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Should I study Computer Science or not?

It's really difficult for me to decide because I've never done any actual Computer Science at A level or GCSE.

I kind of decided I wanted to do Computer Science when I was in year 10, I found programming languages interesting (I also played a lot of video games) and even started using Code Academy to learn Python on my own at home because my school didn't offer Computer Science at GCSE.

However, people have told me that Computer Science is very Maths intensive and has a huge theoretical side alongside all of the programming and this scared me a little because whilst I was very good at Maths GCSE, I seriously struggled with it at A level and found it incredibly difficult. Currently I'm on a gap year.

Given this do you guys still recommend I study Computer Science? Does anyone know any taster courses or maybe books I could read that would give me a better understanding of what the subject actually entails?
Original post by Mish2000
It's really difficult for me to decide because I've never done any actual Computer Science at A level or GCSE.

I kind of decided I wanted to do Computer Science when I was in year 10, I found programming languages interesting (I also played a lot of video games) and even started using Code Academy to learn Python on my own at home because my school didn't offer Computer Science at GCSE.

However, people have told me that Computer Science is very Maths intensive and has a huge theoretical side alongside all of the programming and this scared me a little because whilst I was very good at Maths GCSE, I seriously struggled with it at A level and found it incredibly difficult. Currently I'm on a gap year.

Given this do you guys still recommend I study Computer Science? Does anyone know any taster courses or maybe books I could read that would give me a better understanding of what the subject actually entails?


a) Doesn't matter if you don't have a prior CS background. A willingness to learn and strong mathematical (particularly discrete mathematics and logic/reasoning) is all that is required

b) Yes. If you enrol on a CS course at a 'traditional' university, the likes of Bristol, Imperial, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow to name a few then it will definitely be mathematically intensive. Imo these are the proper traditional CS courses. You can, however, go study CS at other institutions and you will find it is more vocational with more programming/database work etc. than actual mathematics. It depends what your priorities are really.
I would say no
Original post by Mish2000
It's really difficult for me to decide because I've never done any actual Computer Science at A level or GCSE.

I kind of decided I wanted to do Computer Science when I was in year 10, I found programming languages interesting (I also played a lot of video games) and even started using Code Academy to learn Python on my own at home because my school didn't offer Computer Science at GCSE.

However, people have told me that Computer Science is very Maths intensive and has a huge theoretical side alongside all of the programming and this scared me a little because whilst I was very good at Maths GCSE, I seriously struggled with it at A level and found it incredibly difficult. Currently I'm on a gap year.

Given this do you guys still recommend I study Computer Science? Does anyone know any taster courses or maybe books I could read that would give me a better understanding of what the subject actually entails?


Maybe 'pure' computer science wouldn't be your thing if you struggled with A-Level maths, you could look at a more vocational course. The title of the degree won't tell you how much maths is involved though - you need to look at the modules and find out more information from the university. (Also the entry criteria will be a clue - if the course has a requirement for A-Level maths, for or states a strong preference for A-level maths or Further Maths at grade A/B or higher, then it'll probably be a heavily mathematical course)

In terms of getting a 'taster' of Computer Science, you could have a look at Harvard University's introductory CompSci course called CS50; this isn't mathematical, so you won't get that side of things, but it's a great way to get your head into the kind of programming and problem solving skills you should expect:
https://www.edx.org/course/cs50s-introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x
(You can get the whole thing for free by clicking on the 'Audit' option when you enrol, ignoring the paid-for certificate)

Also, there are non-degree options to consider, such as a degree-apprenticeship which is a 4-year apprenticeship scheme working in an area such as software engineering where your focus would be mostly about learning the technical skills through working with your employer for 4 days per-week, but also spending 1 day per-week working towards a degree qualification in a classroom.
Im having this problem too, like im good at cs in school but while i love maths its far from my strongest subject, but idk what else to apply for. i feel so confused lol
I think what you might be interested in is a software engineering degree as opposed to a regular computer science degree- unfortunately in pure computer science you can't really escape the high level of maths

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