Need help with college courses

[MichaelKanRS]

I know a lot about cpu, motherboards, graphics cards etc. So what college course are recommended? Computer science?

 

[Onefurrybanana]

For college courses you could look at computer science, computer hardware, or even eletrical engineering if you want a career in the computer field.

 

[Gingerbread]

Electrical engineering or some computer hardware course, in computer science you learn only how to code.

 

[DeauteratedDog]

Electrical engineering or some computer hardware course, in computer science you learn only how to code.

I can't speak to the current state of computer science degrees, but that wasn't my experience - admittedly my computer science degree is several decades old at this point. While I did have at least one programming heavy course every semester, the curriculum was very broadly based. From arranging transistors into basic gates, and gates into more complex circuits like adders, up to the performance characteristics of various network topologies, we covered it all. Lots of math and theory, but at the time computer science was considered a subset of 'math' (it was in the College of Mathematics within my university). I would hope a real computer science degree is still about the same.

 

[Gingerbread]

Electrical engineering or some computer hardware course, in computer science you learn only how to code.

I can't speak to the current state of computer science degrees, but that wasn't my experience - admittedly my computer science degree is several decades old at this point. While I did have at least one programming heavy course every semester, the curriculum was very broadly based. From arranging transistors into basic gates, and gates into more complex circuits like adders, up to the performance characteristics of various network topologies, we covered it all. Lots of math and theory, but at the time computer science was considered a subset of 'math' (it was in the College of Mathematics within my university). I would hope a real computer science degree is still about the same.

Graduated a year ago in Computer Science, now studying for Master's. First we started with some basic coding and lots of math and after that we went for more specific coding, we had a few computer architecture classes where we learnt about transistors and what-not but never anything hardware intensive and I am pretty sure my university follows an MIT standard for education.

 

[MichaelKanRS]

Electrical engineering or some computer hardware course, in computer science you learn only how to code.

I can't speak to the current state of computer science degrees, but that wasn't my experience - admittedly my computer science degree is several decades old at this point. While I did have at least one programming heavy course every semester, the curriculum was very broadly based. From arranging transistors into basic gates, and gates into more complex circuits like adders, up to the performance characteristics of various network topologies, we covered it all. Lots of math and theory, but at the time computer science was considered a subset of 'math' (it was in the College of Mathematics within my university). I would hope a real computer science degree is still about the same.

Graduated a year ago in Computer Science, now studying for Master's. First we started with some basic coding and lots of math and after that we went for more specific coding, we had a few computer architecture classes where we learnt about transistors and what-not but never anything hardware intensive and I am pretty sure my university follows an MIT standard for education.

How hard was it to get the Computer Science degree?

 

[Gingerbread]

Electrical engineering or some computer hardware course, in computer science you learn only how to code.

I can't speak to the current state of computer science degrees, but that wasn't my experience - admittedly my computer science degree is several decades old at this point. While I did have at least one programming heavy course every semester, the curriculum was very broadly based. From arranging transistors into basic gates, and gates into more complex circuits like adders, up to the performance characteristics of various network topologies, we covered it all. Lots of math and theory, but at the time computer science was considered a subset of 'math' (it was in the College of Mathematics within my university). I would hope a real computer science degree is still about the same.

Graduated a year ago in Computer Science, now studying for Master's. First we started with some basic coding and lots of math and after that we went for more specific coding, we had a few computer architecture classes where we learnt about transistors and what-not but never anything hardware intensive and I am pretty sure my university follows an MIT standard for education.

How hard was it to get the Computer Science degree?

Harder than pretty much everything, apart from Law Studies and Medicine and some hardcore physics (maybe a few more I'm missing), but still much easier than it has been 10-15 years ago.

 

[Necromonger]

Reality is far from what you'd expect. There isn't any course in college where you get quizzed on "What's the best CPU?" or "What's the best PC build under $XXXX money?" LOL

In computer science classes you learn how to code using linux or ssh in C++ and other programming languages. It is very basic. Basically the intro to it is what is a CPU, what kinds of memory are there, what is binary, assembly language, etc. Very basic. You won't need a blazing fast computer for comp sci as the software you will use is very basic, nothing but text (no GUIs).

Its pretty funny though, a lot of the professors you might take don't know much about video cards etc other than the basic things. They aren't into Intel or AMD, just X86 and the other architectures. In electrical classes you will mostly deal with hypothetical circuits, no live circuits other than in labs and even then those are pretty basic, just wires, resistors, capacitors, etc all connected with alligator clips or banana plugs and some multi meters and voltage generators.

You wont ever deal with circuits in a motherboard (yet) until you get to the upper division electrical and engineering classes. I'm not there yet. I've only done the very basics (pre-engineering) stuff. One surprising thing you will need to be good at, regardless if you're engineering or comp sci, is mathematics. You will use and learn a lot of math and it gets pretty difficult once you get to linear algebra and differentials.

Best suggestion is to take it easy as you start. See what you like and what you don't like. There are many more majors apart from engineering and comp sci. For instance there are technology majors that don't delve as deep as say engineering does, but are good nonetheless. Look for study groups or clubs at school. It will be very surprising if you find any computer enthusiast even in comp sci classes. I'm a computer enthusiast guy and it pains me so much to see so many tablets, MacBooks, and other electronics used in my comp sci and engineering classes.