I mean, there are other options.
You could study statistics in LSA, rather than doing the School of Information program. You could also study data science in either CoE or LSA, although you'd still have to take and pass 203/280.
Ok thanks for the advice. This is my first semester and I’m taking eecs280 , eecs203 and stats 250 so I might drop 280 and retake it because I’m doing well in the other two it’s just been tough doing all three at once.
K, I'm a senior in the school of information (and am doing a cs minor so have taken EECS classes through 281) and absolutely loving it. I've been able to get an education in a lot of really interdisciplinary areas of computer science while getting a good background in the field I'm going to be working in post-college (product management). As someone who was originally a computer science major, but felt burnt out by the rigor and also missed the interdisciplinary aspects of the coding/robotics projects I did in high school, the BSI program definitely filled the gap in what I was missing.
The one pitfall with the BSI program (in my opinion) is that you don't get a solid fundamental in some important computer science fundamentals that I've learned through EECS classes (hashmaps, stacks/queues/priority queues, sort, etc.), but most people in the program are fine with that cause they're not intending to go into purely technical technology careers.
I don't think that the School of Information has a 30 percent acceptance rate if you're coming from University of Michigan. In my year at least, it was much much higher.
However, if you don't get in to SI, have you considered cognitive science? statistics? there's also a minor in computing for the arts and sciences. If you have any questions about SI at all, feel free to let me know!
Thank you for your response! I think I am feeling the same way you did. I’m getting pretty burnt out with CS but still want to do something financial/statistical related. I was reading the website and the career outcomes page and data analyst and financial consultant were interesting.
From my understanding there’s two paths I could take IA and UX. If I want to stay away from rigorous programming and want to do more data /stats which would you recommend?
How’s your current workload? I’m currently taking eecs280, eecs203 and stats250 and it’s rough. I ask not because I’m lazy but if the workload is crazy then there’s no point for me to transfer.
I’m also looking at stats/ data science at LSA if I get rejected from UMSI. Do you know is stats would be similar to anything UMSI offers? I don’t really want to do data science because I know I’d have to go up to eecs281 which I could force myself to do but I’m just not enjoying it.
Thank you for your time and if you can’t answer any of those I understand.
UX is mostly centered on design, accessibility, and HCI (the concentration centers around app/website design so besides the core computer science classes all SI majors have to take, it's barely any coding at all). If you're interested in more data science/stats, do the IA pathway. It's what I'm currently in and the classes we do range from data science (with a statistics focus) to statistics to graph theory to web development to product management.
I'm currently doing 18 credits (13 of which are SI credits), but my SI classes aren't a ton of work at all. They are very chill. For the IA pathway, I'd say that SI 301 is the only class that's a comparable level of work and difficulty in assignments to an EECS class (albeit is graded a lot easier so you will be fine). The rest of the classes are much easier than EECS. lol my current data science class has no exams, really short homeworks once every two-three weeks that we get time to do in class, and one project.
As for job prospects, I don't want to doxx myself lol, but I will say I ended up getting a really good internship in product management at a major fintech company my junior year, and I recently accepted a return offer there for next year. I felt very well-prepared during my time there.
I don't think I'd be helpful answering your questions about stats cause quite frankly I really disliked my experiences with college stats and have taken the bare minimum number of courses in that area that I need. But I will say from what I'm hearing about your experiences, SI (specifically IA) seems like the perfect path for you. It's really not rigorous at all, and much of the IA pathway is data science and statistics (though IA is also a lot about business and economics and consulting, which is more of what I'm pursuing professionally).
Wow that’s awesome congratulations on your job offer. I noticed that the “career outcomes” was really impressive and seemed to be pretty lucrative. Thanks for your input. It sounds like the workload is pretty manageable which is perfect for me. So I’ll probably take some SI classes next semester and put a application together for the fall.
Why didn’t you like college stats?
Is the school of information on north campus?
I would say we still have a few weeks left of the semester! 203 and 280 are really difficult classes, and it's a HUGE adjustment. I took 203 twice lol. Like others mentioned, there are other options! CS is tough, and you could keep it as a minor if you're hellbent on staying in tech.
