<p>What are the differences between Cal Poly’s computer science program in the College of Engineering and UCD’s computer science program in its College of Letters and Sciences? How is Cal Poly’s program ranked compared to UCD’s? What are the benefits of attending SLO for CS vs attending Davis for CS?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>If you like to study and do a lot of research, then go with Davis. If you like hands on work then go with cal poly. UC Davis has the magic letters “UC” but San Luis obispo has Firestone grill. You can’t go wrong with either one.</p>
<p>Cal Poly computer science guys are cute - haha that’s just my opinion. Don’t know about UCD computer science majors lol.</p>
<p>But seriously, Cal Poly has a pretty good and fairly well known computer science department, especially on the west coast. I’m not very knowledgeable about UCD, but I can tell you what I know about Cal Poly. </p>
<p>What I know is mainly from my friends’ experiences in the department. Computer science is definitely a challenging major at Cal Poly. Even people coming in with a decent amount of prior programming experience tend to find the intro classes to require at least some amount of work. The good thing about Cal Poly is that you get to start taking computer science classes your first quarter, so if you realize that the major is not for you, you’ve found that out before possibly wasting your time and energy taking calc 3 and a three quarter physics or chemistry sequence. I know a few computer science majors here who have interned with companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Cal Poly also offers the 5 year combined bachelors + masters computer science degree.</p>
<p>@appleteam or osakadad…I am asking this with respect but have to mention…it is something I have discussed with others. While I get the hands on approach at Cal Poly, it is pushed so much that sometimes it comes off more like a trade school kind of thing you see advertised on daytime tv. Like you will be ready to go to work right away and end up a long term journeyman in that field. Like joe schmoe programmer. Certainly that isn’t what is meant, but when someone asked me if I ever thought about it that way (and I had) I realized it wasn’t just me…like you are ready to work, but are you ready to think and grow…does this make sense? I get it is up to the student and what they do when they get out there, but sometimes the hands on hype makes me wonder if they are prepared for a long term future, not just an immediate one.</p>
<p>Hands On = Vocational Practical Experience.</p>
<p>Yes, kinda like the trade schools you mention BUT, not exactly. The trade schools train you for entry level support positions and the program lasts on average 18 months. Cal Poly trains you for leadership in advanced fields for mission critical positions essential to an organization’s survival. Typically the program lasts 4-6 years depending upon the student.</p>
<p>For example, my kid will graduate from Cal Poly as an experienced Mechanical Engineer ready to go to work from day one. He will need a minimal amount of on the job training unlike most grads from the UC’s. He will have had coops and internships as well as loads of practical theory and general requirements to balance him out.</p>
<p>Another way to look at it is that other schools teach theory mostly from books. At Cal Poly you get the theory in the lecture and then go demonstrate/prove it in the lab.</p>
<p>I like!!</p>
<p>Thanks Osaka. Will be at open house next weekend and see if he falls in love or has that “Hallmark moment” as I call it. Narrowed down to three, anxious for it to be the one. Appreciate your time and perspective.</p>
<p>^^^ why not ask some Cal Poly alumni from at least a decade ago if they are “prepared for the long term”, or just for mid level functional jobs?</p>
<p>I don’t think it is a question of either/or. It seems Cal Poly starts with theory as does UC (but theory lite if you will), but layers on top of that practical application. Which is better probably depends upon the different ways in which people learn… the different ways in which their brains are wired. Some cement their learning by doing and are bored by unapplied theory, while some are bored by doing and only excited by theory.</p>
<p>^^^I did that prior to my son applying to Cal Poly. We live in an area with many defense contractors and loads of engineering jobs. My son’s best friend’s Dad is a hiring manager at Raytheon. I called him and asked him about the school’s reputation and he said that some of the brightest engineers he had at the company were Cal Poly grads. In fact, he said that the CEO of Raytheon, Bill Swanson <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Swanson[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Swanson</a>, is a Cal Poly grad! I also spoke to a number of my clients and folks in our religious community that were all top level engineers with advanced careers and every single one of them recommended the school. The majority of their firms had Cal Poly grads working there and all of them admired the school’s reputation and encouraged us to have our son appply.</p>
<p>In Norcal, I connected up with Director and a VP in engineering at Intel and EE Mgr at Intuit. They both heavily ranked UCB first, then all the others behind it, and liked CP overall, but not to the exclusion of the UCs or USC who they hire from a lot as well. I would expect Raytheon to favor CP.</p>
<p>I get the theory v learning by doing, but not sure a 17 year old can’t still be wired for either. Smart kids adapt to either I would think, particularly engineering minds. And all schools have labs, so I don’t think it is exclusive theory at any of them. We know our S will do grad school so being prepared for a good grad school is priority as well. He has 3 great choices, it is totally up to what he likes over the next couple weekends. Exciting!</p>
