I think it would be a good idea for your school to implement at least a senior project, but you really should focus on doing it in a team. I don't know of many software development shops that have lone coders. You will be amazed at how different and more challenging it is to really work with others to complete something that none of you could have done on your own.
I am about to graduate from a school called Neumont University. It's located in South Jordan, Utah. Most of you won't have heard of it, since it has been around for about 3 years now. The whole premise of the school is learning how to develop software, not just learn computer science. I had gone to West Point and studied computer science there. Unfortunately I got hurt and didn't graduate. Still, the program at Neumont is leagues more advanced than West Point's.
The school goes year round and we are in class for about 40 hours a week, so we finish all the credit hours of a 4 year degree in about 2 years. It feels a lot like a regular job. We focus on working in teams, and start building projects from about the first week of classes. Our course load is split between theory classes and project classes. In my theory classes I have learned C# and Java, how to create and maintain databases in MS SQL and DB2, and how to model business data and data structures. I have also had classes in project management as well as several design theories. In my project classes I have worked in teams that have had 5 to 12 people in them. When I first started my project classes we built some smaller things like a Point of Sale application. I have been part of a team that built a community building site that is similar to Facebook.com. My next project was to create an RSS aggregator sort of like Google reader, but a little more dynamic. The project I have been working on for the past 5 months is an implementation of BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) called GWEN (Graphical Workflow ENvironment). BPMN was recently bought by OMG (the organization that produced UML) they are going through the process of formalizing the language right now. What is really cool is that the project is going to be released on Source Forge in about 3 weeks. It will be picked up by future students and developed for the next couple of years.
Neumont isn't perfect. The stress of going to class every day for 8 or 9 hours a day is rough, but it has prepared me well for the real world. I don't know that I could have said the same for a "normal" school.
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I think it would be a good idea for your school to implement at least a senior project, but you really should focus on doing it in a team. I don't know of many software development shops that have lone coders. You will be amazed at how different and more challenging it is to really work with others to complete something that none of you could have done on your own.
I am about to graduate from a school called Neumont University. It's located in South Jordan, Utah. Most of you won't have heard of it, since it has been around for about 3 years now. The whole premise of the school is learning how to develop software, not just learn computer science. I had gone to West Point and studied computer science there. Unfortunately I got hurt and didn't graduate. Still, the program at Neumont is leagues more advanced than West Point's.
The school goes year round and we are in class for about 40 hours a week, so we finish all the credit hours of a 4 year degree in about 2 years. It feels a lot like a regular job. We focus on working in teams, and start building projects from about the first week of classes. Our course load is split between theory classes and project classes. In my theory classes I have learned C# and Java, how to create and maintain databases in MS SQL and DB2, and how to model business data and data structures. I have also had classes in project management as well as several design theories. In my project classes I have worked in teams that have had 5 to 12 people in them. When I first started my project classes we built some smaller things like a Point of Sale application. I have been part of a team that built a community building site that is similar to Facebook.com. My next project was to create an RSS aggregator sort of like Google reader, but a little more dynamic. The project I have been working on for the past 5 months is an implementation of BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) called GWEN (Graphical Workflow ENvironment). BPMN was recently bought by OMG (the organization that produced UML) they are going through the process of formalizing the language right now. What is really cool is that the project is going to be released on Source Forge in about 3 weeks. It will be picked up by future students and developed for the next couple of years.
Neumont isn't perfect. The stress of going to class every day for 8 or 9 hours a day is rough, but it has prepared me well for the real world. I don't know that I could have said the same for a "normal" school.
-Trip