Why do so many students drop out of their computer science studies?
In my opinion, as a fourth-year computer science student (3.8+/4.0 GPA), I can explain why dropout rates tend to be high in STEM fields and especially in computer science. I noticed that many of my colleagues were falling behind or moving on to other programs, and I wondered why.Here's how I summarize CS attrition rates:
, Cumulative Knowledge: In a typical second-year introductory CS course, knowledge and skills from previous courses are essential. Without all the C and CPU programming knowledge you acquired in the previous courses (machine language, HDL, ISA, or just a general understanding of how the CPU works with memory), you cannot take the OS course in the third year win. Likewise, software design courses require you to know all the skills learned in OOP. The same applies to courses on algorithms, machine learning, etc. The requirements for computer science and STEM courses are detailed and important because they require you to have sufficient knowledge of previous coursework and do not help you evaluate subsequent courses. every class.This was different, for example, in the humanities, where I was able to get good grades in the second and third years of philosophy and history without taking any of the previous year's courses. In other words, a good computer science graduate cannot rest. He needs to be up to date on his subjects in order to move on to the more difficult topics. There are many people in this world and acquiring computer skills is very difficult or even impossible for many people.Distribution of exam results : This applies to my school and another school where I took a computer science course. A typical computer science final exam is worth around 40-50%. Even if your grades were good due to the workload in the semester, everything can go wrong if you have a bad final result. Depending on the class, passing the final exam can be a death sentence for many, as universities like to play with the class average to keep it at a certain level (60~65%). What if you had bad grades all semester and your class average was high? Missing class or final exams would be brutal.I come to every final exam speechless and stressed, even though I've gotten 100% on everything so far, because I know that small mistakes can affect my overall grade in the class.
Lack of Preparation: In my first OOP course, my schedule eliminated a lot of people. My progress was rapid, and I felt like if I hadn't learned all of this in high school, I probably wouldn't have been able to keep up without spending an incredible amount of time in that particular class. Luckily I was prepared and handled the situation without any problems. Other?Not so lucky...
Math: If you're good at everything else but not very good at math, then computer science isn't for you.
Boredom: Computer science courses are usually full of geeks. They're not very attractive/sociable, they play video games, and by the time you get to third grade there's usually a maximum of 10 out of 100 girls in a class. By the way, 10 is a generous number. In my third AI class there were two girls in a class of almost 100 people. None of them appeared in the final.
It's not worth it: IT graduates have an advantage in almost all professional fields. It will be easier for me to get a job at a bank than for an economist or even for most economics graduates. In fact, most of my older friends who have college degrees often get job offers from jobs they never applied for (even non-programming positions like banking or IT) based on their resumes on Indeed profiles/Monster. I think a lot of people don't think it's worth all that stress and demands.
Until they get into real economic trouble, but then it will be too late.
I didn't choose computer science because I liked it or because I like programming. I chose it because I'm good at it and it's easy for me. I know that I can choose medicine/law/dentistry/MBA and what I want to major in based on my grades as long as I end up with a lot of options.
I imagine that for many other people it's not that easy and they don't see it as an optimal lifestyle option.
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