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Computer Science Enrollments Match NASDAQ's Rises and Fall

dcblogs writes: In March 2000, the NASDAQ composite index reached a historic high of 5,048, at just about the same time undergrad computer science enrollments hit a peak of nearly 24,000 students at PhD-granting institutions in the U.S. and Canada, according to data collected by the Computing Research Association in its most recent annual Taulbee Survey. By 2005, computer science enrollments had halved, declining to just over 12,000. On July 17, the NASDAQ hit its highest point since 2000, reaching a composite index of 5,210. In 2014, computer science undergrad enrollments reached nearly, 24,000, almost equal to the 2000 high. Remarkably, it has taken nearly 15 years to reach the earlier enrollment peak.

11 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. And yet 15 years later... by damn_registrars · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... we still can't get competent editors at slashodt. Certainly there must have been someone who minored in English or Journalism who could take care of these atrocious front-page grammar and readability issues? I've seen better writing in comment sections of code written by people who learned English as a third or fourth language.

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    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:And yet 15 years later... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      ... we still can't get competent editors at slashodt. Certainly there must have been someone who minored in English or Journalism who could take care of these atrocious front-page grammar and readability issues? I've seen better writing in comment sections of code written by people who learned English as a third or fourth language.

      Oh, the irony...

    2. Re:And yet 15 years later... by TWX · · Score: 2

      It's kind of amusing to read a complaint about poor use of English that contains a typo.

      Slashdot's editors typically don't do much to user submissions. I'm not surprised that an otherwise language-poor summary is published.

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      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    3. Re:And yet 15 years later... by halivar · · Score: 2

      He's not an editor.

    4. Re:And yet 15 years later... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      If there was, it would write your post as:

      HELP!!!! I am needing to transalt the engish. Is any guru knowing one app that is doing the needful? ** URGENT ***

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Re:Not surprising at all by TWX · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Factor college-admissions as a trailing economic indicator too, where people chase what's encouraged as the hot career path, and it's not exactly a surprise to see cyclical enrollments correlating with business.

    After watching the doctom and housing bubbles, by the time the average person hears about it, it's too late to enter that trend and come out ahead. I suspect one of the next bubbles will be in health care. We see a lot of discussion of Nursing and careers below nursing on the pecking-order, and I suspect relatively soon there will be a lot of medical grads that can't find work.

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    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  3. Re:Not surprising at all by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2

    The delusion amongst many academics, that students enroll in programs for any reason but to cash out and make money, continues unabated. We are still subjecting people who are paying an awful lot of money to general ed requirements, when advanced and focused trade schools would probably be the right solution for the the majority of applicants. Academia is a calling, one that requires either extreme dedication or a trust fund to hear.

  4. Re:Not surprising at all by Sqr(twg) · · Score: 2

    That's probably true to some extent, but there's not enough statistical evidence to rule out a "rock music causes oil production"-type correlation.

    Unrelated things frequently peak within a few years from each other by pure chance.

  5. Butter Production in Bangladesh by ardmhacha · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And the S&P500 correlates with butter production in Bangladesh.

    http://business.time.com/2009/...

    Correlation, causation etc.

  6. Re:Not surprising at all by Bengie · · Score: 2

    People who get into programming for the money are the worst programmers. We don't need more warm bodies.

  7. Finally! by Tyrannosaur · · Score: 2

    We have found a way to get more women to enroll for CS! All we have to do is make the NASDAQ really high!