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- <h1>Why Computer Science at William and Mary</h1>
-
- <p class="description">
- Recently a rising high-school senior asked for input on what going to
- the College of William and Mary was like for a Computer Science degree.
- They were asking about the program itself as well as what it's like on
- and off campus. Here's what I sent to them.
- </p>
-
- <h2>Quick Intro</h2>
-
- <p>
- I graduated with a Bachelor's in Computer Science from W&amp;M in 2018.
- I'm a couple years in the workforce now but can still remember my
- experiences well enough to hopefully add my honest opinion on my time
- there as well as how it prepared me for my career. I will also add a
- little bit about my time on campus in a dorm and off-campus in Colonial
- Williamsburg.
- </p>
-
- <h2>Courses and Curriculum</h2>
-
- <p>
- I felt very positively about the array of courses that were offered
- while I was a student. I took a variety of core prerequisites, just like
- everyone else, and a good mix of electives. The courses I took include
- Data Structures and Algorithms, Software Development/Engineering,
- Computer Organization/Architecture, UNIX Systems Programming, Computer
- Graphics/Animation, and Computer and Network Security. This list is not
- exhaustive and I'm sure they aren't all offered anymore. I was also
- required to take a few math classes (Calc I, II, Discrete Math, Linear
- Algebra, and Finite Automata).
- </p>
-
- <p>
- It is true that the courses listed at <code>cs.wm.edu</code> aren't all
- offered at the same time. And it is also true that the higher-level
- electives pretty much all required my core prerequisites to be
- completed. The result is that the electives all came in my final two
- years. My understanding is the curriculum is designed to give someone
- the best possible background in computing as a whole. A lot of the
- topics may seem like they would never be useful in the "real world" but
- I have found the opposite is true. I am an application developer at a
- three-letter company. My day-to-day work is building and debugging web
- apps, but there's been a lot more to it than that. My first assignment
- on the job was scraping bytes off a remote shell and writing a parser to
- sift through them. The level of understanding I gathered from my core
- classes helped more than I expected they would. I think as a whole they
- give me an edge at work and help me teach my colleagues about
- algorithms, performance, and systems administration.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- That being said, course registration was always nightmarish. It was very
- difficult to get into the limited seats in the classes I was most
- interested in. Eventually the heads of the department had to pass around
- a sign up sheet and organize every student into courses, classrooms, and
- professors so that seniors would graduate on time and we could all get
- <em>something</em> on our schedules. I hope the shortage of teachers has
- caught up since I graduated. I learned from a long-time faculty member
- that this is largely a result of the exponential growth of incoming CS
- degree-seekers. The program has grown very popular in the last ten years
- and I like to think grads are catching on to that.
- </p>
-
- <h2>Teaching</h2>
-
- <p>
- CS@W&amp;M had neutral to good instructors for me. Some were far worse
- than others, as with all subjects. When I was there, lots of the older
- faculty were retiring and quickly being replaced with younger, newer
- instructors, which added to the growing pains of the program. The most
- important thing again was making sure there were enough teachers to
- teach all of the students.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- I know a few of my peers were very upset about what they described as a
- lack of communication or availability from their professors. Some have
- also mentioned they didn't like having to learn material on their own
- and wanted more to come from instruction. I don't deny that the material
- itself was difficult and there was a lot of hard work I had to do on my
- own to understand very involved concepts in intense, fast-paced courses.
- I think that hard work has paid off. I don't think there's realistically
- anywhere someone can learn about computing where they won't do any
- learning on their own. I am also a very visual, and hands-on learner so
- I suppose your mileage may vary.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The most important takeaway from this for me was the ability to pick up
- new concepts and technologies quickly and apply them productively. The
- majority of professors had project-driven courses. Lots of due dates
- meant learning how to transform what I read or learned in class into
- practical applications in short amounts of time. This has become,
- according to those I work with, one of my greater assets. I am
- constantly learning new things in my career and I don't have a lecturer
- to explain things to me. It's very powerful to have that and I am
- thankful for it. It also helps me teach that knowledge to my colleagues
- so we can move faster as a team.
- </p>
-
- <h2>Campus</h2>
-
- <p>
- I agree with my peers about the conditions of classrooms and buildings
- on campus. Some are old. I guess that comes with an old university but
- there are a choice few that haven't been kept up as best they could.
- Since CS is growing so fast it's also long outgrown its own offices.
- Classrooms are scattered throughout every academic building on campus
- and I probably had a CS course in at least 80% of them. That meant
- jumping from one side of campus to another and back again in between
- periods.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The College itself isn't too sprawling. I am long-legged and I found I
- could get from one end of campus to another in fifteen minutes on foot.
- I rode bike a lot to get to classes where I only had ten minutes to do
- it. It's also pretty marshy and woodsy in a lot of areas, so during the
- rainy season some walking paths got muddy or flooded. Good boots
- required. I have never been in as good shape as when I had to do all
- that walking but I definitely got soaked and winded making those
- transitions.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- I appreciate history and architecture and was drawn in by the look and
- feel of William and Mary as a result. Without getting too romantic, it's
- definitely a beautiful place to attend classes. The ancient Wren
- building still holds classes and it's a monument to the College's
- tradition. However, I really appreciated the modern academic buildings
- on the other side of campus where all of the new construction was taking
- place. Modern lab equipment and the library lived there.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The dorms were nothing to write home about. Lots of them were nested in
- the woods and built ages ago so they were a little tired and even dingy.
- Others are brand new and well maintained; ask around and get opinions on
- which ones to go for first chance you get. I made do with what I got for
- the first couple of years by keeping it clean and decorated. My last two
- years I lived in a couple of off-campus apartments. It was well worth
- the switch. Depending on where you are on campus you may need at least a
- bike to access local restaurants, shops, and the grocery store. A bike
- is a good idea anyway but it's not necessary for every dorm.
- </p>
-
- <h2>Colonial Williamsburg</h2>
-
- <p>
- Lots of my peers didn't appreciate CW as a "college town" but I enjoyed
- my time there. I can't speak about parties or clubbing, I was boring and
- didn't do any of that. I made a great group of friends and we would walk
- into town to get ice cream, see historical attractions (most of which
- are free as a student, IIRC), and see movies or plays when we weren't
- studying or playing video games in the dorm. There are some good,
- sort-of-affordable restaurants but they're kind of driving distance.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The best part about living there was meeting my wife. We would go on
- long walks to get away from studying and wound up seeing
- horse-and-carriages and the Governor's Palace and things like that. We
- would also escape with her car to go to some of the surrounding towns to
- get away to nice grocery stores and fun places to eat and explore on the
- weekends. I also have family in the area so it was easy for me to stop
- by home and say hi, although I know lots of students wanted to get as
- far away from home as possible.
- </p>
-
- <h2>Parting Words</h2>
-
- <p>
- I don't consider myself a gung ho alumnus. There are lots of things I
- think could be improved, both in CS and at W&amp;M as a whole but I do
- not regret my going there. There is no such thing as "everything is
- great" or "everything is terrible". It's not so definitive. I had my
- fair share of gripes and at times it strained me. There were pros and
- cons but I think I have a lot to be thankful for (I landed my job
- through W&amp;M recruiting and the career center as well, which are
- fantastic resources). I cannot say "do this instead of that." I haven't
- gone to any other colleges and don't know enough about them to recommend
- them as better or worse. What I can recommend is the same path I took
- for folks who want to pursue a degree in Computer Science. I think
- you'll come away from it all the more knowledgable, resourceful, and
- dedicated.
- </p>
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