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/sci/ - Science & Math

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11028844 No.11028844 [Reply] [Original]

Should I major in CS or math? I really like both (math more).
How about getting a minor? what does /sci/ think?

>> No.11028850

just b urself

>> No.11028872

>>11028844
You shouldn’t listen to what this place thinks. It’s a race for brownie points on prestige. I double majored, and I honestly think that’s the best route if you’re interested in these two subjects. Math classes endow you with comfort around the form and bag of tricks. Having a really good pool of counterexamples is important in learning how to solve problems. CS is full of really interesting mathematics problems, pure or otherwise, but I feel the problem is that most of the meat of learning how to problem solve in a general way is cut out of undergrad into grad since CS is so wide and the audience asks for a professional degree like engineering.

In my experience, doing a double major in math and CS, with a heavy focus on TCS, is the way to go. There are so many complexity theorems out there that are the result of really clever constructions or staring at first principles - but the problem solving fundamentals are best found in a math department. At a sufficiently high level, both these departments research the same thing though. Also don’t skimp out on continuous math - it’s invaluable either because it has direct application or it analogizes very well. I didn’t think analysis would be so handy until I did grad CS

>> No.11028903

>>11028872
I'm considering double majoring (I forgot to mention that)
However, some people (online) have told me that double majoring will only allow you to get the bare minimum of both degrees and as a result, makes grad school much harder.
Is that true? I would love to know your opinion as you seem very knowlegable.

>You shouldn’t listen to what this place thinks.
Isn't that a paradox? haha

>> No.11028958

>>11028903
Double major sounds like gigantic waste of time and money. I'd recommend just majoring in math and learning the cs stuff on your own time, or doing cs masters. Check if your uni has technical clubs/groups/events (mine has one that does competitive programming problems, with a lecture from various professors, every week, as well as AI/ML club, etc)

I'm soon to graduate with math bs and have a software engineering job lined up.

>> No.11028970

>>11028958
>I'd recommend just majoring in math and learning the cs stuff on your own time

I've heard of this suggestion from different people before.

>Double major sounds like gigantic waste of time and money.

University is free in my country, so money is not an issue. You might be right about time though.

Thank you for your input

>> No.11029060

>B.S. in math
>Any job I want
>$100k starting

>> No.11029120

>PHD in Feminist Studies
>Any job I want
>2 million starting

>> No.11029325

>>11028844
Head towards applied statistics and you will essentially pick up useful skills in both subjects without having to waste your time double-majoring in a bunch of classes where you might use 25% of what you learn.

>> No.11029329

>>11028844
Just do CS or accounting. Evey company needs them.
Don't double major or minor. One major is difficult enough.
Obviously depends on the job market at your place.

>> No.11029360

I majored in math, learned how to code after college, work as a dev now.

The cs majors I've worked with don't know anything about the process and approach to building real programs after 4 years of college (US). They all learn that as junior devs or on their own too.

All the interviews I give with CS majors looking for a junior position go the same way. They nail it on data structures and algorithms but don't know anything about application architecture, SDLC, dev tools, etc... You know, the important shit.

If you want to get a job after college as a dev, you'll have to be able to write code well enough to answer some leetcode style questions though. Don't expect to get a job where you'll learn to code as you go. They all require at least some basic coding ability. But, if you understand the higher level/architectural stuff, you'll immediately stand out as an applicant.

Major in math, learn to code on your own. There's plenty of free knowledge out there

https://github.com/ossu/computer-science

>> No.11029363

>>11028844
BSc in math
PhD in theoretical CS
solve p = np
proceed to go down in history books as genius

>> No.11030303

>>11029120
Lol, not when you live in saudi arabia.
Maybe you'll study females in buisiness ;)

>> No.11030305

>>11029325
The math program at my university, involves a lot of statistics. So that's good to know

>> No.11030309

>>11029360
>Major in math, learn to code on your own
I'll probably go with this path.
From what I know self-studying CS is much easier than self-studying math.

>https://github.com/ossu/computer-science
Wow, this is really impressive! Thank you for sharing. I'll be sure to use it.

>> No.11030311

>>11029363
ETERNAL GLORYYYY!!!

>> No.11030414

>>11029060
delusional first year undergrad

>> No.11030772

>>11028958
>waste of time and money
Excuse me? The two programs went hand in hand at my school, i always had time for more research during the semester except my final year, and I took 4 years to graduate. I don’t know where the “double major is bad” meme came from in regards to math + another stem subject. Another friend I have does ECE and math as his double, and the ECE courses are his GPA boosters lol
It’s true that for industry it doesn’t help as much, but for anyone interested in research, such a program is invaluable. Also, graduating with a math BS definitely doesn’t line you up for the software job - at least, not the software jobs that make the field competitive. As a math bachelor’s, you have next to no applied knowledge on file compared to engineering and CS, and you’re really far away from the expertise of a PhD - it’s a really bad place to be in the market. Math is the strongest academic degree (it will literally carry you into your subject of choice with proper research background and motivation) but the weakest in terms of industrial employment out of the bachelor’s.

>> No.11031786

>>11028844
Both

>> No.11031790

>>11029060
>So B.S. means Bullshit in this case?

>> No.11032497

>>11028844
Just do both lol