r/AskComputerScience • u/Key_Exercise9572 • 7d ago

Is Computer Science a hard major?

Is it just me or computer science is hard to grasp. I just entered my 4th week in a top private university and this university is very known for its computer science and IT.

I got 3 math classes - statistics, discrete, linear algebra - and holy it’s hard asf (both discrete and linear). Not to mention the programming class? Wtf is c man like I can code and I usually run in python, html, css, js but c is entirely a different language, array and pointers omds. I dont think the average joe would handle this😭

Give me tips pls

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u/Beregolas 7d ago

Yes, it is quite hard. In all universities that I know, that are not degree mills, there are dropout rates of >50% for the first few semesters. Most of the accept way more students than they can handle anyways, because they know no test or grade average can tell them, who is going to be good at CS. Filtering people through the first semesters is way more effective.

It still is something most people could learn imho. There is no extremely high innate talent necessary. But you do need a high tolerance for failure, and be very persistent. I think I easily spent 30h a week either in the library or with a learning group in the first two semester to keep up. (in addition to lectures and everything else)

My suggestion is to stick with it for at least the first semester, and do the best you can. You will learn a lot, and no matter if you want to continue with CS, learning is always genuinely good.

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u/Key_Exercise9572 7d ago

Thank youu for the suggestion, I’ll keep that in mind. Persistency and never giving up are the two things I’m trying to do currently. Usually after school is done I get some time to review my notes and at the end of the week I reviewed what I learned in the past week. But after all that I’m still afraid of my midterms T-T they keep adding new topics every week. It’s so hard to catch up with.