MIS or Computer Science

[MiniThug]

Ok, I earlier posted a thread for MIS majors but now I would like to get both of the two majors responses. What did you go through in your classes, what kind of work load did you have, what types of things do you learn and what are you doing now? Please help me out guys, I am trying to decide my major for next year. I am a senior now and plan on going to Texas A&M University. The main interest in my life is computers and thats what I plan on doing for my career. Ive got a decent basis of C++ down as I have taken CS I and II at my high school. I feel that I also might enjoy some business courses though, thats why I threw the MIS in there. Just let me know what you think.

 

[Jumpem]

I'm just getting ready to transfer to Rochester Institute of Technology as a third year CS major. Here's what I've taken that relates:

Calc I, II, III
Discrete Math
Physics I, II - Required Calc III
Java - Data Structures = Queues, Stacks, Trees, Linked Lists, Algorithms
ANSI C
Assembly Language - Motorola 68HC12B32 Embedded CPU
Priciples of Operating Systems - Studied VAX/VMS

Plus History, English, Economics, and all that other required stuff.

 

[Ewu]

I know your dilemma... after considering both majors at my school a long time ago. I decided to go CS, but that was mainly because the programming courses (or should I say lack of) for MIS majors in my school changed my mind. It was so dumbed down over the last few years because a lot of the MIS majors complained it was too hard that I seriously couldn't picture myself taking it. Well that and I know I would be bored out of my mind taking the business courses, esp. since I took enough to get into the MIS minor. Even now, I still help a lot of my MIS major friends do their Java homework now talk about sad. The funny thing is I taught myself Java, but since I'm a fourth year CS student I guess it's easier for me to learn and adapt. If there's anything I learned in my CS classes and that is to be resourceful, esp. since some of my professors were more concerned about their research than actual lecturing.

Oh yeah, if your going for CS prepared to be bombarded with a lot of math. Even then, you have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do. Usually a good indicator are those intro. classes during your freshman year.

 

[poop]

I am CECS. that is Computer Engineering/Computer Science.

I am in my 4th year (of five - Masters ), and have taken the following:
Calc 1-3
Diff Eq.
Discrete Math
Linear Algebra
Prob and Stats for engineers
Pascal (whooopee)
Logic and Design
Passive Networks
C++
Data Structs
File Structs
Automata
Operating Systems
Object Oriented design
Computer Interfacing (assembly/hardware lab)
Physics 1,2 (calc based)
Chemistry 201
Thermodyamics
Statics

This is quite a bit more Engineering related than I think you will take as a pure CS major, but I think it is worth mentioning my requirements anyhow. I highly recommend a CS degree over a MIS. I would recommend a CE degree over both.

It all depends on what you want to do with your life. I will probably work on embedded systems/system design. I love to code low level C. I also like to mess around with circuits. If you like that junk, CE is for you. IF you would rather write high-level apps, go with Cs. I cannot really recommend MIS. I think a CS degree with a business background is MUCH better than MIS, though. MIS degrees don't have a whole lot of technical merit, and the business part is not quite enough to be useful. A lot of people go for their MBA and CECS degree here (though they are in school for 7 years). It all depends on what you want to do.

Breakdown:
Hardware/firmware/light software - CE
Heavy Software/firmware - CS
Visual Basic/HTML - MIS

 

[MiniThug]

Texas A&M offers Computer Science under the engineering track, Computer Engineering(EE) and straight computer science. If I opt for computer science, I would most likely go for the computer science track under the computer engineering program. That may be similar to what you are taking Poop. It gives a background in both hardware and software but a little more software based.

 

[denali]

If you are not good at or don't like math I'd say MIS. If you like to program I'd say CS. You could always do CS mith a major/minor in some area of business if you are interested in business. When I went to school in CS I took one MIS class upper level and it was a joke. I don't really see why they offer MIS other than for those that couldn't hack CS. Several of my class mate switch to MIS because the couldn't hack CS.

 

[loogie]

ut has better cs.

\m/

 

[poop]

They call it CIS at my school. It is where all the CECS dropouts go. I have seen what they do in 300-level courses, and it is a joke. Mid-way through the semester, they were doing an entire unit on binary math. Give me a break.

MIS/CIS/BIS are all majors that don't get much respect. A CS with some sort of business minor will definitely make you more employable. CECS has a 99% job placement at my school for the past few years, not too shabby. CIS is much lower.

 

[MiniThug]

Bump, please help me out guys

 

[CoolTechie]

MIS baby

switched from cs and never looked back.... i go to Northeastern University in Boston... pretty phat ass program.. Its heavy on Business courses and typical MIS courses relating to data management networking and systems intergration... Mis can either be the easy way out for a programmer.. or it can be the way to go if you want to run the show... thats what i intend to do... im minoring in bus. management too.. Its pretty sick.. Im really good at the management thing and I love computers and all the fixins.. Im on my 3rd Coop now doin webdesign and netwerk management.. already got 3 years experience and i dont graduate for 2 more years... Listen to these classes Im takin next quarter.. E=commerce Systems Design, Advanced Data Management, decision support systems.. and my filler, intro to astronomy... My werk load can be heavy but its good stuff.. alot funner than solving CS math problems.. cuz MIS is more business oriented its alot of personal relational stuff and I learned a sh!tload from my finance requirements... anyways... can you tell i like MIS?? good luck bro

