First you need to narrow down your list of schools. With 9 UC’s, 23 CSU’s and numerous private schools, you need to figure out what kind of location, size and undergrad experience you are looking at attending.
Below a 4.0 CSU/UC GPA for the majority of the UC’s and top CSU’s will make it a tough admit for CS which is the most impacted majors at the UC and CSU schools.
Is your 3.92 GPA, your CSU/UC capped weighted GPA?
You need to calculate all 3 UC GPA’s since the UC’s will consider all 3 in your application review.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
For Cal Poly SLO, their GPA calculation uses 9-11th grades with a 8 semester Honors point cap.
So what is your SLO GPA? You will need around at 4.2+ SLO GPA to be competitive.
Can you list any Honors/AP/IB or DE classes taken? Highest level of Math? How does your HS course rigor compare to others in your HS? Are you a top student?
Are you ELC (top 9 % local or statewide)?
What about EC’s, awards, jobs, etc…? What about college budget/year?
Below are the CS admit rates for all the UC’s and some of the popular Cal States that has been slightly updated since your last discussion thread. Once 2023 admission data is posted, I will update the chart yet again.
2022 CS admit rates if available
| Campus |
CS |
| UC Berkeley |
2.9%-L&S EECS-4.5% |
| UC Davis |
No data but <20% |
| UC Irvine |
5.8% |
| UCLA |
3.8% |
| UC Merced |
85% |
| UC Riverside |
36% |
| UC San Diego |
No data but <10% |
| UC Santa Barbara |
No data Historically 5-6% |
| UC Santa Cruz |
60% |
| Cal Poly SLO |
9% |
| Cal State Long Beach |
54% |
| San Diego State |
40% |
| San Jose State |
31% |
So based on the little information given, below are my chances based on the CS major and some recommendations but only for UC’s and CSU’s. Many of the private schools may require SAT/ACT scores (especially if looking for FA/merit aid) so I will not list any until you give posters some guidance on your likes.
Likely: Your local CSU which would be Cal State Northridge along with any of the non-impacted CSU’s for CS from the chart which includes Channel Islands, San Francisco, Dominguez Hills, East Bay
Target: UC Merced (likely if ELC), Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Fresno
High Target/Low Reach: UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, Cal State Long Beach, San Diego State, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Davis
Reach/High Reach: Cal Poly SLO, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UCLA, UC Berkeley, San Jose State
My focus would be on the many wonderful CSU’s where you can get an excellent CS education at an affordable price. CS is a very marketable major and you do not need to attend a top school to be successful post graduation. I would also look into schools that have ABET accreditation for their CS program, although NOT required, it gives you an assurance that a program meets the quality standards that produce graduates prepared to enter a global workforce.
https://amspub.abet.org/aps/name-search?searchType=institution
For CIS, then some of the High Target/Low Reaches could be actual Target schools for example Cal Poly Pomona. CPP also considers your alternate major, so you could apply CS with an alternate of CIS. Only a few CSU’s will consider alternate majors and only some of the UC’s offer CIS but will consider alternate majors which are not impacted.
Please come back to update your GPA’s, EC’s, school preferences and budget. Best of luck with your college list.