<p>Title gets most of the story. Couple specific questions, especially with classes. (Sorry for the double post in both forums, but that's the best way to get results.)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is it easy to take major classes early on or even get classes at both schools? (I'd be interested about recent experience with GE's as well.)</p></li>
<li><p>How big are the CS major classes from your experience? (Both schools). At UCB how do the standard CS classes compare to EECS which seems to have the perception of being more difficult, being in the college on engineering.)</p></li>
<li><p>Recruiting. Anything of particular interest for one school over another? I know UCB has the proximity to silicon valley, but do Viterbi students find that this might be a disadvantage at all? I mean both Apple and Google have quite large southern california campuses, with Apple's Final Cut Studio team centered in Santa Monica. (Read below).</p></li>
<li><p>Is either program more of less difficult to graduate in 4 years? (And I want to know about general UC problems in the area too.)</p></li>
<li><p>Is there any greater diversity of classes at on school or another? Both seem to have pretty well rounded course lists, but maybe you guys know of something neat!</p></li>
<li><p>Double majoring and minors: Is one school more open than the other? </p></li>
<li><p>Film programs: This is mainly for Berkeley because I know SCA is amazing. (Haha.) I want to minor in film, and very possibly double major.) Is there a focus towards production at UCB? I'd really like to get into production from a development side. (Hence the final cut interest)</p></li>
<li><p>Photo programs: (Other minor idea) Is there anything special about them at one school or another?</p></li>
<li><p>USC has a computer science / business administration program which works in conjunction with Marshall, though is only a single degree. Does UCB offer anything similar, possible with Haas? For USC, and if Cal does have a program, is it compatible with a minor?</p></li>
<li><p>Schedules: Any general comments and love-hate relationships with either the quarter or semester system for each school? Most people seem happy with their school's systems.</p></li>
<li><p>Finally USC: I was admitted to the spring. Any Viterbi spring admits with comments?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So I realize that's a lot, a obviously no one needs to answer everything. Any insights you can provide will me much appreciated! :)</p>
<p>I only have one response for your series of questions:</p>
<p>Are you seriously comparing UCB CS to USC CS?</p>
<p>—EDIT—
Yes, it is. Though with our stupid system, you just have to schedule it really well and you might not get the section/lab you wanted. But generally, yes, you will be able to get all of your major requirement classes.</p>
<p>2) Intro series are like 300~ people; it’s not that bad, really.</p>
<p>3) Read my starting comment.</p>
<p>4) Classes here are harder, so technically it is more difficult to graduate, but on the other hand, you learn a LOT more.</p>
<p>5) I’d say our course list is pretty diverse… There’s only so many fields you can touch on in CS.</p>
<p>6) If you plan to double major and minor within L&S, it’s NOT hard at all.</p>
<p>CS classes are the same as EECS classes. As in, EECS majors and CS majors take both the exact same lower division and upper division classes. There are no CS classes that are limited to EECS and not CS. Average size for a lower division CS class is maybe 300? Average upper division class size varies wildly, depending on the class you’re taking, ~30 to 250.</p>
<p>Meh, I’ve lived around socal my whole life, it’s not the girls. Actually, I’ve sort of been a trojan for 18 years, so football is kind of a consideration. :P</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses so far! I mean, I guess that’s it too. There is a lot of personal decision that’s involved because I know UCB’s CS program is ranked higher, though it’s not like Viterbi is low.</p>
<p>Ok other question for CS people: Is going into the city common? And (I mean not with a double major) but is it possible to have a part time job? (My ideal job would probably be the SF Apple store…)</p>
<p>Note: CS major courses are 61A, 61B, 61C, 70, and all courses from 150 to 196 and 200 to 296. 98 and 198 are typically student initiated group study (“DeCal”) courses.</p>
<p>Proximity to “Silicon Valley” means that companies that do not have the time or resources to do “away” recruiting may recruit at Berkeley (and Stanford and San Jose State) but not go to LA to recruit at USC (and UCLA).</p>
<p>Thanks for the link! Yeah, I’ve known about USC’s CS stuff for a while and that’s one of the ones I’m looking at, especially since it’s really applicable to what I might want to do. </p>
<p>And ucbalumuns, thanks for those links as well! Not all class sizes seem so large, but it’s definitely something worth considering for me.</p>