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We're glad that you're interested in Spelman College and in our Computer Science department. The first thing you should know is that you don't have to do anything special (before coming to Spelman) in order to major in Computer Science. There's more information here. Just Looking? Spend some time surfing around our web pages, to get an idea of what our department is about. We have pages describing the requirements of the major and pages with course descriptions and possible course sequences. You'll find all that under the Academics link, here and in the navigation area (usually to the left). You can also find out about our faculty. If you feel lost, you can check out the navigation page, here and in the navigation area. Admission Requirements The Computer Science department has no admissions requirement that is separate from admission to Spelman College. Any Spelman student may major in Computer Science. If you are a Spelman student and would like to major or minor in Computer Science, you should start by taking CIS 121, "Computer Science I." If you are interested in applying to Spelman College, you should contact the Admissions Office. They have a web page, which includes lots of helpful information, including requirements, forms to download, and their phone number, address and email address. Why Major in Computer Science? Surely each student has her own set of reasons for majoring in Computer Science. Here are some of the reasons you might consider: An exciting career: Few fields have developed as rapidly as computer science has in the last fifty years. Computers have gone from million-dollar, multi-ton behemoths, used only for projects such as calculating artillery tables and census figures, to processors so small and cheap that they are put in watches, cameras, and microwave ovens. There has been an explosion of innovation that continues today, as new uses are found for computing and communications. The computer is the most powerful, flexible tool that humanity has ever invented, one whose potential seems unlimited. A major in computer science prepares you to be a part of this exciting and challenging field, contributing to practical, useful technology that will make life better. Cutting-edge Research: Some students decide to pursue graduate work in computer science, obtaining master's degrees or even doctorates, and contributing new ideas and knowledge to the world. A major in computer science prepares you to be competitive in the applicant pool for computer science graduate schools. It's cool: Lots of computer science is fun, whether learning how things work, or making computers do new tricks. It's all well and good to feel that you are working on something that is useful and important, but if you don't enjoy the process, you'll devote as little time as you can to it. Whatever you study, learning should be fun. A good job:The computing field generally pays graduates pretty well, and almost all of our graduates have landed a job by the time they graduate. Money is not the only thing in life, nor the most important, but it not unimportant. However, students who major in computer science just for the money typically find that they do badly and may not be able to keep up the work, because interest and drive are lacking. Your parents told you to: Often because of the good job prospects, parents will pressure students into majoring in computer science, even if the student's interests lie elsewhere. Here, the motivation is even less than if the student is interested in the money. We think that college is too interesting, too important and too expensive to waste those years doing something that is personally boring and meaningless, so we urge every student to pursue her own interests, whether that be programming or political science. What is the Computer Science Major About? Many students come to the computer science major with no idea what it is about, or perhaps with misconceptions. Many students have worked with personal computers at home or in school, using them to write papers, play games, or send email. If they are good using computers, they sometimes think they would be good computer science majors, but this is like assuming that, if you can drive a car well, you would be a good engineer or mechanic. That's because computer science is about building the tools that people use: building word processing programs, games or email. Actually, we don't focus on implementing word processors, games or email programs in the major. Instead, we concentrate on the fundamentals of how programs work. How is text represented and manipulated? How can we interact with the user? How can we save information in files or send it across networks to cooperating programs? How is graphics done? How do microprocessors work? How do we make programs reliable and efficient? With these questions answered, a computer science major is prepared to write programs to make a computer do whatever she wants, including things that no one has thought of before. The computer science major does include a fair amount of math. Mathematical skills are necessary for analyzing the correctness and efficiency of programs, not to mention solving specific problems in computer graphics and numerical analysis. The major also includes a great deal of programming, since how computer scientists get machines to do their tricks, as welll as how we communicate our ideas to others. Should I Major in Computer Science? Obviously, we cannot answer that for you. However, if you're interested, or even think you're interested, we encourage you to consider majoring in computer science. Start with taking CIS 121. If that course, despite its difficulty, is interesting to you, you've found the right major. If you're on the fence, stop by and talk to one or more of the professors during our office hours. Or send us an email. We are biased, of course, since we all think computer science is cool, but we'll be honest about what the major is about. What kind of Job or Career can I get? We have a special web page all about careers that our students get. Check to the left of this text or follow this link. Should I instead major in Management Information Science (MIS)? That depends on why you want to major in MIS. Many students considering MIS are primarily concerned with making sure they get a good job when they graduate. However, that's should not be worrisome in computing, particularly in the current job market. All of our computer science majors get good jobs. So, your primary question should be whether you're more interested in MIS than in CS. Studies in MIS focus on the use of technology in business systems, including accounting, databases, automating procedures, and the like. CS focuses on the underlying enabling technology, including how computers work and how to make them do new things. Spelman does not offer a degree in MIS, so if that's where your interest lies, you should look at other colleges and universities. We do offer a degree in CS, for those whose interest lies there. (We also offer a dual-degree engineering program for those interested in hardware and electronics; see below.) Students interested in both MIS and CS might decide to do a CS degree with a concentration in the databases and other MIS courses. Alternatively, you might major in another Spelman degree, such as Economics, and get a minor in Information Science. Should I pursue the dual-degree engineering major in Computer Science? The dual-degree engineering program consists of three years of CS classes at Spelman and two years of CS and engineering classes at Georgia Tech or one of our other affiliated engineering institutions. The courseload is heavier than usual throughout the five years, with overloads being very common. See our sample schedule. Because of the difficulty of the program, we think that only students who are especially motivated to pursue computer engineering should pursue this track. That means students who like to know how the low-level electronics works and who want to design new computer hardware. Note that you should not be concerned with whether you will get a job, only with the kind of job you'll get. All the computer engineers get jobs, and so do all the CS majors. It's just a question of what you want to study.