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Stanford's Most Popular Major Is Now Computer Science

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Re: Stanford's Most Popular Major Is Now Computer Science

#3
It would be interesting to know how many applicants got interested in Computer Science from watching Stanford's excellent iOS courses on iTunesU.

Additionally, it would be interesting to learn how many students declare Computer Science before they enroll and how many students switch into Computer Science because "all their friends are doing it" now that it's the most popular major.

Re: Stanford's Most Popular Major Is Now Computer Science

#4
post #3

It would be interesting to know how many applicants got interested in Computer Science from watching Stanford's excellent iOS courses on iTunesU. Additionally, it would be interesting to learn how many students declare Computer Science before they enroll and how many students switch into Computer Science because "all their friends are doing it" now that it's the most popular major.

Or how many people went into CS after seeing The Social Network.

vvv - luckily programming polices itself. Those who are not seriously motivated will unlikely survive a serious CS gauntlet.

Re: Stanford's Most Popular Major Is Now Computer Science

#5
post #3

It would be interesting to know how many applicants got interested in Computer Science from watching Stanford's excellent iOS courses on iTunesU. Additionally, it would be interesting to learn how many students declare Computer Science before they enroll and how many students switch into Computer Science because "all their friends are doing it" now that it's the most popular major.

Or how many people went into CS after seeing The Social Network. vvv - luckily programming polices itself. Those who are not seriously motivated will unlikely survive a serious CS gauntlet.

shudder

This is a caveat of trying to popularize programming.

Sometimes I wish it was still purely for 'nerds'.

Re: Stanford's Most Popular Major Is Now Computer Science

#6
"... the new focus on X, for the moment, suggests how much faith we’re putting — for our careers and our overall future — in the Y world. ..."

Replace X with engineering or book binding and Y with steam powered or printing and it looks similar to other eras of technological growth.

Re: Stanford's Most Popular Major Is Now Computer Science

#8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or how many people went into CS after seeing The Social Network. vvv - luckily programming polices itself. Those who are not seriously motivated will unlikely survive a serious CS gauntlet.

shudder This is a caveat of trying to popularize programming. Sometimes I wish it was still purely for 'nerds'.

Why should you care why people got interested in computer science? As long as they're capable of doing it (and if they graduate from a place like Stanford, they probably will be) why should you care about their motivation?

I personally think anything that makes more people interested in technology is "a good thing".

Re: Stanford's Most Popular Major Is Now Computer Science

#9
post #7

What are the implications of this popularity for us non-Ivey league current Computer Science majors?

I would say that the only difference that you have to overcome is the tight-knit community of alums. As a CS/OR major from a Top 4 school, I haven't ever gotten an internship offer simply because I was at the school I'm at. Stanford especially is good at fostering connections in the startup community for their students, but Princeton has NY and Harvard has Boston.

Re: Stanford's Most Popular Major Is Now Computer Science

#10
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

shudder This is a caveat of trying to popularize programming. Sometimes I wish it was still purely for 'nerds'.

Why should you care why people got interested in computer science? As long as they're capable of doing it (and if they graduate from a place like Stanford, they probably will be) why should you care about their motivation? I personally think anything that makes more people interested in technology is "a good thing".

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