UIUC BS vs UC Berkeley BA Computer Science

Colleges & Universities University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1

<p>Just wanted to get people’s opinion on which is a better option to choose:
UIUC BS or UC Berkeley BA, for Computer Science major.</p>

<p>Not considering financial cost or year-round weather as a factor. I have seen similar discussions from the past, but a fresh and recent perspective from year 2014 is welcome.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Long term, which is a better educational investment ?</p></li>
<li><p>Which is a harder program to get into ?</p></li>
<li><p>Which is a harder program to succeed in (maintain a decent GPA - 3.0 and above) ?</p></li>
<li><p>Does a Berkeley BA count as a lesser degree in software industry, given that Berkeley has a BS program in EECS dept that offers CSE degree ?</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>I want the same answer, so bump</p>

3

<p>Regarding your fourth question, I came across some data awhile that might help you; Based on information gathered by UC Berkeley’s Career Center from graduated students, CS BA students seem to be relatively competitive in the job market compared to their EECS counterparts, with both landing jobs at tech tycoons such as Google, Apple, and Facebook, to name a few. Here are the links to the last three years of data collected by UC Berkeley’s Career Center:</p>

<p>2012 CS BA Graduates: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm&lt;/a&gt;
2012 EECS BS Graduates: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>2011 CS BA Graduates: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major2011/CompSci.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major2011/CompSci.stm&lt;/a&gt;
2011 EECS BS Graduates: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major2011/EECS.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major2011/EECS.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>2010 CS BA Graduates: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major2010/CompSci.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major2010/CompSci.stm&lt;/a&gt;
2010 EECS BS Graduates: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major2010/EECS.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major2010/EECS.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

4

<p>When I said: “CS BA students seem to be relatively competitive in the job market compared to their EECS counterparts…”, I meant “similarly competitive… like their EECS counterparts”.</p>

5

<p>I am in a similar situation. Guaranteed into the CS program of the College of Engineering at UIUC (Illinois). But I have an offer from UC Berkeley for BA Computer Science. At Berkely I was told that all BA Computer Science majors are admitted undeclared. And during the first 2 years they have to take 7 pre-req classes. And if the average GPA across those seven classes is 3.0 of higher, they are eligible to pursue a BA in Computer Science major, else they can minor in Computer Science and major in an alternative field like Mathematics or Cognitive Science or Economics or Statistics.</p>

<p>Question:

  1. Given above situation is UIUC a better bet for me?
  2. Is what I heard true that: many students who are admitted to Berkeley L&S BA Computer Science tend to decline because if the risk of not getting to major in CS after 2 years? BTW, if you are admitted to UC Berkeley College of Engineering, EECS you are gauranteed to major with BS EECS (and can choose CS courses for CS specialization) as long as you maintain a 2.0 GPA</p>

<p>Thoughts?</p>

6

<p>A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush…just sayin.</p>

7

<p>I’ll just mention that I chose the Berkeley option, and hopefully I can go from “intended CS” to “declared CS” state in a couple of years. I am from the Bay area, so that was a consideration.</p>