Transferring from a CSU to a UC

mikemac
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 14:55:25 +0000

I would prefer going to a UC due to its reputation and better opportunities.

I think you’re putting too much faith in a name. Prestige counts more in areas where skills are hard to measure – how to you hire a great liberal-arts major for your business? It’s safer to pick the kid from Cal than from LB.

However areas like CS are different. There specific skills you are expected to learn and in a day of interviews they’ll figure out whether you did or not. Employers cast a much wider net, both because skills can be measured and because of the scarcity of CS majors (no scarcity of History or Poli Sci majors).

Furthermore “opportunities” are not a binary quantity where everyone from a school like Cal gets a chance at great employers and nobody from LB does. Employers look at things mostly under your control, grades and internships. The kid that has done nothing but take classes and earn a CS degree from UCLA is a much less desireable candidate than one that has spent 2 summers working in industry. I suggest you meet with the faculty advisor and find out what you need to do to land such a job after the end of your soph year. Joining CS-related clubs is another helpful way; you’ll meet older students who have found internships and you’ll be able to ask what they did to land them.

In the end nobody has a crystal ball. If you stay at LB you’ll never know if you would have done better had you transferred. If you transfer you’ll never know if you could have had the same opportunities had you stayed at LB.