Volunteer or get hired in a lab doing research. Not only will what you learn make your classes far easier, it will likely prove more useful than anything you learn in your classes. By volunteering in a lab you’ll get hands-on real world experiences, recommendations and networking connections with experts in your field, and if you put enough effort into it- publish peer reviewed papers.
Bioinformatics labs are usually a good option for CS students, if there are any at your school. I’m a grad student in bioengineering, and I’m constantly looking for students like you who (1) will be around at least 4 years so we can work on big projects together after I train them and (2) already have some programming experience. Given that you know some python already, you have a good shot at getting paid rather than having to volunteer.
Ignore the people who tell you to “practice your skills” with fake problems. This is just working on useless stuff, just like you’ll already be doing far too much of in your classes. Jump right into solving real problems and learning what it takes along the way.
Also, make sure you learn how to use unix/linux very well. I can’t believe how many “computer scientists” I meet who can’t use basic unix tools.
Volunteer or get hired in a lab doing research. Not only will what you learn make your classes far easier, it will likely prove more useful than anything you learn in your classes. By volunteering in a lab you’ll get hands-on real world experiences, recommendations and networking connections with experts in your field, and if you put enough effort into it- publish peer reviewed papers.
Bioinformatics labs are usually a good option for CS students, if there are any at your school. I’m a grad student in bioengineering, and I’m constantly looking for students like you who (1) will be around at least 4 years so we can work on big projects together after I train them and (2) already have some programming experience. Given that you know some python already, you have a good shot at getting paid rather than having to volunteer.
Ignore the people who tell you to “practice your skills” with fake problems. This is just working on useless stuff, just like you’ll already be doing far too much of in your classes. Jump right into solving real problems and learning what it takes along the way.
Also, make sure you learn how to use unix/linux very well. I can’t believe how many “computer scientists” I meet who can’t use basic unix tools.