone who came from your high school recently and majored in computer science.

If you come to ISU, the CS major starts with either ECT 130 or the first programming course, CS 151 Introduction to Programming. Most people have a pretty good idea whether Computer Science is right for them after taking CS 151. Some students still are not sure, and are only certain after taking the next course in the CS major, CS 201 Programming Structures.

Advice

3 types of universities - large public research university (e.g., IU, Purdue), small private college/university (e.g., Butler, RHIT, Depauw), regional medium size state university (e.g., ISU, Ball State). They all have strengths and weaknesses. You should visit all 3 types when considering where to attend. You should try to choose where you will have the greatest chance of thriving.

Working while at university - 10 hours per week is good, 30 hours per week is too much for most people. If you don't have enough time for your courses because of your job and the rest of your life, you won't be as prepared as you should be to apply for jobs when you graduate.

The most important thing - when interviewing for jobs in CS, in general the most important thing is what you know and what you can do. There is no way to fake that. If a good programmer is interviewing you, they will figure out what you can do. It works out best for you if you are really interested in the challenge of programming and during your courses patiently spend endless hours figuring things out. (Note - it does also matter whether you act professionally - in your courses, in your job, during the interview process, etc. Keep in mind that every teacher you have and every supervisor you have is potentially someone you will ask to give a letter of reference for you at some point.)

Your major - have more than one in mind when you start university. Make sure you take the "first course in the major" for at least two majors, so that you won't be behind if you need to switch. For CS, it's tough to know if you really want to do it until you've done your first challenging programming course.

The most important thing - whatever major you end up in, the courses in the major are the most important thing you do at university. If you are a CS major at ISU, then CS 151, 201, 202, 303 are the most important thing when you are taking them. It's better to get A's in your major and C's in everything else than to get B's in everything. (At least for CS, it is; of course it's better to just get A's in everything, but not everyone can do that.)