 

[CoolTechie]

oh and just to let you know... the stuck up CS grads at my school are avg about 40k-45k out of school... with a high of about 75k first year out... where as the mis majors are about 45-55k to start with a high of 65k last year... i think those are fairly accurate.. but either way if your good at what you do, your gonna make the money. They really are 2 totally different majors though when it comes down to it.. but its true that many of failing cs majors switch to mis but still pursue the cs aspect for a career

also just to let u know... i continue to take a cs or ce class here and there when i can.. so im hittin it from all sides.. which is something u may want to think about

 

[MiniThug]

To the top once more

 

[MiniThug]

And once again I bump

 

[Soybomb]

Well around here if you're in the CIS (same as mis/other business oriented stuff) you're either A.)a wee bit on the slow side if you know what I mean or B.)unable to hack CS

CE is considered the "ultimate" by many around here if you will because its the harders with all the math. CS is a short step below it and more centered on programming. I'm in CS even though I prefer hardware becuase I dislike math.

Good luck

 

[ElFenix]

UT has some of the best AI in the country, and our MIS is very well regarded. of course, you've probably been brainwashed into attending a&m, you already have the t.u. down, salute the dog, think that a&m actually owns UT at football or something else daft. if not, please consider austin. most people find austin to be better than college station anyway, more to do. althogh rent is cheaper in college station. lived there once. bored out of my mind. they did have cable modems before anyone else did though.


oops, forgot the whole t-sip bit. not really sure where that came from.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

What exactly is the difference between MIS and CS? I think MIS is more business oriented, but it would be nice to know the actual difference

 

[ElFenix]

MIS at UT is a business degree, and essentially teaches you how to run programs like cold fusion and sql server and stuff like that. bit of networking theory thrown in, but mostly practical application experience. CS is theoretical. they teach you the theory, not really anything practical such as specific languages and applications. hell, you don't even come out knowing how to program for windows. but you can write your own OS and database and networking protocols.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Damn. I think I'm in the wrong field then. I imagined CS as something where I'd get knowledge in certain languages. Guess I need to see a career counselor

 

[loogie]

well...with cs, you can take some courses that deal with programming in c++, but they are not a requirement. I'm currently taking cs315, which uses c++ and teaches data structures.

yo fenix, what year are you? I'm a second year freshman...grrrr... missed it by an hour so I couldn't get into 310 and 336.

 

[ElFenix]

here you learn a lot of C, there are a couple Java courses, and some classes taught in funky languages like scheme and haskell. you do know languages, but the point is to know the theory since once you know that picking up other languages is easy.

 

[ElFenix]

i'm a senior economics/gov't/history major becuase i hate programming. but i'm in the taylor basement just about every day in the ACM office.

 

[ElFenix]

1001st post!

 

[GT1999]

I do fine in all of my classes at college, except for Math. As for English, History, Economics or pretty much any other subject, I do great in it.

I would love to persue a career in CE that is hardware based. I have always wanted to design hardware and focus in CE but it's pretty much impossible for me. I have a distaste for programming, but am more than willing to take the courses necessary to get a career in networking, which is my goal. I work at an ISP presently, and in 7 more months I will practically be running the place by myself. This includes knowlege of UNIX, Linux, NT 4, Win2000 Adv. Serv, Allaire Cold Fusion, telnet, etc.

The only question I have is this: I wish to become something in the networking field with high pay, preferably configuring and maintaining a network. Would this be considered CE, MIS, CS? As of right now I'm taking general courses with no problems, other than of course Math.

 

[ElFenix]

that sorta thing sounds like it falls under MIS here at UT. i don't know how bad you are at math, but we offer a BA of CS that requires only second semester calculus. if you can handle that you should look into similar offerings where you are. MIS here requires business calculus, which isn't exactly easy as eating pie either. if you're stuck in college algebra, i'd suggest leaving any degree remotely math based and looking at gov't/history/philosophy, and other worthless majors. (i can make fun of them because i am in the set of worthless majors)

 

[vi edit]

Really depends upon the school....
I graduated with a BS in CS and had to take these classes:

College Algebra
COBOL
C++
Perl
Basic HTML and web design
Visual Basic
Systems analysis and design
Database
Networking
Information Technology management
Information technology
Advanced web design
Accounting
Micro-econ
Macro-econ
Intro to business
8 Hours of internship

Really just a dukes mixture. IMHO, if you want to do something besides programming, go w/ the MIS route.

And from my experience, a degree, no matter what it's in, is just a way to get your foot in the door. What really comes into play, especially in the IT/MIS/CIS/CS/CE field is experience. If you worked an internship a couple years through college, you'll have a significantly better opportunity to land a good job and/or better pay than just having a degree alone.

I interned for a company while college doing 3rd shift tech support for their systems. When I graduated they offered me 34k a year salary working 3 days a week. 34k doesn't sound like much, but it was in Dubuque, Iowa, where with 40k you can live like a king.

I worked for them for 3 weeks and took a better job for several grand more a year working as a system admin for a small business.

If you ask me, concentrate less on your major, and look more for the internships/experience.