Hello!
I’ve recently been accepted to UCI as undeclared, and I’m intending to transfer to CS. I’m curious about the relative difficulty of doing this; if you have done this before or have witnessed others do it, please share your story. I’m wondering what fraction of people get their change of major requests to CS approved, and how big are the waitlists for the CS prerequisite classes. If you’re turned down the first time, are you allowed to try again? What are the prerequisite classes like? And are there any comparable majors to CS that I can attempt to switch to if I cannot do CS? (except CSE). I’m debating between attending UCI as undeclared vs. attending UC Davis as undeclared, intending to switch to CS in either situation. Does anyone know if any school is perhaps easier to change to CS than the other? And if anyone could offer comparisons between the two regarding my previous inquiries, that would be so so so appreciated. At this point, I will choose whatever school that is more accommodating of people looking to switch to computer science. I am aware that this is a difficult feat, but I am really passionate about CS and would really really want to attend a school where I can declare CS.
Thank you so much in advance.
I am in a similar dilemma! I would greatly appreciate it if someone shed light on this.
CS is a popular major at a lot of schools. I wouldn’t enroll in a college that didn’t have a clear, guaranteed pathway to the major I wanted. Did you get accepted into any affordable CS programs?
I can say that the declared students get first pick at classes that are major related so you have to be willing to take the odd sessions that most people don’t want and you wont be able to sign up for them until they release the major holds after all the students get through enrollment. I’d say some are probably ok to get into but some may be much more difficult. For instance ICS 31,32,33 should probably be able to accommodate non-majors but others might be harder.
@austinmshauri i I didn’t get accepted into any affordable CS programs. Basically undeclared at UCI and undeclared at UCD are my only options right now.
@Bean981 yeah…I understand that declared students have priority but I’m not sure about the severity of the disadvantage of undeclared people. Is it common to have to ultimately quit pursuing CS or having to take a fifth year in order to get the degree?
And most inportant of all— if anyone could provide a comparison with UC Davis that would be so so so appreciated. I don’t care about the quality of the CS program as much as I care about getting into it.
UC Davis CS major change criteria:
Students that are considering switching to CS must have a 3.0 GPA at the time the petition is submitted. Additionally, students must have completed all of MAT 21AB, ECS 20, ECS 30, and ECS 40 with a C- or better. University requirements state that all students considering switching their major must have completed at least one quarter at UC Davis, as well as be in good academic standing.
Students must come in during drop-in advising hours to make a course plan.
UCD CS program requirements: https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A%2F%2Fucdavis.box.com%2Fs%2Fa5vsdr32gitrdqhe93yqqi3n5bym5zry
UC Irvine CS major change criteria:
Requirements Description
Cumulative UC GPA: Minimum of 2.7 GPA overall
Minimum GPA of 2.7 in the quarter immediately preceding the change of major
Course grades::
A minimum GPA of 3.0 and no grade less than a C in ALL courses taken from those listed below. Completion of the following:
ICS 31 and ICS 32, or
ICS 32A and ICS 33, and
One or more of Math 2A, Math 2B, ICS 6B, ICS 6D, ICS 6N
UCI CS 4 year course plan: http://catalogue.uci.edu/donaldbrenschoolofinformationandcomputersciences/departmentofcomputerscience/#majorstext
@Gumbymom thank you so, so much for this!!
However you may not be able to register for the classes so you should plan for a delayed degree completion path.
You should also be willing to take classes at times no one wants (4pm on Fridays, at 8 am MWF…)