<p>I've been very interested in this major for a while now and would like to know more about it, particularly from UCSD students who may have experience with it. Is it recommendable to someone who is interested in both psychology + artificial intelligence? How strong is the program at UCSD compared to say, at UCLA? In the artificial intelligence/ Human Computer Interaction aspect? How is post-graduation job placement?</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any feedback regarding the major particularly @ UCSD or UCLA .</p>
<p>I’m in the program and doing human computer interaction, its great. I specifically chose it because of the neuroscience / AI aspect of the program </p>
<p>UCSD has one of the strongest departments in the country behind MIT. The classes are awesome</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken UCSD invented cognitive science as a major and are one of the very few universities in the nation to have a Ph.d program in cognitive science. Also if you Google “cognitive science” the second link should be to UCSD’s page; that should be some indication of how big the field is here.</p>
<p>After comparing the majors at the two schools, it does indeed appear that UCSD has a much stronger department and more engaging cirriculum. Would you happen to know how good the job placement is for UCSD CogSci grads in HCI? What sort of jobs/ fields do they enter?</p>
<p>Also, how would you rate the availability of resources to undergraduates for this major? I know that the graduate program is top-notch, but how does the undergraduate program compare?</p>
<p>How are the majority of the classes? Are they more or less quantitative?</p>
<p>People who graduate studying Cog Sci get jobs at Apple, Qualcomm, Nissan, it depends what area you go into, software engineering, neuroscience, psychology, ethnography…its so interdisiplinary u can do so much with it</p>
<p>I’m a CogSci major. Haven’t taken any upper div classes yet though. Will let you know how it is next qtr :)</p>
<p>Although if you’re thinking about doing cogs for grad school later, I have talked to Cogs profs and they did mention that the UCSD graduate department prefers accepting students from schools outside of the ucsd undergrad department. Cuz they want to both bring in fresh ideas and send out ideas from ucsd.</p>
<p>I also haven’t taken any upper div courses though I’m signed up for 101a, 102a, 107a, and 109 next quarter. And the undergraduate department is amazing. There are many opportunities to do research and get close to many of the professors. In fact I remember when I was taking COGS 1 all the lecturing professors were very approachable and wanted to engage with the students outside of the lecture hall.</p>
<p>Some of the projects going on in the HCI department are pretty amazing and are definitely worth a look at. You wouldn’t regret it.</p>
<p>^wow, all 4 cogs upper divs? That is a lot of Cogs for a quarter. Just curious, are you doing that cuz you’re done w/ most of your GE’s, or you’re interested in getting straight to the meat of cogs as soon as possible? (cuz right now on my plan I have them kinda spaced out)</p>
<p>To get into the honors program you need to have finished all 9 core classes and get above a certain GPA in order to apply. I couldn’t take any this year because I still had to take some of the prerequisites and my premed requirements.</p>
<p>Hi all, I’m going to be a freshman @ UCSD/Marshall College this fall. I am a cognitive science major and I have a couple of questions relating to it. While looking at the major requirements, I noticed, of course, multiple computer programming classes I would have to take. I’ve never done programming in my life and I’m a little worried about those classes. How easy/difficult are they and is it a relatively easy concept to grasp? Also, do you know of any staff members, organizations, and/or professors in cog sci dept. that particularly stand out and may be a potential resource to me? I am interested in doing research and would like to get a heads-up on what’s out there. Sorry for the lengthy questions!! Thanks :)</p>
<p>COGS 18 is an intro to java, its relatively easy. Usually professor Marx teaches it. I thought she was pretty good, others have said negative things about her. </p>
<p>COGS 109 is MATLAB, its similar to C programming. you design and test experiments. then you can take COGS121 which is more advanced.</p>
<p>Programming is a little tricky to grasp, since its a different way of thinking, however if you are good with logic and reasoning and decent at math you shouldnt have a problem really. Ask people who took the class before you for help if you can.</p>
<p>As far as organizations go there is the CSSA (Cognitive Science Students Association) they have meetings pretty often, although i’ve never been to one.</p>
<p>There is a class called SCANS, its recommended that Cog Sci majors take 2 quarters of. I think its a 1 unit class once a week and they take about job options / grad school and other things related.</p>
<p>I’m not too sure as far as research goes, I’m sure talking to the professors who research topics that you are interested in will get you started</p>
<p>Hey Arctic, thanks for the info., I realllyyyy appreciate it!
I guess its not so bad. Since I will be living on campus, I will probably have more than enough time to devote to these classes, no matter how difficult they may be. As far as programming goes, I’m trying to get a head start by taking an online introductory course in JAVA, nothing too official or fancy, but something to help me get an idea of it. I’m hoping it will be similar to the COGS 18 course. And i checked out CSSA and I think its a great resource, I’ve already signed up.</p>
<p>And for research, I’ve just recently realized there’s so much more I could do with a Cog Sci degree, especially if I get a B.S., so I should probably keep my options open. </p>
<p>Thanks again! and good luck with everything :)</p>
<p>Yup, I’ve heard really good things about many of the CogSci profs. Ed Hutchins, Jim Hollan - just to name a few - are all supposed to be masters of their respective topics. </p>
<p>I don’t think programming classes for CogSci are that hard. I took CSE8A/CSE8B first (the intro to programming classes from the comp sci department), and those were a lot harder than Cogs18 (I was in Cogs18 for a week before I got into another class I wanted, so I dropped it). You’ll be prepared after taking that online intro to Java class.</p>