Stanford's Most Popular Major Is Now Computer Science • Hacker News Board

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

#21

Post by rasmusrygaard » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 2:44 AM UTC

vlad wrote: 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.

I'm a current student, and I believe that a major reason behind the skyrocketing enrollments in CS is that the introductory classes are immensely popular and well-organized (disclosure: I TA a couple of those classes). There seems to be an idea in a lot of the other engineering departments that you have to suffer through the introductory classes in order to get to the interesting topics. The Stanford CS classes give people interesting challenges while covering a lot of the basics of CS. Of course there's still a long way to go after that, but it's a start. The second half of the introductory series is pretty rigorous, too, and I've seen at least a handful of interview questions I've been asked pop up in that class.

I don't know how many people were inspired by the iOS class, but it doesn't seem to be super popular on campus. I do know a fair amount of people (myself included) who had never programmed before Stanford and were simply motivated to keep going after the introductory sequence. There's definitely a snowball effect, but it wouldn't happen without a great curriculum.

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

#22

Post by benigeri » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 2:49 AM UTC

hexagonal wrote: post #14

aristidb wrote: post #2

Bubble?

Bubble. No way are all those kids going to be real programmers.

Or so you think...

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

#23

Post by abi » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 2:54 AM UTC

samstave wrote: post #19

What was the most popular prior?

HumBio (Human Biology) for quite a few years and I think before that, it was either International Relations or Economics. HumBio is really popular because of pre-meds and other people who want to get into bio-related jobs/grad programs.

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

#24

Post by sopooneo » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 3:10 AM UTC

SafeSituation wrote: post #9

rodly wrote: 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.

What is an OR major please? Google didn't help.

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

#25

Post by ayla » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 3:18 AM UTC

sopooneo wrote: post #24

SafeSituation wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What is an OR major please? Google didn't help.

I don't know about Stanford, but in several other schools, it stands for Operations Research.

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

#26

Post by suresk » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 3:24 AM UTC

I cringe a little bit in some of these education threads. On one hand, students who chose to major in something that isn't very marketable right now are lambasted for making a poor decision based on what sounds interesting to them, and they get blame heaped on them for being in debt and having nothing to show for it. On the other hand, when people choose CS - a field that has very good earning prospects right now - their intentions are immediately questioned and we ask "Are they just doing it for the money?"

It must kind of suck to be someone entering college right now without natural interest for and aptitude in a STEM field.

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

#27

Post by catch23 » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 3:25 AM UTC

aristidb wrote: post #2

Bubble?

This happened during the first bubble. Everyone became CS majors when companies started giving away cars if you knew Java. I remember helping out psychology majors switching to computer science, who were failing their first CS class.

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

#28

Post by svsaraf » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 3:26 AM UTC

Recent Stanford alum here. I think it's difficult to parse out exactly why CS is becoming popular at Stanford now.

I would argue that the principal reason for the popularity of CS is because of the amazing teaching in the introductory courses, not the recent tech acquisitions or news coming from Silicon Valley.

Very few departments at Stanford put in the kind of effort to bring students along that I've seen in computer science (most prominently, the use of an army of qualified undegraduate students to serve as TAs for the introductory courses). Almost every engineering student I know has taken an intro CS course, and an easy majority of everyone else has at least attempted to do so as well. They're fun, easy, and accessible.

I would be interested to see the same sort of effort put into say, introductory physics or chemistry. The now-second most popular major, Human Biology, also represents a very big effort to reach out to students.

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

#29

Post by Heinleinian » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 3:40 AM UTC

I'm amazed there could be negative reaction to this. Just think of it this way: every year there are literally armies of smart young people, who are fully capable of being top-notch programmers or engineers, who graduate and become lawyers or go to wall street. Many of them spend their time on things that add _negative value_ for the economy. Every single one of those people who goes into engineering is an entire career that helps the US economy instead of hurting it.

(Note: if you like, read "western capitalist democracy economies" instead of "US economy").

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

#30

Post by basugasubaku » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 3:40 AM UTC

guelo wrote: post #17

The funny thing is most of those kids probably just want to learn how to make iphone apps and pretty websites but before they realize it they're stuck figuring out sorting algorithms and regex theory.

At Stanford, you don't declare your major until your 2nd or 3rd year, and can change it after declaring. Students declaring CS will have already taken a number of CS courses, including the fundamentals of CS.