FAQs

Students may schedule advising appointments to discuss their questions about a minor, assess their present progress, declare a minor, or gather advice and direction regarding their computing interests. We offer in-person and virtual options. If the available times do not match with your schedule, please email pcas.advising@umich.edu for alternative options.

There are no prerequisites to declare either minor; however, students must have declared a major, first.  Students can declare by scheduling an advising appointment or by using our online declaration form.

No. AP or any other test credit cannot be applied toward the core-requirements of either the Computing for Expression or Computing for Scientific Discovery minors. Techically, AP may be applied to minor prerequistes, but our minors have no prerequistes. (See #10) 

COMPFOR courses allow advanced students more space for personal curiosities in computing and design work than is permitted in comprehensive introductions to a single computing language. In COMPFOR courses, students are able to shape final projects as evidence of their coding skills and vision, while at same time engaging with the social and cultural impacts of code and learning to communicate their creations with others.

Snap! is designed for new learners, but it still has value for those more advanced who are seeking collaboration skills. If you find programming work where you work alone or with equally knowledgeable peers, high abstraction may not be necessary; however, if you seek to lead teams with varying levels of technological understanding you need a toolkit to make these teams work as well as an first-hand understanding of how new learners meet these technologies.  Visual programming platforms are such a tool. From the educational SNAP! to the more production-oriented MS Visual Basic, these tools offer a means of prototyping and sharing concepts quickly. You should consider the value of computing languages beyond their production or career value and consider how they are tools of computing communication and education which are essential for leading varied teams.

Our minors provide a manageable engagement with computing that introduces students to key computational reasoning skills, such as solution design, algorithms, abstraction, code analysis, and the ethics of computing. These general areas provide means for new learners to develop a solid foundation in computational thinking and problem-solving for lifelong learning. This combination of skills and knowledge prepares students to effectively collaborate in interdisciplinary teams, enhancing their versatility and adaptability in various professional settings. 

While computers cannot tell us what it means to be human, they can perform textual analysis of literature, historical texts and social media to uncover patterns, themes, and sentiments. This can be particularly useful for large texts and repetitive actions on those texts. Tools such as AWK for deliniated files, Regular Expressions (Regex) for search and manipulation of string data, and the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) or a Beautiful Soup for parsing and sentiment analysis can offer new understandings of voluminous data; nevertheless, the meaning and significance we choose to make of this data is always and completely human.

“Computing” is focused on broader applications of programming in specific use cases, while “Computer Science” is often focused on the theoretical foundations and practical methods. Or, in other words, computing is a broader umbrella term that refers to all activities related to computer technology and information processing, while computer science is a specific academic discipline that focuses on the principles and practice of computation.

Computing is “general” only in the sense that you get to decide how apply your computing expertise and define its significance. Many COMPFOR courses will allow you to create projects of your own design. Through broader frame of computing, you can elevate your discrete applications of computing and contextualize them in terms of your studies and the needs/concerns of potential employers. Computing allows for specificity; however, you must actively articulate this specificity through your projects.

The Digital Studies (DIGITAL) minor is uniquely positioned to address “the role that digital media play in U.S. culture, history, and media” while providing “students with the methods and tools for studying, analyzing, and writing about their everyday engagements” with digital culture. Digital Studies is a much needed program, as we must access the impacts and possibilities of the Digital toward culture and society. A few Digital Studies courses may involve coding and critique. On the other handthe Computing for Expression minor may intersect with some of these concerns (i.e., cultural and social impacts), however, most of the courses in either of our minors will involve some direct engagement with coding. In short, our minors are a bit more concerned with engaging with code and the Computing for Expression minor could enable students to engage with social issues through their self-designed expressive computing projects.  (Our Computing for Scientific Discovery minor, would generally have few analogues with Digital Studies)

NOTE: Keep in mind, if considering both, no courses can be shared between academic minors in LSA (See #6))

The Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences (QMSS) minor is focused on human data within the broad framework of the Social Sciences. In the expansion of digitized data about social behaviors, QMSS applies the tools of data science and domain-based electives toward understanding human behavior and beliefs. QMSS would support student interests in analyzing social data, regardless of their major. Similarly, the Computing for Scientific Discovery (CSD) minor, would also allow student some introduction to the principles and tools of data science, however, CSD minor would be more focused on courses that involve applied and domain specific-applications of computation, such as ASTRO 416 “Data Science for Astrophysicists.” (Our Computing for Expression minor, would generally have no analogues with Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences)   

NOTE: Keep in mind, if considering both, no courses can be shared between academic minors in LSA (See #6)) 

Yes, the Computing for Expression minor, would help to introduce you to the manipulation digital media from image to sound to film. After completing COMPFOR 111 and 121, which explores foundational computing principles in the contexts of social and expressive use, you’ll delve into Python-based electives and complete a capstone course involving substantial self-designed project using industry tools (e.g., MAX/MSP, Blender). Recently, we have included courses in digital music to our electives list, and plan to expand our offerings in animation. Regardless, students may petition animation courses with a significant coding element for a minor exception. These will be reviewed bi-weekly in the fall and winter terms.

Hiring trends for entry-level programmers fluctuate due to a variety of factors, from market corrections to the changing business priorities to the new technologies such as AI; however, in the roughly three years since the debut of LLMs like ChatGPT concerns about employment outcomes are somewhat warranted, but perhaps limited considering the ongoing demand for skilled coders in AI-related fields.

Learning to code fosters essential skills such as logic, problem-solving, and the ability to understand and manipulate technological tools, which are valuable across many industries. AI systems can handle numerous tasks but lack the creativity, ethical judgment, and adaptability that humans bring to problem-solving.  Furthermore, to remain competitive, it's important to invest in skills like critical thinking and digital fluency. AI requires constant oversight and it must be monitored and trained. These are human jobs.

It is crucial that AI systems are human-aligned with ethical standards and operate as intended, providing opportunities for those skilled in both coding and ethical technology management. Therefore, pursuing coding as a skill positions individuals not just to work with AI but to help define its future roles in society.