My S got admission to his 1st major choice of CS at UCSC, whereas he now got an option (off the waitlist) to accept his alternate major of Math-CS in UCSD. He already submitted his SIR payment last month for UCSC since that was his preferred option before the May 1 deadline. Now that he got off the waitlist at UCSD for his alternate major, we are looking for some advise on what we should do.
We know that UCSD is a much better college than UCSC, but, the problem is that they did not offer him his 1st choice of major, and so we are not sure if he will eventually be able to change his major to CS. Also, he may have to take some pure Math classes initially even if he is able to change his major to CS.
On the other hand, at UCSC, he’s guaranteed his 1st choice of CS major so there is no hassle.
We will appreciate any inputs or suggestions from the experts in this forum.
If he does not get into the CS major at UCSD, would he be fine doing the Math-CS major there? The Math-CS major is here: https://www.math.ucsd.edu/~handbook/undergraduate/ma30-math-computer-science-b-s/
Changing into CS at UCSD means earning a 3.3 GPA in prerequisite courses and then entering a lottery: https://cse.ucsd.edu/undergraduate/cse-capped-admissions-program
thank you @ucbalumnus
He wants to do his BS In CS and so, he won’t like to stay with Math-CS.
Is that because he dislikes math or can’t handle it?
I’m curious about the reasoning as from an employment perspective, there would be no difference (or Math-CS may even be better).
BTW, I see a total of 2 “pure math” classes that he would have to take in the Math-CS major at UCSD that he wouldn’t have to take in an engineering CS major (he could take more but he could choose CS classes instead and some of the math classes are computational and involve programming).
Although unfamiliar with each school’s program, my own personal two cents is optimizing for atmosphere/happiness/“overall school” at this stage of the game is the right call.
At this level of granularity, no future master’s program or employer would really delineate between the two majors with the right GPA. Similarly, a harder class here or there has decreased weight relative to “fit” of the school.
A personal two cents, so please take it as such.
from the link ucbalumnus posted, it looks more like a theoretical math degree with a computer science emphasis, not one where you look athow math and cs are interconnected and take equal courses in both. I may go with UCSC CS and silicon valley location rather than rolling the dice at UCSD.
@theloniusmonk: I see 2 “pure” math theory classes beyond the typical engineering CS calc sequence plus some computational math (usually called computational science) classes and the flexibility to take either math or CS electives.
What do you see?
Granted, the main issue with UCSD Math-CS may be getting those CS classes without priority registration.
The UCSD Math-CS is much more math intensive than the UCSC, more than two courses. FIrst off UCSC only requires five math classes in the actual math dept, it’s possible that you could take a couple more mathy classes from the CS dept, but that’s it.
UCSD M/CS, on the other hand requires:
five calc classes and linear algeba
a class in math reasoning (rigorous proof)
abstract algebra
discrete math
two elective courses from a set of numerical analysis
an elective course from a set of math logic classes
And their CS classes are pretty theoretical - data structures, algorithms, theory of computing etc… This is what the catalog says:
"This major gives mathematically minded students a specialization in theoretical computer science. "
If the OP’s son does not want to do pure math, this is not the major for him. So if he wants to switch, he’ll have to take two years of this, do well in them and then get lucky in the lottery.
@theloniusmonk, as you should be aware, discrete math would be required for any CS major.
So it’s a handful more math courses.
And those theoretical CS classes are really the only necessary ones. Data structures, algorithms, and OS/systems programming (also available to a math-CS major) are really the only core required CS classes.
But yes, if the OP’s son hates math, this isn’t the major for him. If wants to build mobile/web apps but say that he has a CS degree, this isn’t the major for him.
@PurpleTitan What would be the major for someone that does not like math, but likes to code?
@ReidIsLovely: Honestly, I would just learn by myself (lots online, including on MIT OpenCourseware) and do projects. Open source projects, build up a portfolio, and soon you’ll be making money as a coder. Then you could decide if you’d want to pick up a CS degree as well.