Graduating from college was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done
It’s quite different in other fields, but a CS degree is really not necessary to go far in a programming job. I’ve worked alongside brilliant 17 year olds in two of the jobs I’ve had since graduating. Sure, you might not work at google, but there are gobs of hard and interesting problems in locations other than Mountain View.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about going back to school. But I’m interested in too many things to make a serious case for a specific grad program. I’m also disinclined to stop working, so whatever I would do would have to be part time.
The problem? Almost every “good” school disallows incoming undergraduates (and god forbid, non-matriculated undergraduates) who already have an undergraduate degree. Certainly the overloaded UC system does (and for good reason) , Stanford does, MIT does, Harvard does, Northeastern appears to. I’d likely be able to get back into the University of Idaho, but .. it’s Idaho. I don’t really want to go back there for any length of time.
Extension classes aren’t I want - I don’t want classes geared toward professionals looking for either a little supplementary education in the evenings or the possibility of a career change. The UC system’s reliance on community colleges helps a bit, in that I can take all the calculus and diffeq that I want, but it’s assumed that CC students will transfer into the actual UC system after they’ve done their lower division classes. It’s a great system, but also doesn’t help me. I want upper division math and hard science classes. I want group theory and quantum mechanics and physical chemistry and stuff like that.
I’m also rather picky in that I don’t want correspondence or online classes if I can help it. I want real interaction with a professor and an engaged class. Studying on your own is ok (and is what I’m doing now), but I’m looking for a little more than that.
Any tips? Anyone know of a good school in either the Boston or SF area where I would have full access to the undergraduate catalog without entering a graduate program (and better yet, without entering an undergraduate program either)? I suppose when filling out an application I could just not put down the fact that I already hold a B.S.C.S., but from what I read some schools don’t take kindly to falsifying your academic records.
Anyway, back to OpenCourseWare.
well, it is not boston or san francisco, but you could do a second BA in the UK. also, what about the open university in new york?
or you could find a masters program somewhere that encompasses many of your interests and then just take additional courses.
doing all of this and working might be a challenge though.
Comment by jennifer — September 23, 2007 @ 8:40 pm
You can try a school in the University System of Georgia, like Georgia Tech, or one of the small unis, such as Southern Polytechnic State University (http://www.spsu.edu). SPSU is a technical school for technically-oriented people, and they don’t care about having other degrees :). Plus its cheap, $2000/semester for in-state, $6000/semester for out-of-state
Comment by Justin Haygood — September 24, 2007 @ 1:28 pm
Well, it’s not quite what you’re looking for but the University of Toronto will allow you to enroll as a part-time undergraduate. As a part-time undergrad you pay for courses by credit.
Plus, U of T has a really well rounded CS department with some great faculty in pretty much every area you can think of. If you want more info, feel free to ask.
Comment by Marcus — September 24, 2007 @ 1:38 pm
You know, you could just enter a grad program and “change your mind” a lot. One semester work on an anthro degree, the next CS, and then perhaps an Engineering degree. Try to “find yourself” or something like that.
Comment by Ted Gould — September 24, 2007 @ 1:53 pm
Stanford does actually allow non-matriculated students, but just for one year. I was a non-matriculated student there in 1997, and it worked quite well. I’ve only met two other people who have done that at Stanford, but it is possible. See details here: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/registrar/bulletin/bulletin06-07/
Comment by Brandon — September 24, 2007 @ 1:56 pm
Santa Clara University is quite flexible. If you physically drove down to their campus and talked to one of the CS professors, I’m sure they would help work something out for you.
http://www.scu.edu/
Comment by Cody Lodrige — September 24, 2007 @ 2:13 pm
You actually could take classes at Berkeley via the extension program or concurrent enrollment. I’m not sure of the exact name, but I’m sure you could Google it. Basic gist is you are enrolled on a non-degree track program, and can take whatever you want. You’re theoretically the last to get into the course if it’s full, but becoming friendly with professors changes this.
I’ve had several friends hang around after graduation for a year or two taking class concurrently, doing research and working odd-jobs as a kind of grad-school-lite, before actually applying to grad school. They all enjoyed it (most took grad-level math and cs courses, another friend is taking grad-level english courses). Undergrad courses might be harder to get into, but as long as you talk tot he professor it’s not hard. Especially if you don’t suck (they’d rather have you than an uninterested undergrad who is taking it only as a requirement)
Comment by Matt — September 24, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
I did some undergrad at SFSU, and the math profs were really great. No idea about their grad programs, but I know that after high school I was ready to forget pure math…taking Calc III on a whim was the best thing I did at SFSU. It encouraged me to try programming, and I ended up double-majoring in CS and math. I know SFSU’s not very prestigious, but I had a good experience there.
Oh, and the food in the union was really good when I went there (2001-2002).
Comment by Sandy Armstrong — September 24, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
The computer science dept at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK offers distance-learning courses, at both undergrad and postgrad levels:
http://www.feis.herts.ac.uk/csonline/courses.asp
Comment by Ian — September 25, 2007 @ 4:13 am
Can’t you just enroll in classes and not actually enter a program?
Comment by Jay R. Wren — September 25, 2007 @ 6:56 am
I think most universities are way more flexible than they let on. You just need to talk to a academic adviser at the university and tell them exactly what you want. They’ll probably make you jump through some ridiculous hoops, like math placement tests, but will be willing to accommodate you.
Comment by jackson — September 28, 2007 @ 6:41 am