What's a more difficult Major: Computer Science or Accounting? (PhD, skills, degrees)

[Brian Scates]

I'm in the 2nd semester of school as a Computer Science major and my friend who's an Accounting/Finance major is having a hard time and feels that his major is much more difficult than my major, but for some reason I doubt it. Computer Science majors IMO have to take much more difficult classes. I have to take a ton of Calculus and some Physics and Chemistry classes in my curriculum

Has anyone here majored in both?

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Brian Scates

I'm in the 2nd semester of school as a Computer Science major and my friend who's an Accounting/Finance major is having a hard time and feels that his major is much more difficult than my major, but for some reason I doubt it. Computer Science majors IMO have to take much more difficult classes. I have to take a ton of Calculus and some Physics and Chemistry classes in my curriculum

Has anyone here majored in both?

It's going to depend upon the person, the schools they are attending....even in the same college the differences in difficulty between majors can be striking.

Personally, I doubt their major is harder but it might be harder for THEM than CS is for you given your background education and personal gifts.

I could go back to school and stroll through some degrees given my knowledge but something like oh....Russian or Biology would be a lot harder for me.

[TabulaRasa]

Kind of an apples and oranges thing, IMO.

[d-boy-80]

The school I am planning to go to for CS. Does not require me to take any physics or chemistry courses than what I already have. Is that a good thing? They do require a minor in mathematics with the CS degree. But they told me physics and chemistry classes were not required.

[Brian Scates]

Originally Posted by d-boy-80

The school I am planning to go to for CS. Does not require me to take any physics or chemistry courses than what I already have. Is that a good thing? They do require a minor in mathematics with the CS degree. But they told me physics and chemistry classes were not required.

At my school I have to take 12 credits of Natural Sciences and the choices are: Biology (Anatomy & Physiology I & II), Physics 209-210, or Chemistry I & II

I think they want us to be well rounded scientists

[soraji]

Originally Posted by d-boy-80

The school I am planning to go to for CS. Does not require me to take any physics or chemistry courses than what I already have. Is that a good thing? They do require a minor in mathematics with the CS degree. But they told me physics and chemistry classes were not required.

Unless you plan on going into any career that would NEED physics, like computer graphics, 3D modeling, etc. you won't need it.

[ragnarkar]

CS is more fun but harder than Accounting.. I've taken classes in both in my college and graduate education (BS in Engineering, MS in Finance.) If you have no genuine interest in either but just want to learn something to make some money, pick Accounting.

[princesasabia]

When I thought I wanted to do accounting I took some classes and it bored me to tears. I wouldnt say its hard at all. I thought computer science isnt a good major to get into anymore. If you want a career in computers then IT is the way to go.

[poletop1]

Depends on the person. What are your current skills like? What are your interests? People think these questions are a yes or no, but works best is thinking about yourself and your own situation. Also, don't be afraid of a challenge, you might do better than you think!

[Zarathu]

Originally Posted by Brian Scates

At my school I have to take 12 credits of Natural Sciences and the choices are: Biology (Anatomy & Physiology I & II), Physics 209-210, or Chemistry I & II

I think they want us to be well rounded scientists

You really don't get to be called a scientist until you get a PhD, and even then you could only be called a Junior Scientist. Currently all a BS does for you is give you a little bit more than a technician level.

There are exceptions but you have to be extra-ordinarily lucky, and you have to work your tail off, and you need to be in the right place at the right time.

My son was doing an internship at a prestigious European research facility, where he was mostly handing people tools and getting coffee, since all he had then was a BS, and they all were either working on their dissertations or many years past that. At a meeting, they were commenting on certain figures that they had gotten in a certain experiment. My son, in a lull said, "That's what I got too". They turned in unison and said, "That's what YOU got?????" And without missing a beat, he said. ".... well, I noticed that you guys(and gal) are all plugging all these numbers slowly into your sci calcs, so I wrote an excel program to do it all for me, and it came up with the same answer as you." After that, everyone used his excel program, and he was given a number of research projects just like the rest of the pre-docs and post docs in the facility. He left the facility representing the lab at European conferences, and with several papers published in Physical Review, even before he actually started his PhD program.

But this is very very lucky, and out of reach for most people.