March 11, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR MARANDA MILLER IN NY
If you get the opportunity to take a programming class in high school I
would advise to do it. This would give you an exposure to programming and
let you know if you really like programming. Another option is to try to
participate in a summer camp that focuses on math/science but includes
programming. Most high schools offer Visual Basic or C for their
programming courses.

Right now the best language to know is JAVA so I would recommend learning
that language. The neat thing about programming is once you learn one
language it is easy to adapt to other languages. All programming languages
have the same purpose just a different format for getting there.

Here is a list of the best graduate schools for Computer Science which means
they are also good for undergraduate degrees.
1. Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University (CA)
University of California­Berkeley
5. University of Illinois­Urbana-Champaign
Some other good schools include Rochester Institute of Technology, Duke,
Georgia Tech, and Purdue.
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A: FROM MENTOR SHEILA ENGLAND IN PA
Take some programming courses but also take a foreign language, writing
(both technical and non-technical) and communications.
You will advance more quickly and get a job more easily if you have a
well-rounded education. I am a software engineer and a programmer analyst.
My job entails many duties, one of which is programming.