<p>Charientisms: Its interesting that Cal Poly CSC has several faculty members from UCD. When you go to Fridays Open House, ask one of them the difference between the two programs. And please let us know what you learned, to help others with their decision.</p>
<p>When we toured universities, I was amazed that we could talk to a Cal Poly CSC faculty member and even the chair, and they were willing to give a high school student 20 minutes of their time. The entire campus felt that way. At UCD, we could not even talk to a computer science faculty member; we could only talk to their Advisors (non-teaching staff). This is petty, but it turned me (parent) off. Also was turned off by UCs larger class size, number of large lectures, and the possibility that grad students would teach classes. What made Cal Poly his first choice was Learn By Doing, which he nor I fully understood & appreciated until he was in CP.</p>
<p>On another thread, I discussed the depth of CP CSC undergrad upper division courses, giving computer graphics as an example. I dont know UCDs program, but you can compare the courses. How many intro courses are there (example: Intro to Artificial Intelligence) and how many classes beyond the intro class there are (more AI type classes)? At CPs undergrad program, they offer several classes in AI. At some universities, if you want to go beyond the intro course to learn more about a specialty, they are offered as graduate courses in the masters program. Interested in Software Engineering at CP? There are several undergrad classes you can take, including Android Devt or iOS Devt. You have taken 2-3 classes in database or in networks but want to take a class in AI, you can. Cal Polys quarter system allows students to explore different specialties.</p>
<p>@eduparent, how do you get to talk to the faculty and the chair? Did you have to schedule appointments for those?</p>
<p>I’ve seen a lot of prospective students around campus lately, since it’s that time of year. I’ve seen a couple in my department just stop by the building and talk to any professors who had their doors open. The professors were happy to talk to visiting students and give them information about the department. I’m sure professors in any department would be. I’ve taken classes with professors from a lot of different departments here, and they have all been very approachable, especially if you’re interested in talking to them about the department they teach in. I’m sure that if you’re visiting at a time other than open house and you sent an email to a department chair, they’d very likely set something up for you, possibly with a department tour with a student or something like that, depending on your request.</p>
<p>Same experience as others here. We have spoken to the dean of my kids department, advisers, counselors, basically anyone we wanted to. Nobody at Cal Poly has ever declined to meet with us if they were available. We were able to talk to pretty much anyone we wanted. I even got a chance to correspond and talk directly to President Armstrong on several occasions. He even invited our family to his home (on campus) for a special event during parent’s weekend and we attended a football game in his box.</p>
<p>Here is an interesting and true story. We kept meeting the same families at each of the various admitted student’s day events. For example, after all the acceptance notices came in we toured UCLA, UCSD, Cal Poly, UCSB, etc. We kept bumping into many of the same kids and their parents at each event. What this means is that at the end of the day, all the top schools go after the same pool of qualified kids. One of these kids was really torn between UCLA and Cal Poly. His family really wanted him to go to Cal Poly and his older brother was there already. Guess what happened? The kid’s brother asked President Armstrong to talk directly with his undecided younger brother over the phone and asked him to come to Cal Poly. Where else does that happen?? The kid decided to go to SLO. True story.</p>
<p>Piggy-backing on other comments. My son had a lot of choices. And we were torn as well. Went to the Open House. Chair of his department led everyone around. Had the box lunch with us all. Took us on a tour and told parents there wasn’t enough room in the lab for prospects and parents, so please head to a classroom and he would join us. He came to the room and spent an hour telling parents how difficult it would be for our kids, but CP would do whatever it could to help them succeed.</p>
<p>We returned a day later and I sent him an email thanking him for his time and candor with the parents. Within 30-minutes, I received an email from him thanking me for his kind words, hoping that my son chose CP and not to hesitate to contact him if we had any questions.</p>
<p>That sealed the deal for me. The personal attention that the professors pay to the students trumped anything else for me. We visited other schools that were offering a lot more scholarship dollars but couldn’t get a minute with a professor, let alone a Dept. Chair.</p>
<p>CP isn’t just a learn by doing school for students. The faculty is involved in every aspect and are 100% approachable. </p>
<p>I can’t speak to UCD, as my son had not interest. But if it’s at all like the other UCs we visited, then I would wonder why the profs don’t have time to meet with the incoming salary-payers.</p>
<p>Just to let you know my son and I walked into the offices of a prof.at both Cal Poly and UCD. Both took time out of thier day and talked with us.We also had this happen at Washington State.</p>
<p>If your son wants to go to grad school I think he should go to UCD.</p>
<p>It is difficult to see that a school will have a computer science major that is not hands on. You can find some of the best hands on classes in iTune U from Standford.</p>
<p>Why is UCD better for going to graduate school?</p>