My GPA is less than 3.0 and I’m looking to get a undergrad degree in UI/UX. I’m seeing college rankings for Graphic degree undergrad degree but not able to find any list which ranks colleges for UI/UX programs. Any good colleges with UI/UX programs and accepting less than 3.0 GPA. We are in California and already have SJSU, ASU on list. Note: not looking for UCs.
Also suggest whats the alternate path. Is it a good idea to take Psychology major and then take 6-12 months UI/UX course later during undergrad completion.
TIA
I’m not sure what GPA is the right range for it, but SFSU has an industrial design major, which has some UX classes as a part of it:
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Psychology is often going to be impacted but is likely offered at your service area CSU. Look into Chico, Sonoma State, Cal Poly Humboldt.
Run the Net Price Calculator with a parent and see whether any of these colleges is affordable:
AT Cal Lutheran, Whittier, or St Mary’s of CA, Psychology will not be impacted and they’re accessible with a B- GPA.
Out of CA, Oregon Tech has Applied Psychology, which you could pair with a minor in Information Systems.
The Tech+ programs at IIT would likely be of interest to you.
Wentworth has “CS&society”
Purdue Polytech has UX design
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Following up on the GPA question for SFSU, the most recent Common Data Set I could find for them (2020–2021) notes that 21.6% of first-year students came in with a GPA in the 2.5–2.99 range, so that could be worth checking out.
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SFSU is not an impacted campus, and only nursing is an impacted major, according to Impaction | Future Students . This means that applicants meeting CSU baseline requirements should be admitted to non-nursing majors.
Priority application deadline for non-impacted majors is March 30, 2024, according to Dates and Deadlines | Future Students
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Note that most CSU campuses are not impacted, though they may have some impacted majors. You can check what majors each campus is accepting applications for and what the deadlines are at Application Dates & Deadlines | CSU .
Note that SJSU is impacted and no longer accepting applications for Fall 2024 entry.
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Oh! Another thing that might be worth looking into (depending on where in CA you are, and whether the CSUs have the exact program you’re looking for) would be the UX and Interaction Design associates degree at San José Community College, which you could then use to transfer from their two-year program to get a degree at one of the design programs at the CSUs (SFSU, SJSU, etc.):
The Associate in Science in User Experience and Interaction Design Program approaches UX and other forms of product design through a human-centered approach, placing users and their needs as the focus of the work. This includes everything from creating effective and enjoyable user experiences to ethical and safe interactions between the user research and the product. The program begins with the foundational concepts of good design: human-computer interaction, usability, user experience, and user research.
Students will conduct user research to gain insights into real users; their backgrounds, goals, and behaviors. Customer insights will be used to develop scenarios and storyboards to formulate early visuals of the design concept. Students will have the opportunity to use leading software tools to bring the design concept to fruition, gaining applied design skills in real-world UX, UI, and product design. At the completion of the degree, students will have a UX Portfolio consisting of real-world designs, and course units that may transfer to a four-year program.
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Why would you say that you had so much trouble with your grades in high school? Has there been an improving trend? What kind of learning environments work or do not work for you?
I agree that community college might be a good way to ramp up and access programs that you couldn’t get into via first-year admissions. And while you could start out by getting a psych AA, it could be more engaging for you to get an earlier exposure to your desired field. The program at San Jose City College (linked in the previous post) is one option, but there are quite a few. West Valley College, for example UX Design | West Valley College offers a really good student experience.
Also… I don’t know what part of CA you’re in, but Santa Monica College in SoCal is a community college that also offers 4-year degrees, including one in Interaction Design. https://ixd.smc.edu/ (There may be others like this - I don’t know.) This way, you’d have the option to finish a BS there, but you could also put in transfer applications to CSU and/or UC schools if you wanted to. SMC doesn’t have its own housing, but there are dormitory-style options Shared Furnished Housing Options - Santa Monica College
In terms of 4-year schools, Northern Arizona U in Flagstaff could be a good one to look at; they have a User Experience Engineering track within this program Multidisciplinary Engineering, Bachelor of Science | 2023-2024 Academic Catalog | Northern Arizona University They don’t have a GPA threshold for the WUE reciprocity rate, which makes it quite affordable, Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) | Admissions and the admissions threshold is 2.75, with GPA’s between 2.5 and 2.75 considered Admission requirements for first-year students | Admissions NAU is very solid for CS-related majors.
