Western Connecticut State University

Date: Aug 17 2010
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
I attended WCSU after having made the sore mistake of going to an out-of-state university and paying an arm and a leg for it.

WCSU is a good school for people who are interested in an education. If you are attending college to fledge socially, then maybe some of the other comments would give you a better idea than I. I am not a partier, I was not involved in campus activities, and had a social life that was almost completely outside of the campus.

This isn't to say that I didn't get along well with other students in my major—most of them were great, like-minded people…at the risk of sounding bigoted I'll say that this is probably because Computer Science tends to attract certain kinds of folks. I made a couple of great friends that I still talk to. I commuted for all but one semester, so I spent long 1-3 hour breaks between classes on campus, utilizing the CS-specific classrooms where other people in my major (and sometimes instructors) would come to chill and study (and help one another with projects) in a very relaxed, social-but-quiet-enough atmosphere. For a small department it was definitely close-knit and conducive to learning.

That being said, when I had to take courses outside of my major, the rest of the student body was tolerable for the most part—the other comments attesting to a lack of motivation or connection to reality ('oh crap I should actually be learning'/'extension of high school' state of mind) definitely rings true from what I saw in the 'Gen. Ed.' courses. Even within my department I found myself pitying the teachers more often than not when they would express great enthusiasm for the subject matter and be met with blank stares or people falling asleep. If you give a care and you show it, the faculty will definitely acknowledge this and put forth an equal effort for you. Even in courses outside of my major I experienced this.

Course scheduling is tight in that some major-level classes are only offered in Spring or Fall or once-every-other. I'm sure this depends on your major, but I would have paid more attention to which classes I planned to take ahead of time had I known this (It all worked out in the end, despite having to take some really boring core courses because of my poor planning).

The number of core classes required is pretty crazy…I ended up having to take a bunch of classes twice because certain lab sciences and writing intensive courses somehow didn't carry over from my previous school (which was a state university…nothing weird). They break their basic lab science courses into two semesters, meaning you need to take a year of biology for it to count as one lab science towards the requirement. My only gripe.

Also be warned that the Computer Science major is a B.A., not a B.S., though the faculty are petitioning to have this changed as the required lab time is incorporated into the course hours (approx. 1.5 additional hours per week). This didn't stop me from getting an awesome job in the field immediately after graduating. This is because I took advantage of the (free) resume-writing workshops and the JOB FAIR which landed me a fantastic internship (which became a career). I make more in my entry-level position than most graduates that I know personally who have a degree from this university—so while some negative comments about the general student population may be correct, your mileage may vary. The degree itself is a good one so long as your attitude is.