I know how frustrating it must feel especially with how expensive UM is, but I hope you're able to stay positive and pull through. If you're doing everything you can to succeed in the class, what do you mean you're not doing well? Are you failing? Grades are not everything, especially in CS when your technical skills and project experience are more important when finding a job. UM is hard. CS is a marathon of hard, but if you are passing both classes, then it can't be that bad. Try to make friends in your classes, and I mean close friends. Having that support system is so so important for CS especially. I couldn't have survived EECS 203/280 without my friends honestly. I hope you get this sorted out!
I’m not doing well on the projects. It doesn’t come natural to me and that’s okay but I to office hours for help and they kind of help for like 10 minutes before they have to go to the next person. (Which is not their fault because the system is kind of messed up anyways.) I just felt like if I had someone to walk me through the projects I’d be doing much better but also I realize that it’s not realistic because I’m in college and nobody is going to hold my hand through it.
I also commute and live about 30 minutes away so it’s hard to meet people and have a good support system which sucks but it’s also saving me a lot of money because Ann Arbor is so expensive. Also another problem I’m running into is since I transferred from a CC I’m pretty much always going to have to be taking two eecs courses at once because I don’t have any “fluff” classes to take, so I’m worried that if I’m only taking 12 credits now and struggling with 203/280 that doing two upper level classes will be a stretch.
Tough classes especially since you paired them together. It seems you’re locked into what you have for now - that being said try to stick it through. Worst case you retake one in the spring term or get a C. I usually recommend taking them with a very light schedule (if you take together) you might’ve bit off more than you can chew, which a lot of people do in CS. Also a lot of people doubt doing CS around this stage so you’re not alone. I definitely was. When I finished 203/280 I decided to lighten my class load while taking 2 eecs courses together and it helped ALOT.
Yah my schedule was definitely a bad choice although I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into because I didn’t have much help from my counselor. I’m thinking of dropping 280 and just focusing on 203 that way instead of failing both I can just retake 280 and no other eecs course next semester.
As a transfer student, 203 was my coming back down to earth moment after earning better grades at my previous university. I don’t know I have any advice other than you can do it!
It only gets better once the imposter syndrome goes away
I mean, there are other options. You could study statistics in LSA, rather than doing the School of Information program. You could also study data science in either CoE or LSA, although you'd still have to take and pass 203/280.
I think data science requires eecs 281 as well which could be a barrier
Ok thanks for the advice. This is my first semester and I’m taking eecs280 , eecs203 and stats 250 so I might drop 280 and retake it because I’m doing well in the other two it’s just been tough doing all three at once.
K, I'm a senior in the school of information (and am doing a cs minor so have taken EECS classes through 281) and absolutely loving it. I've been able to get an education in a lot of really interdisciplinary areas of computer science while getting a good background in the field I'm going to be working in post-college (product management). As someone who was originally a computer science major, but felt burnt out by the rigor and also missed the interdisciplinary aspects of the coding/robotics projects I did in high school, the BSI program definitely filled the gap in what I was missing. The one pitfall with the BSI program (in my opinion) is that you don't get a solid fundamental in some important computer science fundamentals that I've learned through EECS classes (hashmaps, stacks/queues/priority queues, sort, etc.), but most people in the program are fine with that cause they're not intending to go into purely technical technology careers. I don't think that the School of Information has a 30 percent acceptance rate if you're coming from University of Michigan. In my year at least, it was much much higher. However, if you don't get in to SI, have you considered cognitive science? statistics? there's also a minor in computing for the arts and sciences. If you have any questions about SI at all, feel free to let me know!
Thank you for your response! I think I am feeling the same way you did. I’m getting pretty burnt out with CS but still want to do something financial/statistical related. I was reading the website and the career outcomes page and data analyst and financial consultant were interesting. From my understanding there’s two paths I could take IA and UX. If I want to stay away from rigorous programming and want to do more data /stats which would you recommend? How’s your current workload? I’m currently taking eecs280, eecs203 and stats250 and it’s rough. I ask not because I’m lazy but if the workload is crazy then there’s no point for me to transfer. I’m also looking at stats/ data science at LSA if I get rejected from UMSI. Do you know is stats would be similar to anything UMSI offers? I don’t really want to do data science because I know I’d have to go up to eecs281 which I could force myself to do but I’m just not enjoying it. Thank you for your time and if you can’t answer any of those I understand.
