CPP vs SDSU? for CS major

College Search & Selection
1

S21 got admitted in CalPoly Pomona (CPP) and San Diego State (SDSU) for CompSci major. As of now, these are the top 2 schools we’re choosing from. It’s quite a hard decision. I kind of prefer CPP, and my son kind of prefers SDSU. Although my son said he’s ok to go either way. We’ve been doing a TON of researching, school websites, forums, etc.

Looking for your thoughts and feedback on what would you choose, and why. I know I’ve asked this question several times in other threads. Just hoping to get more insights. Not just feedback related to CS major only, but for the overall school.
I appreciate all the help!

2

He can compare the CS major requirements and course offerings to see if either looks better for him:

https://cs.sdsu.edu/degree-requirements/

Both campuses offer California Promise 4-year pledge (priority registration and advising if the student does things like follow the major’s course plan etc.), but SDSU does not include the CS major, and CPP only offers it to certain classes of students (first-generation-to-college, Pell grant, Dream Act, or from underrepresented high school). Other CSUs may offer this program with wider eligibility.
https://www.cpp.edu/studentsuccess/oss/graduation-pledge/4-year-ca-promise-info.shtml

1 Like
3

The student heavy surrounds at SDSU will give a more traditional 4 year experience so, that’s the direction I would lean - but it isn’t me.

Tour both schools, talk to some students and let him decide… neither is a bad choice.

1 Like
4

Based on the CS requirements @ucbalumnus linked to above, SDSU seems to offer a more traditional and better CS program. CPP’s CS program is more like that of a trade school.

1 Like
5

Not sure how you came to that conclusion. Requirements are fairly similar, though SDSU has a few fewer CS requirements, but more non-CS science requirements. There is somewhat more difference in CS elective offerings.

Here is a comparison of CS major requirements (note that course numbers in parenthesis are not required, but are available as CS electives).

Course SDSU CPP
Intro CS 107, 108 1400, 2400
Machine Organization 237 2640
Discrete Math MATH 245 1300
Data Structures 310 2400
Programming Languages 320 4080
Computer Architecture 370 3560
Social Legal Ethical Issues in Computing 440 3750
Senior Seminar 490 4630
Systems Programming 530 2600
Algorithms Analysis 560 3310
Operating Systems 570 4310
Numerical Methods 3010
Formal Languages Automata (562) (not required, available as CS elective) 3110
Object Oriented (535) (not required, available as CS elective) 3560
Software Engineering (532) (not required, available as CS elective) 4800
Upper Division CS Electives 4 courses 4 courses
Calculus MATH 150, 151 MAT 1140, 1150
Linear Algebra MATH 254
Intro Statistics STAT 250 or 119 STA 2260
Upper Division Statistics STAT 350A or 550 or 551A or MATH 541 or 579
Non-CS Science 3-4 courses, including 2 semesters of PHYS or CHEM or BIOL with lab PHY 1510, 1510L

Here are the additional electives:

Course SDSU CPP
Unix Sysadmin 470
Scientific Database 503
Database 514 4350
Advanced Programming Languages 520
Compilers 524 4110
Programming for GIS 537
Internationalization 540
Artificial Intelligence 550 4200
Neural Networks 553
Robotics 556
Computer Simulation 558
Computer Vision 559
Microprocessor Architecture 572
Security 574 4600
Networks Distributed Systems 576 3800
Client Server 580
Computational Linguistics 581
Speech Processing 582
Game Programming 583 4700
Symbolic Programming 3520
Parallel Processing 3700
Machine Learning 4210
Web Search Recommender Systems 4250
Computer Graphics 4450
Computability 4500
Big Data Cloud 4650
Mobile Application 4750
Software Engineering Practice 4810
Advanced Topics 596 4990
1 Like
6

For CPP, its CS requirements mostly focused on programming and are light on theory. It’s very light on math too, as it doesn’t even require linear algebra and its discrete math course is much simpler. For the electives, it offers little in specialization in most fields (other than software development) beyond an intro course in a few of them.

SDSU, on the other hand, have required upper division courses in both CS and math. And it seems to offer better variety and depth.

1 Like
7

The differences in requirements are not as large as you are suggesting:

SDSU: linear algebra, upper division statistics course, 2 more non-CS science courses
CPP: 4 additional upper division CS courses (one of which is a theory course, so CPP actually has more CS theory requirements than SDSU)

Note that the required introductory statistics course in CPP is calculus-based, but the one at SDSU is not, so that may be why SDSU requires an upper division statistics course as well.

Now, if you like the selection of upper division CS electives at SDSU more than CPP (or vice-versa), that can be a much more valid reason to choose one over the other.

1 Like
8

It’s quite a hard decision. We’ve been doing a TON of researching, school websites, forums, etc. Looking for your thoughts and feedback on what would you choose, and why. I know I’ve asked this question several times in other threads. Just hoping to get more insight

IMHO, don’t keep looking The answer here is clear. SDSU. It is the school your son wants, and regardless of how much more time and effort you spend trying to decide if CPP might be slightly better/worse you’re not going to get any more clarity. If there was a big difference between the two you would have already found it.

Annie Duke, a former professional poker player, has written a new book “How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices”. In part she says

Let’s take an example: you’re thinking about visiting Paris or Rome. Why do I call that kind of decision a “hidden” freeroll? It’s because you can’t go wrong whichever one you choose.

That unlocks a really important decision principle: when a decision is really hard, it means it’s easy. Here the decision is really easy because it doesn’t matter too much which you choose; you should just be flipping a coin. And even if you had the cognitive acuity to parse the two decisions apart, it’s kind of a waste of your time.

You don’t need to flip a coin on this one, your son has a preference.

9

Thanks, but please don’t be too quick on your conclusion. I probably didn’t write my post well cause I just can’t possibly write our entire situation here. He is very undecided and is literally asking my help and guidance to help make a good decision.

10

Thank you everyone for all the helpful comments! The detailed comments above are truly helpful. What’s not helpful is when someone just says something like “just let your son choose”. If your son/daughter asks you for help to decide on something, would you not help him/her?