Code Justin

Posts Tagged ‘2 year vs 4 year degree for computer science’

Well I seem to have a sticky situation here. I applied for a college near by that is affordable and offers a decent Computer Science program. I still haven’t heard back from them about whether or not I’m accepted. I meet their acceptance standards but I also applied really late which isn’t going to help. The other two colleges I applied for denied me because I applied too late basically (was told something along the lines of “Unfortunately after X date we can only accept so many students…”). The college out of state accepted me awhile back and I was planning on attending that college but most of my grants don’t transfer out of state too well and my actual state grant did not go through since the college is out of state. So I do not care to pay that much for college (would be about 17k a year after what little grants transfer). Now the “sticky” part in this situation is that the 2 year school close by starts Monday and I wasn’t really planning on attending but I do enjoy the programming teacher. I’ve had the chance to talk with him multiple times now and enjoy his responses to my questions. The only other “good” things about the 2 years school is that I will spend almost all my time there in a programming related class and they do have good job placement. Now the “bad” things seem to out weigh the good things like the cost (8k a year and that’s without dorms/meals), credits do not transfer well, they do not teach the same amount of theory like a CS degree would, the actual degree (Solutions Developer) might not be as respected as a CS degree and I will not be living on campus like a traditional college (I will still be living at home). The thing is though the 2 year school has the really small class sizes (the teacher told me that by time I finish the class will be down to about 5 people) and I will have two more years experience under my belt.

Obviously a 4 college vs the 2 year is almost like two different extremes. A 4 year school will have all sorts of different classes while the 2 year will be mainly programming. The 4 year will teach me theory but the 2 year will give me a lot of actual coding (which might not be a good thing since theory seems to be more important than particle programming skills in college). The 4 year college will allow me to live on campus but with the 2 year I will be living at home still. The cost is pretty much the same per year basis when comparing it to the 4 year school by me. The 2 year school doesn’t really have any breaks while the 4 year has all the standard breaks. So really the two types of colleges seem very different. I know I will get a lot of hands on learning at the 2 year school along with daily programming related material but I also know that the 4 year college will provide a wider range of knowledge for me and most of all give me a more theoretical education. I will learn some theory in the 2 year school but the teacher even told me that they do not spend a lot of time teaching just theory (he had good reasons for it). So basically my two options are start the 2 year or wait to hear back from the 4 year college by me and if I do not get in then start college next year.

I welcome any feedback and hope you leave a comment in the comment section below.