<p>I recently graduated with 2.8 gpa from ucla for civil engineering, now as i am looking into grad school (the original plan of getting a job, anyjob, went out the window after 6 month of applying with no offers) </p>
<p>now I am tempted to make the switch to computer science to do my masters (was planning on switching by my last year of undergrad but counselor said it was too late) so I have a few questions:</p>
<p>would i need to take some undergrad cs classes before i apply or should i get in and work on undergrad core classes then? (also would this affect the grad school applications, such as if i do them and get good grades then admission will favor upon that?) </p>
<p>and which schools offer online masters (i am currently working a full time job so i would prefer online option if possible) that I have a chance of getting into? I was looking into both UCLA and USC, also DePaul (heard about their cs program from a friend)... but which schools should i be looking into with a sub 3.0 gpa?</p>
<p>thanks in advance for all the help, also any additional information you guys can give would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I think it may be very tough for you to get into a top ranked computer science program. With a 2.8, I would think your GPA would be too low to get into either UCLA or USC’s – both are ranked among the top 20, I believe, so the average GPAs of their grad school admits is probably 3.5 or higher. Unless you have published papers or an otherwise impressive resume, I don’t think you’ll get in.</p>
<p>I know for a fact that UCLA’s grad school admissions website lists a 3.5 minimum GPA for their graduate applicants (I applied there myself). I also know that grad school applicants are supposed to already have taken all of the core computer science undergrad curriculum. There are a lot of courses that you’ll need to take – and very few are offered at community colleges, so you’ll need to have some way of completing them. Some UCs require you (or strongly encourage you) to take the GRE computer science subject test if you did NOT major in computer science or computer engineering as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Based on what I’ve observed, I would think USC’s online master’s program is easier to get into. I have a few coworkers doing that now. It caters towards working professionals, so it’s very convenient. I have another coworker who talks about doing an online master’s program at Case Western. Recently, I read that Purdue has an online master’s program as well. More of these seem to be popping up at major engineering schools (I guess it has a high profit margin).</p>
<p>Good luck. Quite honestly, with no undergrad CS degree and a low GPA, I think you should be thinking about the CSUs for a computer science masters program.</p>
<p>@OP: What CS & math courses have you taken? Did you do well? Any CS experience outside of school? I honestly think that trying to go to CS online grad school because you didn’t do well enough in Civil undergrad is, well, not a great idea. Why not Civil grad school?</p>
<p>thanks for the replies, as for why not civil grad I find myself lost interest in civil as I went deeper into the program, I wanted to make the change in undergrad but I was told that it was too late to switch as I tried to switch during 4th year. I understand the low gpa is probably going to close a lot of doors for me but I honestly felt that i wasn’t smart enough for the curve grading at ucla (I was very surprised to find myself there for undergrad as my sat score was a couple hundred points below avg and GPA was inflated because of my highschool wasn’t very competitive)</p>
<p>anyways I been looking mainly for online master programs because I want to keep my fulltime job (need the income) and that eliminates a lot of the csu programs as they don’t offer online option. The schools i listed is simply the ones i heard about their online masters programs before, i know these are probably a steep reaches but I was hoping to get a general feel of where I should be applying if I pursue online masters, I’ll definitely check out purdue and case western as well</p>
<p>How much can resume or good GRE scores mitigate the effects of a bad GPA? I myself am considering grad school after 3 years in industry, but my undergrad GPA is awful.</p>
<p>yeah im interested in that as well, plus if I take cs classes through extension and get good grades would that help towards admission or do they look strictly at the undergrad gpa?</p>
<p>You should check with the Graduate Advisor of the UCLA CS department to see what the entrance requirements are. I haven’t checked the requirements for some time, but when I was a grad student there, to get an MS degree (at least), it was necessary to either take or get previous credit for several upper-division CS classes. I knew some people who didn’t have CS degrees coming in who took several undergrad CS classes before starting on the grad classes.</p>