CSUMB's Computer Science Program or SJSU's Software Engineering Program?

College Search & Selection
1

Hey everyone, I got into both these schools and will be transferring out after I’m done with Spring quarter from De Anza College.

I’m have a 2.78 Cumulative GPA. (I basically have a bunch of Cs on my transcript that’s why).

I’d like to know what you guys think.

PROS for SJSU:
Close to home. I can literally take a bus there.
Won’t have to pay very much, in contrast, to going elsewhere.
In the Silicon Valley. So I imagine it’s not hard to get a tech internship around here.
Division I Athletics. I like watching College Football even though the team did really bad this year.
Campus is small which means it’s easy to get to your classes most of the time.

CONS for SJSU:
Won’t get the full college experience since the majority of students commute and don’t live on campus.
Not a lot of school spirit and local support for athletics.

PROS for CSUMB:
On the beach
It’s in Monterey so I imagine the area would be very peaceful. It’s also surrounded by farmlands as well!
College town

CONS for CSUMB:
I heard you won’t get the full college experience there either. On reddit, CSUMB students told me that many show up just for classes and then go home.
CSUMB doesn’t stand out as a name in CS as SJSU
I would be living on campus and they don’t offer a good financial package.
They set lower standards to the amount of classes you’re taking compared to SJSU.

These are the only ones I can think of right now.

Here’s what I would like to do in the future.
I prefer could graduate debt-free.
I want to go to a university known for their academics, but also promote a work-life balance. When I was at De Anza taking 3 STEM Courses, I felt like I had my wings clipped (It felt like I was doing academics 24/7) and hopefully a semester system will be much different than life on a quarter system. What I mean is I would have enough time to do academics and to also spend some time with extracurriculars as well.
I would also like to go to a school where there’s research opportunities as well.
I would also like to join Club Sports as well.
I would also like to go to a school with mental health support too.

2

SJSU. Very little debate IMO.

3

@ProfessorPlum168

Can you explain why?

I almost forgot to include that I’d also like to minor in GIS/Geography as well.

4

SJSU is very competitive for CS, and is well connected with employment opportunities in Silicon Valley. Did you actually get in for CS at SJSU? The index, well for incoming freshmen at least, is really high. Not sure how that works for CC transfers.

5

@ProfessorPlum168 I applied and got in as a Software Engineering major @ SJSU because I didn’t think that with my GPA, I would get into their CS program.

SJSU, when it comes to CC students, gives anyone attending a CC in Santa Clara County and Santa Cruz County a 0.25 GPA boost.
http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultstransfer/

6

Ok, that’s still good. From a career standpoint you should still be way better off at SJSU.

7

@ProfessorPlum168 Do you know anyone who attended CSUMB that could answer some questions? I’m considering visiting their campus on April 6th.

8

Just going to second that SJSU will be the right choice careerwise here. It sounds like neither has the campus life and it’s also cheaper, so I don’t see any real draws for CSUMB here.

9

MB really is a commuter campus for all but incoming freshman.
Many students are attracted to MB for it’s Marine Bio/Oceanography programs, as well as their unique programs in Communications and Media. Not computer sciences.
It’s computer programs are just not as well developed at SJSU and access to internships means that
you’ll be driving back and forth to the SJ area anyways.

My vote between these two would be a clear SJSU.