Interested in Computer Science

[Oscurece]

Hi all,

I’m about to graduate with my bachelor’s in Biomedical Sciences, but I’m not very interested in going to grad school in healthcare. I’m thinking about switching to the field of computer science. While I don’t have any background in computer science, I spend a lot of time on the computer and think I could pick up the concepts quickly. One thing I’m worried about though, is that I don’t really consider myself a very creative person. I’m not good at coming up with ideas and such. I feel I am stronger with retaining information and applying it through analysis and decision making. Do you think this will hinder me in computer science? Can you guys give me some qualities that make for a good computer scientist?

Thank you for your time and input.

[finknottle]

This is too vague. You need to narrow things down. How many Math and/or CS courses have you taken? Do you have any programming experience ?

[Pauli]

I'd recommend that you do some research in finding a subfield of computer science that interests you to determine what would be a good fit. It's not apparent to many outside of CS, but CS is a very broad subject that can be as technical as computer architecture and robotics, as theoretical as computational theory and algorithms, as interdisciplinary as human-computer interaction and machine learning, etc. Narrowing down your possible CS interests will make it easier to pinpoint the range of programs that would be up your alley.

There's a lot of cool subtopics in CS, and it can be daunting to try to narrow down the possibilities, but it's definitely a valuable process in completing that first step.

[Oscurece]

The only math class I've taken in college is Statistics (got AP credit for Cal I/II). I don't have any programming background or experience.

I'd recommend that you do some research in finding a subfield of computer science that interests you to determine what would be a good fit. It's not apparent to many outside of CS, but CS is a very broad subject that can be as technical as computer architecture and robotics, as theoretical as computational theory and algorithms, as interdisciplinary as human-computer interaction and machine learning, etc. Narrowing down your possible CS interests will make it easier to pinpoint the range of programs that would be up your alley.

There's a lot of cool subtopics in CS, and it can be daunting to try to narrow down the possibilities, but it's definitely a valuable process in completing that first step.

Do you know of any resources where I could read about these different possibilities and/or find programs that specifically address them?

[Pauli]

Many computer science grad programs do offer intro programming classes to grad students who are pursuing computer science graduate students with little or no prior programming experience. Also, there is a decent list of computer science fields listed on Wikipedia which gives a crash course on the types of things the field has to offer. I glanced over it and it seems pretty comprehensive of what fields are described, and is a great start to narrowing your interests.

[finknottle]

If you can't enroll for formal courses, I would suggest going through open or online/video courses such as MIT's OCW lectures. The course on Algorithms and Data Structures by Prof. Leiserson, who is also one of the authors of a pretty comprehensive textbook on the subject, is pretty good. Also, data structures and algorithms is a good starting point for someone interested in Computer Science. After that, you can get into other areas. I think a few other Univs also have similar online offerings. I think Stanford has courses under 'Engineering Everywhere'. Berkeley has them too I think.

[jyyhope]

Have some introduction courses is really good suggestion to find interest. But not deep enough. I think talking to CS graduates, discussing different research fields in CS will help you more. Doing some programming will help you find out whether it is suitable for you.Programming is the basic of many sub-field in CS and tool of research. However many of CS students think programming is painful. As you mentioned, you want to become a good computer scientist. Then good math foundation will help. But criteria varies a lot in different field of research of CS.

About lack creative thinking, I do not think it will be a big problem. And the ability to collect info is great. In research, you might read lots of papers to have background knowledge of a specific area. Through reading, you will find out what do you want to do. And I think the hard part of cs research is not about a general idea, but about hard work. For example, in computer graphics research, a person may easily come up with an idea: transform a photo to a sketch or oil painting is fun (this is some labs' research focus currently). It could be a research topic, easy to find, but needs tons of work to realize.

Again, talking to a CS student who really doing research now will help figure out the way to good CS scientist. Only post is not enough.

[Pauli]

Doing some programming will help you find out whether it is suitable for you.Programming is the basic of many sub-field in CS and tool of research.

It's true that many subfields in CS do use programming at varying levels, but it's certainly not the basic for all of them (e.g., some areas of graphics, human-computer interaction). A few fields don't use it extensively in the more advanced concepts, especially in the multi-disciplinary or theoretically-heavy ones. For the case of the original poster, that's especially the case. But some programming knowledge of the more intermediate stuff is definitely beneficial.

[jyyhope]

It's true that many subfields in CS do use programming at varying levels, but it's certainly not the basic for all of them (e.g., some areas of graphics, human-computer interaction). A few fields don't use it extensively in the more advanced concepts, especially in the multi-disciplinary or theoretically-heavy ones. For the case of the original poster, that's especially the case. But some programming knowledge of the more intermediate stuff is definitely beneficial.

Yes，I know. Not all the cs research need programming. But as I said, "many" of them do.

[j3doucet]

Given your background, you might take a look at the subfield of bioinformatics. I have friends who came there directly from a biomedical degree without any programming experience. Naturally you'd have to learn some, and most schools would require you to take some remedial CS courses as well, but it's not impossible to jump into a graduate level CS degree from biomedicine.

[Morgan85]

If you want to make a career in computer science, you need to excel at analytical and logical ability. You also need to be good at math. I don’t think your lack of creativity will be a hindrance as such, but one of the qualities expected of IT professionals is their ability to think out of the box and innovate. I would advise you to check the course content of a degree in computer science before you enroll, so you know what you are signing up for.

[Pauli]

I don’t think your lack of creativity will be a hindrance as such, but one of the qualities expected of IT professionals is their ability to think out of the box and innovate.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. IT professionals make up only a part of computer science graduates. Some graduates also end up becoming consultants, scientists, and designers.

[cartel]

If you want to make a career in computer science, you need to excel at analytical and logical ability. You also need to be good at math. I don’t think your lack of creativity will be a hindrance as such, but one of the qualities expected of IT professionals is their ability to think out of the box and innovate. I would advise you to check the course content of a degree in computer science before you enroll, so you know what you are signing up for.

Like the guy above me said, computer science is about much more than IT...also, you linked to California College San Diego, a for-profit institution that isn't regionally accredited. I would advise the OP to seek guidance from a more reputable institution.