I’m a high school senior applying to UCs right now. This includes UCB, UCD, UCSD, and UCLA.
For those colleges, I’m trying to decide whether I should do CS or CSE. I’ve never dabbled in hardware, only programming really :/. I even had a coding internship over the summer. But I don’t want to wrongly assume that I would not like hardware engineering.
I need help gauging where I would succeed, and a comparison between the programs at the different campuses would be nice…
Quick facts about me:
Personality, Values, Talents, Goals:
-really messy. Side effect of being super creative?
-^^Thus, I can find it difficult to remember things if I don’t write them down.
-I don’t care as much as most people my age do about “fitting in”
-distracted really easily, but I’ve gotten way better over the years.
-Asian woman in tech.
-LOVE exploring new things
sometimes don’t do well under pressure
-LOVE coding things people can interact with directly
-LOVE being active in the community and addressing social issues
-LOVE art and design and aesthetics
-ambivert, an extroverted introvert, an introverted extrovert, you get it
-LOVE close knit communities, they really help me grow as a person
a few really close friends >>> 1000 meh friends.
-quality>>>quantity
-I like tinkering with things, but have never done so on a serious level
-future plan: create a business that builds apps that target social issues.
-future plan: want to use artistic and coding skills…TOGETHER.
-future plan: considering declaring a double major at UCB. The second major: Business
Experiences:
-programming internship, working on an app
-I find some parts of Physics interesting (took AP Physics 1 and 2), but I just didn’t click with it. Didn’t do very well either. (B)
-Very involved in leadership and community stuff
-didn’t like Biology, Chemistry, and English classes very much.
-love math. Took all the advanced math classes up to AP Stats, Multivariable Calc, and Vector Calc.
-I loved APCS and Art.
-I don’t like writing for school unless it’s creative writing…which doesn’t happen often. However, it really depends on the prompt lol. I’ve had some argumentative essays that were really fun to write, because I myself had found the prompt relevant, interesting, and controversial.
-Before I started coding, I used to make blogs and websites w/o code
-Tried to start a business in 6th grade. Didn’t work out, but it was a very valuable experience for me.
Whether your degree is CS or CSE won’t really matter. You’ll get a good job with either one. I’d look at the various individual programs at each school you’re considering and go with whichever seems most interesting.
It is a bit risky to go into a program with lots of computer and electrical engineering without a feel for whether you’d be OK dealing with hardware. I got my CS degree back in the days when it was split between software and hardware, and the hardware classes were much more painful for me.
I’d suggest you just pick one and fine tune once you are there. Take a couple quarters/semesters to explore some topics and pursue your interests there. Most student change their major at least once so, don’t worry about getting it just right while you are still in high school,
i’d add, you are applying to a collection of really selective schools. be sure to apply elsewhere so, you have an option come May. Post your stats and i’ll make a recommendation.
For UCB, you can apply to EECS or L&S. EECS is generally considered harder for frosh admission, but it is direct admission to the major. If you enter in L&S, you then have to earn a 3.3 GPA in CS 61A, 61B, and 70 to declare the L&S CS major.
For the other three, take a look at the curricula to compare the different majors to see which you like better. It is not clear which major (if any) is more selective for frosh admission at each school.
Your UC GPA is going to make all of the UCs you list a stretch. I’d suggest you expand your ap list to include UCSC, UCR, SDSU, CPP and CSULB. All of which have very credible programs and a likely to accept you.
You don’t have a great chance for Berkeley, but my kid got in last year with pretty much exactly the same GPA and ACT stats, though he had a slightly higher Sat II scores and had a couple of ECs that were very compelling that hardly anyone has. I would say that you should apply to UCB L&S CS and not to EECS, as that will increase your odds of gettin in somewhat.
The same holds true for UCD. Look into applying for the Linguistics/CS major in L&S at UCLA, because chances are your UC GPA will not be high enough for UCLA regular CS in Engineering.
If you didn’t click with your physics classes you would likely prefer CS over CSE. If you really liked the circuits topic in physics and want to do more of that kind of stuff then CSE is for you.
