Overview:
https://eecs.berkeley.edu/academics/undergraduate/eecs-cs-comparison-chart
Detailed major requirements:
https://eecs.berkeley.edu/academics/undergraduate/eecs-bs
https://eecs.berkeley.edu/academics/undergraduate/cs-ba
General education:
Can I suggest we discuss WSJ rankings in the WSJ Rankings thread?
Is that any less on topic than CS theory, UCs or football teams? 
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Not yet, but we can work toward that end. 
BTW, Cal Poly ranked #189 in WSJ. What’s up with that?
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Like most publics, Cal Poly does poorly in the resources ranking. This is the largest factor in its relatively lower rank. A summary is below. Note that I realize this order is completely different than my post yesterday. All the subscores except the student survey also had order changes today. Perhaps THE updated their website for 2022 rankings today, and yesterday it displayed 2021.
Resources – 30% ($$$ per student, SF ratio, publications per faculty)
1 . Caltech – 30.0 / 30
2. MIT – 29.8 / 30
3. Harvard – 29.7 / 30
…
252. Berkeley – 15.9 / 30
…
638. Cal Poly – 8.5 / 30
Cal Poly SLO outcomes rank is #74. That’s arguably the most important metric.
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Would be interesting to see Cal Poly without publications per faculty. I’m sure there are some publications, but that just isn’t as big a part of the experience. I expect their labs are more focused on ‘learn by doing’ than the kind of work required for publications. Plus the lack of PHD students will be felt heavily there.
Compared to a big research institution that has doctoral candidates, there are effectively zero publications coming out of Cal Poly. Again, why that is important to an undergraduate seems odd.
I couldn’t find the outcomes ranking. It would be interesting to see the methodology, and the percentage of tech degrees at a given school. The CENG represents 25% of the student population at CP, so if they’re using salaries, it probably lags schools where tech majors represent a higher percentage of the population.
This is one of the many reasons I find ranking specious. Major should make a difference to how schools are ranked.
The student-faculty ratio at SLO is 19:1, which is between Cal (UCB) and UCLA S-F ratios, IIRC.
And having been to the SLO campus probably 4-5 times in the last 2-3 years, I can see the significant investment in the physical plant at SLO. So they don’t seem to be lacking for resources in that area.
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In my (our) defense, each of those topics relates back to a ranking methodology variable. 
In light of my earlier in post, I’m unsure why there are new posts debating the validity of a rational request that WSJ discussion be on the existing WSJ thread, and not this USNWR thread.
Since it’s bedtime for me, and likely other users, I think I’ll let this thread have a good night’s sleep as well. Will reopen in the morning.
For those interested in matriculating to a PhD program, the ability to get involved in bona fide research as an undergrad is extremely important. And those interested in professional schools (med, vet, dent, pharm) might be interested in getting involved in research too.
Or, are you suggesting that those that attend a Poly (including Pomona) should not be considering an such a career, since the Poly’s are hand-on types?
I’m not an expert on CalPoly but know many young adults with undergraduate degrees from CalPoly that went on to get PhDs. Some of the best prepared doctoral candidates that I’ve worked with have come from CalPoly. I’m in experimental science so I assume that the many labs that they work in throughout their undergraduate career prepare them well to work in a lab (makes sense). And my understanding is that the profs at CalPoly do participate in research that the students are a big part of. They also have ties to industry and can participate in internships that are research based. Long story to say that CalPoly is a great school that has a unique style of teaching and might not do well in these rankings for a variety of reasons, but who cares?
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IMO, the reason an applicant should “care” is the availability of resources, which may be extremely limited. The state schools have thousands of undergrads, many of whom would love to get involved in research, and may need to for career goals, but if faculty are not bringing in outside research dollars, students have less opportunity to do so, at least on campus.
As I mentioned upstream (Post #408), there are many construction projects ongoing at SLO, including this new research facility (live feed of construction) that is expected to open this quarter:
https://afd.calpoly.edu/facilities/planning-capital-projects/project-news/frost-center/
Student research website:
More importantly (kidding), Scout Coffee (great coffee) is opening a new facility as well this quarter:
The WSJ “resource” score must not include physical plant upgrades like the new Vista Grande dining hall that just opened in the summer, I think, the Frost Research Center and Scout Coffee building and future construction projects like the Technology Park expansion (2022-2023):
Back when CPSLO’s career survey listed graduate school destinations (it does not appear to do so now), it did appear that going to PhD programs was only rarely chosen by graduates of most majors. The except was physics majors, a significant number of whom went on to physics PhD programs.
You took the time to raise several points. With respect to a response, consider that I’d noted what appears to be a parallel distribution of students across some public (which you mentioned) and some private (which I mentioned) colleges. This parallel may differ in degree and in how it can measured, but appears to exist in some form. Regarding inferences, I was initially concerned with getting the data correct, or at least in adherence to the original sources. Educated interpretation can then follow.
This is more general than a reply to what you have posted. The field of statistics offers methods for amplifying smaller numbers to significance. For example, confidence levels can be assigned based on coefficients of historical consistency, etc. For this reason, I’m much more interested in class rank information from Common Data Sets than, apparently, others on this site, especially considering its close relationship to sustained academic achievement.
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