hey guys! as per the title, i am finally deciding on a college to commit too & these are the final options i am looking at. i am oos for all but i got decent scholarships so cost is not an issue. i toured all campuses & purdue seems to be the most prestigious one out of all of these (well uiuc for cs but i got my second major so i’m not sure how info science compares).
location wise, i REALLYY want to study on the west coast (live in nc now but family is originally from seattle). when i toured cal poly, the campus was absolutely stunning & i loved the vibe at san luis obispo. i haven’t been to ucsd but it’s near the beach so it has to be good (plus san diego has great weather & that socal vibe which i rlly love). i am also leaning towards udub since not only was i a direct admit, but the campus was beautiful & i just felt like i belonged there. plus someone from my school went there last year & loves the engineering program. putting aside cost, please let me know which one i should choose, tysm!
Go with what you want to study. You have admissions to three slightly different majors on the west coast!. But if you want traditional CS, looks like there is only one answer!
You may want to look at the course requirements and 8 semester (or 12 quarter) plan for each major at each school to see which is the most interesting to you.
My vote is for UDub. Feeling like you belong there is significant; plus, the informatics program is really great and IMHO hits the sweet spot of the Venn diagram defined by your various major choices at your various schools.
This makes me uneasy. UCSD’s campus does not feel as “beachy” as I think you’re expecting, and the social vibe isn’t as upbeat as SLO or UDub. My kid who thought UCSD would be their favorite UC campus ended up hating it when we visited - and loving UDub. (Others love UCSD, of course; I’m not claiming everyone hates it! But simply assuming you would love it “because beach” is not a limb that I think you should go out on.)
SLO is a great environment, as you say… but if you would really enjoy something in the CS/DS crossover space, as your other major choices imply, you might not find SE quite as inspiring as your more interdisciplinary choices.
So, my vote would be UDub. Obviously there’s a climate difference between there and SoCal, but you’ve lived in Seattle before so you know what you’re getting into and you obviously like the city enough to return there for college. Direct-admit to Informatics is a score - tough to get from OOS - congrats!!
I have to agree. I really think you need to visit the campus.
UCSD is known as “UC for the Socially Dead”. It’s a bit intense. The school is trying to rid itself of that reputation and they are trying. It’s definitely not on the beach, but it is somewhat accessible.
Visit the campuses to see if you can see yourself there for 4 years and where you’ll thrive.
Would you say the same thing about CS at Cal Poly? (This is an actual question for you, not a rhetorical question… I simply do not know a lot about their CS program!)
Seems like other engineering majors can also switch. Not sure how they make sure CS has the budget and is not overcrowded. Maybe it is subject to space availability and not guaranteed?
Yes, the difference currently is that there is a lower GPA requirement if you were admitted to SE or CPE. Previously, however, it was not even possible to switch to CS unless you were originally admitted to SE or CPE! The policy seems to have loosened up at some point during 2024-2025. It is possible that they no longer need to forbid these major changes now, because the CS major is no longer so oversubscribed.
They probably set the GPA based on space availability.
Because of substantial overlap between computer science, computer engineering, and software engineering, switching between those majors makes less difference in terms of capacity limitations than switching from some other major – hence the lower GPA threshold to change major in that case. Note that computer science and software engineering are both part of the same department.
