College of Letters vs. College of Engineering Computer Science

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>What is the difference... they're both computer science? which is better.</p>

<p>thanks</p>

2

<p>Read about it here</p>

<p><a href="http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Programs/two_ways.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Programs/two_ways.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Far and away the most important difference is when and how you get admitted. EECS students (in the College of Engineering) are directly admitted as freshmen, and need a 2.0 GPA to successfully graduate with their degree. Those who want to study CS in the College of Letters and Science have to complete all the lower-division CS coursework in their fresh and soph years and then apply to declare the major. Depending on your grades, there is the significant chance that you will not be allowed to declare the major and hence you will have to major in something else. Hence, you run the significant risk that you will take all the lower-division coursework only to find out later that you can't declare the major. </p>

<p>Here are the 'admissions' stats for those people who tried to get into the CS major in L&S. You will notice that a significant number of people did not make it.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/admissionsstatistics.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/admissionsstatistics.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Hence, EECS in the College of Engineering is clearly a far safer choice. All you have to do is successfully graduate. With the L&S road, you're only told in your junior year whether you will be allowed into the major or not. Maybe you will, maybe you won't. You don't know. </p>

<p>On the other hand, it is significantly more difficult to get into Berkeley as an EECS applicant than as a L&S applicant. And you can only send one application to Berkeley. Hence, applying as EECS means that you run the increased risk of not getting into Berkeley at all. If you apply to L&S, then you increase your chances of getting into Berkeley in some capacity, but you may find later that you won't be allowed to declare CS. Hence, it's a tradeoff. A more difficult shot in the beginning (but if you make it, then more assurance of your major in the future) vs. an easier shot in the beginning, but more uncertainty of your major down the line.</p>

3

<p>what about letters VS college of chemistry</p>

<p>for a chem or biochem major?</p>

4

<p>CS students have fewer requirements than EECS students, who typically take more classes about the hardware side of computers, even if they concentrate on software. This makes it a bit easier for EECS students to get jobs at hardware firms (Intel, Hitachi and the like), but L&S CS students certainly do end up working at hardware jobs. Pay for EECS and CS grads is comparable: <a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm&lt;/a>, <a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>Anecdotally L&S CS is easier than EECS (after you get admitted to the major) in that L&S CS students don't have to take as many hard courses at the same time as a result of having fewer requirements. This is both good and bad: bad because L&S CS students can end up finishing college unprepared to work in industry if they pick their electives poorly, but good because L&S CS students tend to have better grade averages than EECS students, which helps with getting to first-round interviews.</p>

<p>In the past CS was one of the hardest majors to declare at Berkeley--possibly even harder than Haas--but now that computer stuff is becoming less popular it has become a bit easier to get into. However, as sakky said, it is still pretty hard to declare L&S CS. Anecdotally, it is fairly simple to transfer from EECS into L&S CS if one wishes to.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
but good because L&S CS students tend to have better grade averages than EECS students, which helps with getting to first-round interviews.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think this mostly has to do with the fact that there are very few L&S CS students with bad GPA's, because those who have bad GPA's are rarely able to get into the major in the first place. In other words, whiel the EECS major has students that run the entire gamut of grades, the L&S CS major basically cuts off the entire low end.</p>

<p>For the same reason, that explains why L&S CS students may seem to make higher average starting salaries than EECS students are. The EECS starting salary numbers include students with both good and bad grades. The L&S CS numbers include only those students with good grades. A more fair way to compare the two would be to look at the salaries of only those EECS students with good grades.</p>