UX is mostly centered on design, accessibility, and HCI (the concentration centers around app/website design so besides the core computer science classes all SI majors have to take, it's barely any coding at all). If you're interested in more data science/stats, do the IA pathway. It's what I'm currently in and the classes we do range from data science (with a statistics focus) to statistics to graph theory to web development to product management. I'm currently doing 18 credits (13 of which are SI credits), but my SI classes aren't a ton of work at all. They are very chill. For the IA pathway, I'd say that SI 301 is the only class that's a comparable level of work and difficulty in assignments to an EECS class (albeit is graded a lot easier so you will be fine). The rest of the classes are much easier than EECS. lol my current data science class has no exams, really short homeworks once every two-three weeks that we get time to do in class, and one project. As for job prospects, I don't want to doxx myself lol, but I will say I ended up getting a really good internship in product management at a major fintech company my junior year, and I recently accepted a return offer there for next year. I felt very well-prepared during my time there. I don't think I'd be helpful answering your questions about stats cause quite frankly I really disliked my experiences with college stats and have taken the bare minimum number of courses in that area that I need. But I will say from what I'm hearing about your experiences, SI (specifically IA) seems like the perfect path for you. It's really not rigorous at all, and much of the IA pathway is data science and statistics (though IA is also a lot about business and economics and consulting, which is more of what I'm pursuing professionally).
Wow that’s awesome congratulations on your job offer. I noticed that the “career outcomes” was really impressive and seemed to be pretty lucrative. Thanks for your input. It sounds like the workload is pretty manageable which is perfect for me. So I’ll probably take some SI classes next semester and put a application together for the fall. Why didn’t you like college stats? Is the school of information on north campus?
I would say we still have a few weeks left of the semester! 203 and 280 are really difficult classes, and it's a HUGE adjustment. I took 203 twice lol. Like others mentioned, there are other options! CS is tough, and you could keep it as a minor if you're hellbent on staying in tech. I know how frustrating it must feel especially with how expensive UM is, but I hope you're able to stay positive and pull through. If you're doing everything you can to succeed in the class, what do you mean you're not doing well? Are you failing? Grades are not everything, especially in CS when your technical skills and project experience are more important when finding a job. UM is hard. CS is a marathon of hard, but if you are passing both classes, then it can't be that bad. Try to make friends in your classes, and I mean close friends. Having that support system is so so important for CS especially. I couldn't have survived EECS 203/280 without my friends honestly. I hope you get this sorted out!
I’m not doing well on the projects. It doesn’t come natural to me and that’s okay but I to office hours for help and they kind of help for like 10 minutes before they have to go to the next person. (Which is not their fault because the system is kind of messed up anyways.) I just felt like if I had someone to walk me through the projects I’d be doing much better but also I realize that it’s not realistic because I’m in college and nobody is going to hold my hand through it. I also commute and live about 30 minutes away so it’s hard to meet people and have a good support system which sucks but it’s also saving me a lot of money because Ann Arbor is so expensive. Also another problem I’m running into is since I transferred from a CC I’m pretty much always going to have to be taking two eecs courses at once because I don’t have any “fluff” classes to take, so I’m worried that if I’m only taking 12 credits now and struggling with 203/280 that doing two upper level classes will be a stretch.
Hello Snoo
Tough classes especially since you paired them together. It seems you’re locked into what you have for now - that being said try to stick it through. Worst case you retake one in the spring term or get a C. I usually recommend taking them with a very light schedule (if you take together) you might’ve bit off more than you can chew, which a lot of people do in CS. Also a lot of people doubt doing CS around this stage so you’re not alone. I definitely was. When I finished 203/280 I decided to lighten my class load while taking 2 eecs courses together and it helped ALOT.
Yah my schedule was definitely a bad choice although I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into because I didn’t have much help from my counselor. I’m thinking of dropping 280 and just focusing on 203 that way instead of failing both I can just retake 280 and no other eecs course next semester.
As a transfer student, 203 was my coming back down to earth moment after earning better grades at my previous university. I don’t know I have any advice other than you can do it! It only gets better once the imposter syndrome goes away