>>18
It depends on the department. I know here in Cambridge they insisted on Further Maths which I have used quite a bit. Also yes there's no point in getting a Computer Science degree if you're going to end up just programming CRUD web applications or something like that but there are lots of valuable skills taught in a Computer Science degree even if you don't want to go into academia. It turns out that many of the abstractions in modern computer systems are leaky. Therefore it's important to know about how modern computer systems actually work to program efficiently for one. Most departments will have a fairly wide course as well which is good since you don't know what you don't know otherwise which will make things much harder when you come to try and solve an already solved problem. It's entirely possible to see certain part of modern computer systems as magic black boxes eg compilers or operating systems but if you don't know how they work then if they break you might not understand why and you'll be a lot more vulnerable to people spewing bullshit. Also it's an excellent opportunity for networking and potentially starting up. Posters to this board are trying to impress you by pretending to be jaded/cynical. Don't buy it. Knowledge is good. If you have more knowledge about computer systems then you will be able to pursue higher end programming jobs. (It is of course possible to pursue /fairly/ high end programming jobs without having a degree by having a career.)
As far as "bullshit degree" goes, it's not as prestigious as maths or physics, sure. (But doing things purely for prestige is kind of silly. Too many have ended up with a 3rd in maths for chasing prestige.) It's not as coherent either. There's no real base upon which computer science is built. It is neither solely a natural science a branch of mathematicians or a branch of engineering. Rather it is all of them. As such, it may seem at times to have a bit of a personality crisis. Personally I kind of like this.