Picking a major is like dating

(2009 CCSF Commencement. Photo by Jim Wong)

 “I’m interested in being a doctor, a business person with my own line of clothes, and a chef, so what am I to take?”, the first time CCSF new high school graduate asks me.

“Well,” I gingerly explain, “There’s Biology (44 units), General Business (27 units), and the Culinary (44 units) majors.  Do you want to be at CCSF for four years full time including summers to earn the 124 credits so you can transfer to a full year college for another five years to finish just the bachelors in these three areas?”

My new student is stunned.  “If you don’t want to be at CCSF for four years,” I ask, “What’s at the top of the list of your majors?”

Picking a major is making a commitment to get the training and experience so you can compete for the first level of entry-level jobs in your chosen career.  Having double majors or multiple interests is like dating two-three different people.  In the end, you have to commit to one major/career and earn the needed credential, gain useful experience (E.G., internship), and begin taking the necessary steps to enter and climb your career ladder.  Focusing on one career field saves time and keeps you on track.

A Series of careers

Today, you must expect to have more than two-three different careers in your life, but they happen in succession with additional educational and training over a lifetime.  After ten years of being a chef, my student might want to jump into the business side, or change paths completely to work in the health field.  If so, CCSF will be here as it has always been for people beginning, changing, or enhancing their world of work.

Bottom line: Pick a path and go.

CCSF: Still the Best Buy in America

Who’s Paying the Real Cost of Registration?

 

Most students wince at paying $46 per credit at City College of San Francisco but compared to New York State’s $165 per credit, California community colleges is among the best deals in American higher education

A more realistic per unit price is a private college where fees more closely reflect the actual cost of running a college.  A typical private college is our neighbor the University of San Francisco, a private Jesuit university, charging $1,415 per credit! ($39,840 Annual tuition).  Their charges reflects school salaries, facilities, utilities, maintenance, insurance, public safety, and all the costs associated with a large organization.  How does CCSF and all the California community colleges get away with $46?

The California tax payer makes up the $1,369 difference and has been ever since 1960 when the California legislature created The MasterPlan for Higher Education for the community college, California State University, and University of California system.  The goal was to train and educate as many Californians to be productive citizens as possible.  The resulting 1960’s-forward California economic boom has strong ties to our home grown highly educated workforce.

In Spring 2010 CCSF students paid $26 per credit (compared to $11 in Spring 2003!) but due to California’s budget problems made worse by the 2007 Great Recession fees jumped to $46 by Fall 2012. Forgotten is the 2007 fee drop to $20.  My hope is as California’s economy improves and tax revenues return, fees again will drop. 

Californians must remind Sacramento in future budget planning to restore funding for higher education and bring down costs.  I don’t know if we’ll ever see $11 per credit but we can do better than $46!

Stanford Announces New CS & Humanities Major

Do the math or else.

 Grace Hopper & UNIVAC Computer, 1960. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Stanford University announced a new Fall 2014 major – Computer Science and Humanities in response to Computer Science (CS) majors wanting more than tech training, and Humanity majors wanting to be tech competitive, reports The SF Gate. The problem is only the CS majors will benefit while the Humanities-oriented student are forced to be CS major or look elsewhere.  The key is math.

I once asked a CS major graduate, “What’s the difference between a CS and Computer Information Systems/Information Systems Management major?”  He laughed, “CIS/ISM majors are former CS majors who can’t do the math.”  

Simply, Computer Science majors are closet Math majors, they learn how to code using higher math skills learned in Calculus and beyond.  Doubt me?  Stanford's CS majors take 26 units of Math. Check any four year college catalog for what kinds of math CS majors are required to master.  It’s not unusual for a CS major to double major in Math because they share the bulk of the same requirements

A Humanities/Liberal Arts major will have to master a similarly high level of math and coding.  If not they’re not a Computer Science major but something else – CIS/ISM.

Simply, can those Humanity majors seeking a competitive tech edge with Stanford’s new hybrid major hack the math?  Or, is this a program a new way for Humanity-Liberal Arts departments to keep jobs and slow their shrinking budgets compared to their science and technology colleagues?