Reviewers' Notebook: Course Enrollment Records

From CSWiki

Enrollment data may be divided into two main subsections: overall enrollments and CS majors. Subsections of this appendix discuss both pieces.

Nationally, CS enrollments and majors increased through the mid- and late-1990s, but then dropped dramatically with the ".com" difficulties. In the highest years, many students would come to college wanting to earn their first million dollars before age 25, and they thought that taking courses in computing would ensure that result. Many of these students had little idea just what computer science was about, but it seemed flashy. Many incoming students still believe that computing is about surfing the Web, hacking, and playing computer games; these students typically are quite surprised in CSC 151 that computer science has content, rigor, and depth.

Since the glamor has faded since 2001 or so, CS enrollments have decreased across the country, although recent evidence suggests that numbers have plateaued at some schools and are up slightly at others.

Federal FERPA regulations limit the amount and types of information that can be posted publically on this Wiki site. We will provide reviewers with more detailed statistics.

Overall CS Enrollments

Information on overall enrollments is available online in pdf format.

CS Majors

Grinnell's CS major was created in 1991, and enrollments increased eratically until about 2004. The CS faculty speculate about the causes behind the decrease from 2005-2007, but we have no definitive data. The graduating class of 2008 seems to have rebounded at least somewhat.

General data on CS majors are available in ods format and xls format.