Ranting About What College To Pick & Making The Most Out Of College

College Search & Lists
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I’m currently studying for Computer Science (I know it’s extremely competitive). The 25th percentile grade from Berkeley’s EECS major is 3.88 down to UCSC’s 3.07 (I’d like to study Computer Science with a background in GIS and another engineering field (maybe Electrical Engineering). My choices for university are going to only be in California. The universities include San Jose State, Cal Poly, Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Long Beach, CSU Fullerton, San Diego State, Fresno State, USC, Santa Clara University, University of Redlands, University of San Francisco, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCI, UCSB, and UCSC. I’m currently in a club, but I haven’t showed up to their meetings lately because it felt boring, but I’m going to go back next Friday. Other than that, I haven’t joined any other clubs, participated in school activities etc. My GPA is around the B- average (my major grade is the around that range too), but hopefully if I can get all As until Spring 2019. My maximum GPA would be less than 3.6 overall (probably less than 3.5 for my major GPA which is pretty bad and is a huge deal for me). My goal is to get myself involved into activities (Honors Society, Volunteering, Tutoring, Getting an Internship, Doing Something Fun, Taking Care of Myself, Know More Foreign and Programming Languages, Learn Other Types of Engineering and experimenting with them, etc.) An get into them as fast as I can until the time of the application to show that I’m not some person that just goes to school and do his homework. Basically, what I’m trying to do is to show an exponential upward trend in academics and personality. (I procrastinated so much in my first half of CC, but for my second half, I want to prove everyone including myself that I’m serious about my education, I found the right learning and studying techniques, that I’m not some ordinary kid who just goes to school).

I’m going to see a TAP advisor on the 8th of February to talk about this stuff. I talked to a counselor and a psychologist, and felt the UCB and UCLA weren’t the right universities for me because they said “once you’re in, you’re pretty much on your own” they also said that I’m beating myself up/too critical of myself and that I need to take it easy. Other than that I’d like to hear how you guys were able to get in, and what you guys think. Does it really matter where you go to college to get your degree? I heard some people on quora say that Berkeley is a lot more in depth, rigourous and fast paced than SJSU’s CS program (no offense to the people who go to SJSU).

I’m first generation, came from a low-income family

Your advice might be, “you should do what’s comfortable for you”, “someone will accept you”, “college is what you make of it”, “you have no chance in getting into a competitive uni”, “you need to set the bar where it’s achievable”, “your goal is to get a good paying job”. Thanks, but I’ll reject such advice (They grind my gears tbh because I think the people that are saying that to me don’t even understand that I’m more than what they really believe) because in the future I would like to become the 1% in something (a leader). I want more than just the things they’re saying to me (It’s pretentious I know).

I will take some advice like “you need to be more patient”, “you need to make a good schedule and what works for you”.

TL;DR: UCB & UCLA are my top choices and the reason why I want to post is to get your thoughts. I’m trying to get myself involved and implement my goals as fast as I can until the application comes (raise GPA to at least a 3.6 until Spring, Extracurricular activies, etc), but it’s going to be tough. But I think this should be enough information about where I’m coming from.

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If, basically, you’re worried whether you can have a good career without graduating from a top school like Berkeley or UCLA, the answer is “yes”. A degree in CS is very marketable; the demand for skilled employees is greater than the top ~30 CS schools can satisfy.

3

Your post is a little confusing. You know that some of the schools on your list are private universities, right? So being in state vs out of state doesn’t matter.

Also, you are counting chickens before they’ve hatched. You’ve never gotten all As before from what I can see. Most students can’t just do that all at once. It isn’t just a question of effort sometimes, but also one of study skills and tactics as well.

My advice is (1) skip the foreign languages unless you need them for admissions, and (2) first and foremost be the person who does their homework. All the other stuff in the world won’t help you with a 2.7 GPA. Schoolwork first.

4

Even a 3.6 won’t get you into UCB or UCLA.
SJSU has a very rigorous, well-recruited CS program and it requires both good GPA and good test scores, much higher than the university’s average.
Getting all A’s when you’ve never done so seems a bit unrealistic, although i’m sure you can get quite a few A’s and that would help with your choices.
Focus on schoolwork, homework, and test prep. EC’s won’t really matter (stay involved in 1-2 clubs, basically, but don’t go overboard with them as getting into CS is going to be primarily a matter of scores+grades).

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@intparent yes i know. i want to take intermediate spanish to satisfy the humanities requirement. And no, i don’t believe that I’m counting chickens before they’ve hatched and I know I can accomplish them.

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@MYOS1634 unrealistic? I don’t believe you. I didn’t get all As during the fall as I promised myself, but I can guarantee I will quarter after quarter. I didn’t do well at first, but I’ll get to where I want to be.

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Past performance is the best indicator of future performance. What exactly, other than telling yourself you will get all As will you change to get this new result?

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Changing up my studying and learning skills (Pomodoro Technique for time management, Feynman Technique for reviewing concepts, Cornell Notes, Practice Other Problems in the book, Getting A Planner To Keep Track of Time and Day (I already have one and use it often), Break Old Habits and commit to study time, Going To Counselors, Getting Some Patience, asking for help from teachers and tutors). I haven’t implemented these effectively, but I hopefully will do so after this week. I realize this all isn’t enough to get all As for every single quarter . Reduce procrastination to where I can spend only two hours of free time, hobbies, etc.

So how can I not “count chickens before they’ve hatched”?

9

You can count them if you want. But that is a lot of “new systems” to put in place for one semester. Come back at the end of the semester and let us know how it worked out for you.