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The University of Texas at Austin, Computer Science, Cameron
- AskSTEM
- May 21
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 9
Name: Cameron
Age: 19
College / University: The University of Texas at Austin
Major: Computer Science
Country origin: United States
What did you do in high school to prepare you for this major? Tell us about your extracurricular activities and any honors/awards you received while preparing for university.
I was the founder of the only computer science club at my high school. I was the team captain for the school's UIL computer science team. I took AP Computer Science and AP Computer Science Principles. I also received a STEM distinction on my high school transcript for taking enough challenging STEM courses.
Please tell us your daily life schedule as a student with this major in your university.
I have class every day of the week. I usually wake up, get dressed, make breakfast, and pack a lunch, then head out to class or study before my later classes. I have lunch around 12:00 every day. After my classes are over, it's time to work on assignments until my club meetings. I have meetings every day of the week, whether it's for combat robotics, Christian fellowship, ballroom dance, or technical projects. Then I spend time with my friends or study until I pass out.
How do you manage your stress? What's the secret?
Keeping in touch with my family and close friends. Making sure to pray and stay close to God has really helped as well. Beyond that, just making sure that if I start to get overwhelmed, then something needs to drop—so I’ll take a break from the extracurriculars while I can.
What advice would you give high school students wanting to study this major?
Try to get as many AP classes out of the way—they'll help a lot in avoiding the college courses. Something that helped me identify what colleges, recruiters, workplaces, clubs—really any authority figure—are looking for: they want the people who are already there, not those with a lot of promise. So a company doesn't want an intern with a lot of potential; they want an intern who requires little to no training and is going to outperform their expectations. Colleges don't want students with a lot of promise; they want a student who is already able to handle lots of hard classes and extracurricular achievements.
Don't be afraid to get started now—go for it! You've got this.
What was the most helpful when applying to college for this major?
Probably my extracurricular activities. Grades can only speak for so much, but projects will showcase that you DO have those skills.
If there is an app/website/social media account that you love or follow related to your major, could you share the link?
Thank you to Cameron!
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