Advice re applying computer science with a second choice major?

S enjoys programming but also natural science. Strong GPA and rigor (for his small school). ECs relate to natural science. GC says application is stronger for bio. However, S really wants to pursue computer science and we want to support this. Most of the schools on his list (both publics and privates) are good for both, and CS is impacted. Most, if not all, ask for a second choice major. We have strategized a way to link his two interests in his essay.

There are some schools, like the University of Washington, where he should be strong candidate for bio but highly unlikely to be admitted for CS, in part because we are OOS. We are casting the net wide because he prefers CS and will be TO. The list includes UCs (in state), OOS publics with honors programs, and privates, all full pay.

I’d like to hear from others who may have been in this situation in the last few cycles or others who have advice to share. If schools might be likely to disregard or overlook the second major, that would be a concern. Also, if he might get into the honors program at an OOS public as a bio major but not CS, that would be nice to know. I suppose we should do some digging on those numbers.

Thanks in advance.

I suppose it doesn’t hurt, but if he really wants to study CS, what’s the purpose of applying for a second major?

Example - if he gets into Bio and not CS at Washington, would he attend for Bio? I don’t know about Washington specifically, but at the schools with which I am familiar, it’s very unlikely he could later transfer to CS, if that’s the thinking.

I guess it mitigates the risk that he gets in nowhere for CS. But if he really wants to study CS, he should have CS safety schools.

My D didn’t apply for a second major anywhere as she knew the major she wanted. Being admitted to a primary reject school in a secondary major she didn’t want to study didn’t seem of value.

My younger son was a CS major and the only alternate major he would have been willing to consider would have been Software Engineering which was offered by only a few of the colleges on his list. He applied to all schools as a CS major, only SLO and SJSU offered SE.

Direct admit into his first choice major was non-negotiable.

Thanks for your input. We’ve asked him to think hard about this. I think my son is genuinely interested in both. CS exposure at his school is limited and he tried but didn’t get an internship in CS. He is concerned about job prospects in bio/natural science, and he feels more confident about earning power in CS. He has a creative side and it would be interesting to see where that could go in CS.

Yes, we don’t anticipate that he will be able to switch into CS after being admitted into another major. I don’t think that would be a good plan, trying to use the back door. We do have some “safer schools” for CS and many “targets”, just based on GPA and the program we are using but I think he might choose bio at a target or reach vs. CS at the bottom of his list. Originally, I thought we had a CS safety school (CU Boulder) which we all liked but was advised here on CC that it’s not really safe most places for CS.

He is correct to be concerned about biology job prospects, based on career survey results from colleges that have them. For example:

https://career.berkeley.edu/survey/survey


Major                   Em/GS/SE/Ot     Pay level
                                        25th/50th/75th

All Majors              56/19/18/ 7      50k/ 70k/100k

All L&S Majors          54/18/19/ 8      48k/ 65k/100k

El Eng & Comp Sci       71/21/ 7/ 1     105k/115k/120k
L&S Computer Science    79/13/ 7/ 2     103k/110k/120k

Chemical Biology        34/42/18/ 5      44k/ 50k/ 68k
Integrative Biology     36/21/27/17      33k/ 44k/ 56k
Molecular & Cell Biology
  Biochem & Mol Bio     42/24/28/ 6      40k/ 42k/ 53k
  Cell & Developmental  40/22/25/13      42k/ 50k/ 60k
  Genetics              43/32/21/ 4      39k/ 44k/ 57k
  Immunology            51/23/17/ 8      38k/ 43k/ 50k
  Neurobiology          41/23/26/10      38k/ 48k/ 57k

Em/GS/SE/Ot = percentage Employed / Graduate School / Seeking Employment / Other
Pay level = 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile pay levels

These are for graduating classes of 2017 to 2019.

The other thing kind of weighing on my mind is all of the uncertainty with Covid and TO (couldn’t get an ACT and is unlikely to get either SAT or ACT this Fall). If teaching is remote this time next year, we might not be wiling accept a private school invitation without good merit. Also if travel is limited, we might not have him go farther than a 2 day drive away. IDK. I think we just want to have a lot of options and figure it out in the spring. It would be nice if he has a tough time with CS admissions to have some solid bio options that are close to home.

From http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22902813/#Comment_22902813 , his GPAs are:

Unweighted GPA: 3.83
Weighted GPA: 4.58
Weighted and Capped GPA: 4.17

Probably has a decent to good chance at UCSC, UCR, and UCM (more selective UCs can be worth applying to as high match to reach applications), and appears to be an auto-admit to ASU and its CS major*. Also appears very likely to most CSUs for CS other than CPSLO and SJSU.

@ucbalumnus thanks for taking the time to reply. Maybe I’m being a bit paranoid? He does like UCSC campus and that might be a solid fit, though I really worry about the UC holistic process since he brings zero diversity. He doesn’t want urban / LA or hot climate, so UCI, UCR, UCM and Arizona are not a great fit. We are near UCSB, and pretty close to Cal Poly. His GC said she feels good about Cal Poly for him and his high school regularly sends kids there. He will apply UCSB and UCSD.

S prefers smaller classes / connections with great professors too, so there’s that. He loves the PNW. Generally more concerned with fit than merit unless Covid ends up being a really extended problem and we are potentially looking at a year (or more) of expensive remote. We have been desperately trying to get a test by October but we are in the state’s low end purple zone.

For CPSLO, look up https://mca.netlify.com/ and the threads in http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/ . The MCA score is the score that CPSLO uses to determine admissions. It is likely that the coming year will see a version without SAT/ACT scores due to CSUs not considering SAT/ACT scores.

Merced has hot weather only during the first month and a half of the academic year (mid August to late September).
https://weatherspark.com/y/1324/Average-Weather-in-Merced-California-United-States-Year-Round
Riverside avoids the hot weather for its academic year (late September to mid June on the quarter system):
https://weatherspark.com/y/1891/Average-Weather-in-Riverside-California-United-States-Year-Round

@ucbalumnus At colleges like UCB, the majority of the Biology majors are either pre-med or pre-PHD, which are fields that see a large percentage of graduates take multiple gap years to gain research or other experience before applying to grad school: largely accounting for the lower salaries out of college than CS grads. It would be more beneficial to compare the salaries of UCB graduates at least 10 years out of college, both because some CS majors will go back to school for a Masters degree, and due to Doctors and PHDs not earning their “actual” salaries until after they’ve finished their residency or post-doc and start practicing or teaching/conducting research.

Most pre-meds do not get into any medical school, so they will crowd the job market at the bachelor’s level.

Yes, physicians may eventually earn $200k per year, but they have to pay down $400k+ medical school debt.

PhD in biology pay is not great compared to BA/BS in CS. https://capd.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2019%20EDS%20Pay.pdf from MIT lists PhD graduates in biology with median pay of $103k for non-post-doc jobs and $53k for post-doc jobs (overall median $60k, since it looks like most went to post-doc jobs).

Those interested in biology will be more likely to find it a viable career path if they happen to have frugal habits with respect to personal finance.