^^^OTOH, at MIT, CS is an engineering degree (EECS), even if one is doing theoretical CS. That was a major consideration for S1, who wanted nothing to do with engineering. Majored in math elsewhere and took theoretical CS classes. Irony: he’s now a “senior software engineer.” 
Software engineering isn’t really “engineering” its compute science. Computer engineering had more to do with the hardware than the software side of computers.
@wis75 what are you taking about? EECS is Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, which is still Computer Science. There is fundamentally very little difference between the Engineeering version of CS and the L&S version of CS. Just the name and the BS versus BA which means nothing. The core courses are all the same. The EECS version requires a few more Engineering classes while the L&S version is a bit more flexible with classes and electives, thus giving you more of an opportunity to double major in something else.
@jzducol I think in the cases where a bone was thrown, yeah each UC is going to go after the top players. But for those like my kid, where he qualified for zero merit-based or need-based financial aid, I’m very convinced that both UCSD and UCI is weighing those who are more likely to come as opposed to those who they think are using the school as a backup. Hence the waitlists. In UCI’s case, they didn’t want to have the negative publicity of having to rescind tons of acceptances again.
As a practical matter, an engineering-based CS major will have more math and non-CS science requirements (which at MIT are general education requirements), and likely have or be eligible for ABET accreditation and automatically fulfill the patent exam course prerequisites.
MIT course 6 (EECS major) students can choose specific variants, of which 6-3 is “computer science and engineering”, 6-7 is “computer science and molecular biology”, and 6-14 is “computer science, economics, and data science”. https://www.eecs.mit.edu/curriculum2016
In other posts, you mention that your kid applied for CS, which is probably the most selective major at many UCs, and had UC-weighted-capped GPA of 4.05: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21392335/#Comment_21392335
It is kind of surprising that he got into UCB, but as an L&S applicant, he was not in the more-competitive specifically-CS applicant bucket like at most other UCs or for UCB EECS (UCB L&S does not admit by major and all new students start undeclared). UCB L&S CS is not direct admission (unlike UCB EECS); students need to earn a 3.3 GPA in CS 61A, 61B, 70 to declare L&S CS.
@publisher “University of Washington as a Direct Admit is outstanding ! Congratulations !” does this mean one gets admitted to cs and no more GPA requirements?
https://www.cs.washington.edu/academics/ugrad/admissions/freshmen - i see it
Do Univ of Washington offer any merit based scholarships? If not we can not apply
@nynycasino1234 - Yes it means you are admitted to CS as freshman. DD did get a merit scholarship (purple and gold award) and accepted for Interdisciplinary honors program.
https://admit.washington.edu/costs-and-financial-aid/scholarships/purple-and-gold/
@maya54 - I think the reason she didn’t do well at CMU, MIT, Gtech is that she didn’t have a strong CS hook in her ECs or courses. Her only serious CS EC was her summer at WTP (at MIT). Her coursework didn’t involve any programming/robotics courses in high school as she wanted to explore humanities and sciences.
I don’t think that is the reason. Some CS students at MIT didn’t have any coding experience in HS.
They don’t admit by major at MIT do they? MIT is just very hard to get into - and they have their own ideas about fit which may not jive with yours. My son had nearly perfect grades and scores and CS stuff out the wazoo. He got into CMU and not MIT. In fact about 90% of the freshman class at CMU (judging by the show of hands) had applied to MIT and been rejected. There are just too many qualified applicants.
@Ballerina016 - Agreed, the folks I know who have gotten in to MIT had a academic hook in math or sciences. For ex: high AIME scores, Science fair awards etc.
@ucbalumnus 4.05 UC GPA is quite blah, but his weighted capped after his junior year for all classes was around 4.3 (not sure if UCs take this into consideration), he had high test scores (35 ACT 1540 SAT) 10 AP classes, tons of CC classes, a programming internship, tragedy in his family before his sophomore year started which affected his first semester sophomore grades, and he’s one of the top chess players in the country - at one point representing the US. Very ordinary ECs otherwise. He has very little interest in hardware or engineering so there wasn’t much point in trying to go for EECS when the “not as competitive” L&S option was available (perhaps wants to minor in Econ or Music). He also did get into UCSB CS (Engineering) and UCD CS amongst other places which is more reason to think that some of the other second tier schools with really high numbers of applicants were yield protecting. Unfortunately for him he chose not to talk much in his essays about his tragedy, choosing to focus more on the environment.
@ProfessorPlum168 my guess is that you are located in S Cal because S Cal UCs tend to have far higher standard for S Cal students and vice versa with N Cal UCs. I know some S Cal kid who has 36ACT and all 5s in APs and was waitlisted at UCB, UCLA and UCSD this admission cycle. He thought UCSD was a safety and ended without any school to go to at this point.
@ucbalumnus, S1 would have been an 18C major at MIT, but created pretty much the same thing for himself at Chicago (math major with graduate CS classes covering most of the Course 6 requirements of 18C). He preferred the A&S side of things to EECS. Did the BS vs. BA. There were times he’d wished he’d gone to Random Hall, but he wound up afterwards where he wanted to be.
If my S had considered UC schools, I would have recommended CCS at UCSB. A friend’s S went there, did really well and had an incredible experience.
@jzducol we are actually NoCal folks and UCB was definitely my kid’s top choice, so it all worked out in the end.
I don’t see how a kid with a 36 ACT can get waitlisted for UCSD unless the person stated he was a serial killer on his/her essay. Once again I can see UCLA and UCB doing this, but UCSD with a 30% admit rate? we have a good friend from last year with a 36 ACT, no ECs of note, and got rejected by UCB but still got accepted by UCLA, UCSD, UCI amongst others.
^This year is brutal for some Ca high schools. The kid I was referring to, who was rejected everywhere with 36 ACT and all 5s, had so so GPAs, which UCs place heavy emphasis on.
UCs generally weight GPA more than test scores in admissions. So if the 36 ACT comes with a blah GPA, it is not an obvious admit (especially if a competitive major like CS is involved).
I’m not saying there’s a right or wrong on this, but in most Asian countries, everything boils down to the one test day as many of you know. Probably the most objective way of determining worthiness for the top tier schools given the wide variation in school quality and outside circumstances, but of course that will never happen here in the US.
@ProfessorPlum168, that’s also true in the UK. A bunch of 5’s in relevant APs will gain you admission to many top UK unis.
@jzducol, he should definitely look at the UK. Some may still have space but definitely if he takes a gap year.