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Thanks aquapt.
Regarding my GPA I cannot pinpoint 1-2 things. Online/offline studies messed me and World history. I’m OK in STEM but trying to take comfort in expressive subjects. Thanks for sending the college options.
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Note, however, that this is not one of the “associates degree for transfer” programs, so a student who completes it may need additional course work to satisfy transfer admission requirements at a CSU.
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Utah State is another WUE school that would be accessible with your GPA. This program might fit: Human Experience Design and Interaction - BS
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Try looking at the ranking of game design schools and/or schools with both comp sci and fine arts. UI/UX requires elements of both art and science
Examples (east coast) are Clark and WPI which are both top gaming programs and mention UI/UX specifically in undergrad or masters programs.
Apologies - I don’t know the west coast schools
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(I was first thinking of Clark and especially WPI but wouldn’t they be out of reach for a sub-3.0 HS GPA?)
The various pathways (cc->csu, wue, csu direct…) sound much better than “plain” psychology at sfsu or impacted psychology at more residential csu’s but the sfsu option could be a safety.
What math, cs, design/art, psychology classes have you taken in HS?
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Agreed. They were just examples of looking at game design.
Suggest you do two searches.
Use college navigator to find colleges with the right locations/size/cost with high acceptance rates (80-98%). These are the schools that would likely accommodate a GPA below 3.0. In the same tool, you can add majors like game design (I didn’t see UIUX specifically) but the issue is that UIUX is covered under many names. So Instead, I would cross check these schools against a decent list of UIUX programs like the global list below.
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Math 1,2, 3, Pre-Calc, CS (Foundations of tech), Arts (Ceramics & took additional courses online)
Good. 
= No deficiency 
- you can apply anywhere listed on this thread (except WPI and Clark which would be unreachable to out of reach).
Continuing on the topic. Want to finalize between 2 programs and wanted to get feedback from all of you to wisely choose for a program very close to User Interface/User experience.
- Chico Communication Design BFA | California State University, Chico
- ASU Polytechnic https://degrees.apps.asu.edu/major-map/ASU00/TSGITBS/null/ALL/2024
We loved Chico’s college vibe but felt ASU Polytechnic has more community college feel. Price wise both are same. Pls provide your feedback @ucbalumnus @BoroDad @MYOS1634 @LionsTigersAndBears @Grumpymom
Regards
Are you the student, or the parent? You sounded like the student earlier in the thread, but now sound like you might be the parent…?
Either way, congrats!!
If you like both the program and the vibe at Chico, I don’t see any reason to consider ASU Polytech for the same money. I don’t see anything about the program that looks like better prep for UI/UX than Chico’s program. And you’re correct that Chico is likely to provide much more of the “full” college experience. I don’t see a case for going out of state, between these two, unless I’m missing something.
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Chico for sure! Better program and better college experience (it’s one of the residential CSUs), and if you show a definite upward trend with rigorous courses you can apply to the Honors program - there’s no minimum GPA requirement but you need to convince them that you’ll be able to benefit from the special opportunities (small classes, Honors housing, field trips, free food, leadership opportunities…), that you want excellence for yourself, are intellectually curious ans care about others, etc.
https://www.csuchico.edu/honors/admissions/index.shtml
Honors Program students receive many benefits, including:
Early registration for courses
Individual and personalized advising
Community with other Honors students
Instruction from award-winning faculty
Student lounge with snacks, computers, and printing
Honors recognition on diploma and transcript
The Honors Program application involves three questions about your interest in the program:
- Why do you want to join the Honors Program?
- What comes to mind when you think of “excellence”? What does “excellence” look like for you? For your family? For your community?
- Choose 1 of the following:
Describe a time when you overcame adversity or accomplished something you are proud of.
Or
What is something in the world that you would like to change? What do you need in order to make the change? How will you know when the change is successful?
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