Am I competitive for the top UC's

ucbalumnus
Mon, 23 Jul 2018 17:49:54 +0000

For UCB, you have a choice between applying for CoE EECS and L&S CS. CoE EECS is generally considered reach for everyone, but would give direct admission to the major. L&S CS cannot be applied to directly – you would apply to L&S undeclared, which could be a high match to low reach for someone in your GPA range. But you would then need to earn a 3.3 college GPA in the three prerequisite CS courses (about half of students in these courses earn B+ or higher grades) in order to declare the L&S CS major.

Be aware that while UCSD looks fairly likely for admission to the campus at your GPA, admission to the CS major is much more difficult, and trying to get into the CS major after enrolling is difficult. In general, apply more widely (e.g. UCSC, UCR, UCM) than you think you need to, because CS is a more competitive major at many campuses.

Note that UC use of SAT subject tests varies by campus, division, and major: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/examination-requirement/SAT-subject-tests/index.html

Among the CSUs, CPSLO and SJSU are quite competitive for CS. SJSU past admission thresholds are given at http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/ (based on an eligibility index of GPA * 800 + SATRW + SATM, where GPA is calculated the same way that UCs do).