Did you know that computer science is a popular major at MIT? Well, it’s pretty obvious once you step on campus. More than 40% of students are majoring in something related to computer science. And once you go to the career fair, you’d feel sorry for all the people who weren’t studying it. Half of the companies are tech-related, and the most common role that they hire are software engineers. They’re also tons of free shirts, so it’s great for people who don’t want to think about choosing their wardrobe.

Then there’s the allure of a high-paying job and the clout of the largest tech companies. I do think it is on people’s minds when they think of a career path. How can I support myself? And right now, the job market is hot for computer science majors. Startups are heavily recruiting to get you to leave school, and large companies try and sell you into the corporate world. Anyone who is remotely uncertain of their future career ends up in computer science.

Having worked as an associate advisor, I remember having a conversation with Professor Babbin (who isn’t a CS professor) about why students should take their science institute requirements before sophomore spring. He said: “If only more students took bio or chem their first year, we’d have a much more balanced class in terms of majors” (obviously paraphrased — I can’t even remember things from last week!). Many people I’ve met choose majors based on their experience in classes. By delaying chem and bio classes, students take 6.0001 (the intro CS class) instead and ultimately declare computer science.

What are the pros?

There are pros to being a computer science major (like myself). Most of your friends will be taking the same classes as you and can help you understand concepts or help with your homework. It’s also nice because upperclassmen can give you great class recommendations and potentially even be on the same project team as you. Although in my experience, you want people in the same grade working on group projects because seniors tend to know a lot but quickly get lazy.

However, some people don’t like computer science and eventually switch out. Blindly following ‘what everyone else is doing’ can really hurt your time at MIT. I’ll write more about it at another time.