Is Computer Science Right for Me? Advice From A Current CS Student

Often, high schoolers deciding whether to become computer science majors are skeptical about the future of this field. I’m sure most have heard about how tough it is for CS majors to land an internship or a job opportunity. With the field being labeled “oversaturated” and knowing how difficult it is to get into the top computer science programs, some high schoolers may be discouraged or even prevented from applying in the first place. 

Despite all these doubts about the field, getting a CS degree may be worthwhile for some. In this blog post, we’ll examine whether a computer science specialization is the right field for you and what you can expect from a CS degree.

What is CS?

A computer science program covers a plethora of topics—from cryptography to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to cybersecurity, CS dives deep into various disciplines. Often, people think CS is simply coding skills. But it’s more than that: coding involves critical thinking, looking at things in a different light, and being open to lifelong learning.

A computer science degree may be right for you if you enjoy using your critical thinking skills to solve problems. Think about a CS degree as solving puzzles using different strategies. For example, you might use different algorithms to analyze and solve a certain challenge that you’ve been struggling with. And trust me, you’ll be stumped many times; however, if you’re willing to buckle down and figure out ways to overcome these barriers, CS may be the field where you can apply your technical skills and analytical thinking.

Let’s talk a little bit about getting stuck on a complex problem. I’m sure many of you have heard the term “debugging.” Whether you’ve heard it when computer science majors complain about their code not compiling or a tech company finding a massive bug while reading the news, debugging is the act of fixing an issue in your code. Depending on the language, you may spend hours upon hours debugging your code. Therefore, it’s important to look at your code in different ways to approach these problems. You may want to use different debugging tools and techniques to reevaluate your code as a whole.

Computer science careers keep changing by the minute. Remember when ChatGPT became popular? Within a year, generative AI was the most trending field in CS, with tech giants like Nvidia and Apple integrating AI into most of their worldwide-used everyday platforms. This constantly changing career path means that you must be able to adapt quickly to these changes and constantly learn new material. If you enjoy the challenges faced in a fast-paced and rapidly changing field, a CS degree may be of interest to you.

Is CS right for you?

The best way to see if a computer science program is right for you is simply by jumping into a course. Harvard’s CS50 course is available free of charge on YouTube and offers a glimpse into computer science research projects and career opportunities. From there, you can take courses through websites like Codecademy, W3Schools, and FreeCodeCamp. Focus on learning technical skills like data structures and algorithms as well as being proficient in a computer language of your choice (ex. Java, Python, or C are great beginner-friendly languages). 

If you’re enjoying learning about computer programming and want to expand your knowledge, working on projects should be your next coding milestone. You can try making a website or game to demonstrate your foundational knowledge. From there, you can try working on open-source projects on GitHub or attending hackathons! Hackathons are events where you can work on projects (with a group or on your own) for a limited amount of time. These are especially useful to develop projects quickly and win prizes.

For high school students eager to take their computer science exploration to the next level, Polygence offers unique opportunities that go beyond traditional academic experiences. Through personalized 1:1 mentorship with PhD-level experts, students can dive into cutting-edge research projects that align with their passions.

Polygence's computer science program allows students to:

• Develop innovative projects like machine learning emotion recognition models

• Create practical solutions such as health monitoring devices

• Explore interdisciplinary research combining technology with fields like sports analytics

• Gain hands-on experience with advanced programming techniques

The mentorship model provides students with:

• Expert guidance from PhD candidates

• Personalized research direction

• Actionable feedback

• Skill development in research methodologies

• Potential publication and symposium presentation opportunities

Polygence offers two distinct programs to cater to different student needs:

1. Research Mentorship Program: The Research Mentorship Program involves ten one-on-one sessions with expert mentors to explore a self-chosen research topic in depth.

2. Polygence Pods: Polygence Pods are a six-week collaborative experience where small groups of students work together under the guidance of a mentor on specific topics, allowing for focused exploration and teamwork.

By participating in Polygence's computer science research programs, high school students can transform their interests into meaningful experiences that distinguish them in college admissions and beyond.

You may also find it useful to join any CS clubs at your school and develop a CS community around you. Feel free to reach out or network with computer science mentors and professionals and ask questions about the ups and downs of their work. Finally, look at different career paths you may be interested in pursuing.

Ultimately, whether you want to take computer science classes or not is totally up to you. However, I would encourage you to at least start learning more about this rapidly advancing field. I’ve noticed that a lot of fields revolve around CS in some way or another. Even if you decide that you wouldn’t want to study CS, at least you would have this valuable skill set and apply it to any field you're interested in.