Looking at this thread, it looks like a lot of VGChartz users are Computer Science majors. So, I figured it would be wise to gather the opinions of some you guys. I'm thinking about going into CS, so I want to know: how difficult is it? 

I've always received easy As in math whenever I tried. In fact, I sometimes think of myself quite gifted in the subject, however, I hear CS is very difficult. How difficult was it for you?

If you took a similar course like Computer engineering, then your experience is valued too, since I might change my mind and persue that major

But of course the biggest question is this: While studying Computer Science, did you have time/energy to play video-games?

I'm a double major Computer and Electrical Engineering Technology. I was originally only a EET major but then added CPET my sophomore spring semester. The only reason I decided to double major was my school recently added Comp. Eng. Tech. and I'd only have to take about 6-8 extra courses (each course is 3-4 credits so that is about an extra semester and a half). I spend roughly 2-4 hours a night doing homework (teachers recommend 2 hours of study for every hour in class). Typically, I don't game at all during the week. I try to get a few hours in over the weekend, but even then it's not every weekend. I was like you, I did fairly well in math. I'm not sure for CS, but CPET requires 3 Calculus Courses and Differential Equations which sounds scarier than it really is. If you are genuinely interested in programming and are not afraid to sacrifice social and gaming time, I would say go for it. CS is a much wider field than people think and the job market is HUGE right now. I remember reading an article when I was in high school saying programming was going to die away by 2010, but now it's bigger than ever. If you have any other questions, I'll try to help the best I can.

Math/Computer Science is probably the major in highest demand right now and for the forseeable future.

If you can do the math (Calculus, Differential Equations, Physics etc) you should do it. If you can graduate somehow you won't regret it with the flexibility itwill provide in the job market.

Some people choose majors that nothing can be done with (like anthropology lol), but CS aint one of em.

Do you like programming? Do you want to make games? Great! Computer Science is your first step. However, it is not all programming. Not even close. I'd say about 15-20% of your degree specific (undergrad) courses will be of this nature. Prepare for a lot of math (as has been mentioned) and higher level computing theory. Stuff that is quite far removed from what we do on PCs today. It's a good major but I find that a lot of people either do not get the theory or they do not get the programming. Some people get neither! You may want to read up on some computing disciplines like automata, computational complexity, and data structures. Data structures is one of the weeder courses.

Yeah, I usually had enough time for games.

I don't think it's about how hard it is, but whether or not you're interested in the subject. Nothing's impossible if you put your mind to it.

Hi, my cousin is doing Computer Science at Cambridge, which is one of the most academic courses in the world for this subject. In order to do this he took Maths, Further Maths and Physics courses in high school, no computer courses at all (they discourage you taking any).

He has 14 lectures a week plus 8 hours of practicals and ~20 hours of tutorial and tutorial homework. That still leaves time for him to play video games if he wants.

You need two things: 1) as much Mathematics as you can get at high school, and as high a grade as possible in it, and 2) Loving program efficiency, and wanting to make everything you code more efficient. CS is not about getting results (that's "programming"), it's about literally the theory of efficient computation.

There are plenty of easier programmes calling themselves CS but are really just office-work and VB macros courses. These have inferior job prospects.

I'm not someone who does computer engineering, but I'm doing masters in Astrophysics and we have a fair bit of programming/computing. From my experience, it's not so much about the maths as it is about you just playing around with whatever software package you are working on and being patient. But yes you do need to be decent in maths as well since that does help in learning a lot of program logic, etc. If you already aren't used to it, I'd highly suggest getting used to a command-line interface such as Linux.

As for if you will have time left for gaming, that depends on the course. For me I normally don't get much time to game on weekdays at all. But on weekends I can sneak in a healthy dose on gaming without too much troubles. But I do carry my handhelds to and from uni, so that's some extra gaming time. Don't let gaming set you back from a good career you may be interested in.

What's wrong with anthropology? I think it's a great subject

What do you do when a music major knocks on your door?

Give it your money and take your pizza!

(computer science joke)

This also. It's much easier to see how a real OS works by using it, and the command line is VERY powerful for programming. Also something like Ubuntu makes a decent second desktop OS for when the first one needs troubleshooting.