Comp Sci through UCSB College of Creative Studies

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Santa Barbara
1

<p>Anyone on CC familiar with the CSS at UCSB? I am looking to major in
Comp Sci and was intrigued by the small class sizes, getting the CS
majors working on advanced projects as early as possible, the regular
advising sessions. Is it more difficult to get into? Are there any drawbacks
relative to taking CS from College of Engineering or Letters and Sciences?
If you're in the program how to you like it? Thank you.</p>

<p><a href="https://ccs.ucsb.edu/what-is-ccs"&gt;https://ccs.ucsb.edu/what-is-ccs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>I would like to get more information on this one as well.</p>

3

<p>Near as I could tell - the program would be best suited to a computer science guy who was a voracious reader.</p>

4

<p>I can not find much information about this program </p>

5

<p>@CollegeBargain‌ @seal16‌ </p>

<p>UCSB student here. I’m not in CSS (yet, anyhow), but I have researched it for a bit. </p>

<p>CSS is described as grad school for an undergrad, in the simplest terms. It focuses on getting students through lower division class and GE’s as quick as possible (preferably by the end of 1st year), so they can focus more of their time on upper division class. As the name implies, creativity is the name of the game, as the students are given more freedom on what they want to do, and/or pursue. At the same time, they have their own separate set of classes, with smaller class sizes and professors more engaging and involved than in the typical classroom. </p>

<p>Sounds nice, but the hardest part is getting in. The application process is grueling, with letters of rec, proof of work in the specific field you want to major in that is included in the college. The best incoming students are offered spots in the college, while those who weren’t must apply while in school. </p>

<p>I’ve heard it is REALLY selective. The website claims there are only around 400 CSS students, although I’m not sure if that refers to incoming freshmen or the whole undergrad student body. If the former, only 400 out of ~4500 enrolled freshmen were admitted into the college. If the latter, there are only 400 students out of around 18,000 undergrads. </p>

<p>In other words, super selective program. But it comes with many benefits, provided you can keep up with the workload.</p>

<p><em>Edit:</em> </p>

<p>Forgot to mention, CSS only offers 8 majors: Art, Biology, Chemistry/ Biochemistry, Computer Science, Literature, Mathematics, Music Composition, and Physics (yay physics :D).</p>

6

<p>In reading about the origins of the program it seemed like it was based around English and literature. This was back in the 60s, They felt they needed to be able informed on the sciences and technology side of things in order to have a full world view. The dept head got axed under mysterious circumstances. Any it could be all different today,</p>

7

<p>Thank you @NotYetEngineer‌ Is this a new program? Cannot find much information about this program. Is this program also beneficial for someone with tons of APs, since any UC will count them in for lower division classes requirements.</p>

8

<p>@seal16‌ </p>

<p>I’m not sure, but I don’t think it is a new program. It has been around for a while, is my guess. </p>

<p>I want to say having a lot of AP credit would help you, but I’m not exactly sure. It would take GE’s out of the way quicker, but some of the classes in CSS are exclusive to the college only, so those credits might not be applied to classes within the college (which are classes you must take if in the college).</p>

9

<p><a href=“http://www.berkshirepublishing.com/blog/2010/10/07/marvin-mudrick-and-his-chickens-2/”>http://www.berkshirepublishing.com/blog/2010/10/07/marvin-mudrick-and-his-chickens-2/&lt;/a&gt; …this is a must read IMO.</p>

<p><a href=“College of Creative Studies - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_Creative_Studies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The founder: Marvin Mudrick <a href=“University of California: In Memoriam, 1987”>University of California: In Memoriam, 1987;

<p>I’m not saying it’s good or bad. It just seems to me that there’s more to College of Creative Studies than jumping into advanced graduate level work ASAP. Good luck however you decide. If you do go Creative Studies please report back what it’s actually like in 2015!</p>

10

<p>There are about 400 students in the College in total. Every major is different in how it recruits students and how they teach students but what they share in common is the students are highly motivated. This may overlap with the students being high academic achievers but not always. CCS is a good home for students who have identified a passion for a subject early and wish to immerse themselves in that subject quickly. This is not for everyone - the deep end of the pool can be a scary place when you are learning to swim. For most students an important part of college is some exploration and many students prefer the more predictable structure offered in majors in L&S and CoE. </p>

<p>I can answer general questions about CCS and specific questions about the Biology program but for specific questions about other majors you should contact the program coordinator for that major. Their contact information can be found on the CCS webpage.</p>