I’ve been lurking here for quite a while, and have read tons of posts about the ED process at CPSLO. Now that the Oct 31 deadline is approaching, I have to make a decision about early decision. I really like SLO, have visited the campus, and think I would be happy there. I am pretty sure I have the stats (4.1 CSU GPA, 33 ACT, MCA high 4700’s) to get in via early decision for CS, or Software Engineering. However, my dream school has always been USC, and I like UC Davis, San Diego and Irvine, as well as UW and Santa Clara. I will be applying to all of these schools plus a couple of safeties. I have put a lot of effort into the essays that the other schools require, and think it would be fun to take this process all the way to the end. I would appreciate the forum’s thoughts on a few issues that will determine whether I go ED to SLO or not.
I would be very disappointed if I went RD to CPSLO and then did not get accepted. I really want to have the ability to choose this school, after I see my other options. Are my chances of acceptance through RD significantly lower than ED?
What is the reputation (and therefore future job prospects) of the Computer Science departments at these schools?
I know class sizes at the UCs will be much bigger than those at CPSLO and SCU, but what about USC and UW?
UW and UCSD have only a limited number of spots for direct admit into CS, where CPSLO would be a direct admit. What are my chances for direct admit at these schools?
I know that the success of USC’s football team has had at least a small effect on my thoughts about that school. My parents both went to larger schools with good sports teams, and they still talk about how much they enjoyed the games.
Ultimately I want to stay in the western US, and I think all of these schools are pretty well known in this part of the country. Are there any schools that I am overlooking that would also make me wait for RD?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have.
If SLO is not your ultimate #1 choice, then do not apply ED. You are given a chance to change your mind due to compelling reasons such as Medical issues or Financial aid not being adequate, but ED is binding. If you want to compare offers and see what other schools you are admitted, stay with RD. You are a competitive applicant, so you would good chances at all these schools. SJSU might be the only other school to consider for CS/Software Engineering since their2 programs are very highly rated and you cannot be the Silicon valley locale same as SCU.
@Gumbymom Thanks for the reply. I took a brief tour of SJSU and it didn’t seem like a good fit for me. It is in a pretty run down area, and I cannot see my self there. No comparison between the area around SJSU and the areas around UCD, CPSLO, or most of the others.
Actually my CS major son agreed with you about the fit and area around SJSU. He was accepted but did not consider attending. Like I stated above, you have a good chance at the schools listed, just trying to give you some options.
RD acceptance to CS is SO competitive that you could be on the bubble even with that MCA. I’d say there’s a better than 50% chance of admission RD, but the acceptance rate for CS is about 10% overall, slightly lower for RD than ED. Thus, I wouldn’t be shocked at all if you were rejected. It’s really depends on the applicant pool. As you know, it’s all about MCA, but your GPA is below the engineering average and ACT is one point above (assuming that it is the average of Math and English and not the composite). CS averages are likely higher than that. CS, RD at Poly is likely the hardest admit on your list. The rub with the others is that many of them are holistic, so students with lesser stats could be chosen over you.
For CP, you have a BIG decision. If you KNOW 100% you want CS AT CP, I’d ED. That means giving up on the rest if you get accepted to Poly. If you KNOW you want Cal Poly in the mix, but aren’t willing to commit yet (that’s the way my son did it for ME), I’d RD Software Engineering. I’d say you chances are VERY good for SE. If you’re OK if you’re rejected by CP, and I’m not saying that you will be, but it’s more certain that you’ll get into SE, RD CS.
Students at UW do not declare their major until Sophomore or Junior year. That means two things, students don’t start their engineering or CS studies during their Freshman year and admission to your desired degree IS COMPETITIVE. That means if you aren’t a direct admit, which you could be with your stats, you might not get a slot in the program you want. I advise all students to avoid school where slots to programs are competitive after they’ve been admitted. Unanticipated things happen. So, unless you get direct admit, avoid UW.
If you haven’t visited USC, do before you apply. It’s a nice campus, but it’s an enclave in an otherwise VERY bad neighborhood.
@Zach2016: He loves SDSU and so far a perfect fit academically and socially. He loves the school spirit, the CS professors so far (2nd year) and just the overall vibe of the school. The SDSU alumni network is very strong and there is a Google recruiter (former SDSU student) whom will be on campus next month doing some workshops in regards to internships and job opportunities. He feels he made the right choice. SLO was his original #1 choice but he did not get in. Even though SLO’s CS program is great, in hindsight the school would have not been as good a fit as SDSU.
@eyemgh 33 is my ACT composite. I got a 35 English and 33 Math, so for CPSLO, I guess that would be a 34. I always wondered if that 32 ACT that they report for Engineers is a composite score or a Math/English average. I have visited USC, and love the campus. The area north of campus is not too bad–my dad and I have parked there when we’ve gone to football games. The area south of the Coliseum is scary.
@Gumbymom That’s great to hear. I hope I end up somewhere that I like as much as your son likes SDSU. They always say that students pretty much end up at the right spot for them. My cousin here in OC graduated last year from SDSU and really enjoyed it.
What about the reputations of these various schools? A lot of people dis the CSU system, and regard USC as a “football school”.
People who “dis” on the CSUs do so because they aren’t research institutions and there’s a large standard deviation amongst the CSUs when it comes to quality, much higher than among the UCs. As long as you pick your CSU wisely, you can get a great education. Among them, Cal Poly is certainly the crown jewel, especially the College of Engineering.
Those who dismiss Poly simply because it is a CSU are grossly uninformed about what is important in an UNDERGRADUATE education, small classes, professors who want to teach and unparalleled lab facilities.
We have a family member who earned his PhD in engineering from Stanford. He told our son that if he wanted to be a practicing engineer, he’d get a better education at CP than at Stanford. Two retired Cal Tech professors told him the same thing about their institution. All three though raved about the PhD programs at their schools.
You have lots of good choices and should get into most if not all of them. Decide what’s important to you, BOTH academically and non-academically. Don’t discard things like wanting a school with a major football program, or the weather, or location. Rankings don’t factor that stuff in, but in YOUR rankings they are important. That’s all that matters.
Students at UW start their CSE studies during their Freshman year in order to complete the prerequisites for “Regular Admission” to the Computer Science or Computer Engineering majors:
“Although most UW students do not declare a major until their sophomore or junior year of college, the CSE department admits up to 20% of our students directly out of high school through Direct Admission (DA).” https://www.cs.washington.edu/
For Regular Admission, students need to complete CSE 142 and 143 (Computer Programming I and II) and the following prerequisites:
Computer Science:
Math 124, 125 & 126;
At least five credits (i.e., one course) of natural science, including one of the following: Biology 180, Physics 121, Chemistry 142 or 145, or any approved science course that requires Physics 121 or Chemistry 142/145 as a prerequisite; and
Five credits of English composition.
Computer Engineering:
Math 124, 125 & 126;
Physics 121; and
Five credits of English composition.
Regular admission is competitive, but zach2016 looks like a competitive applicant.
And I would encourage you NOT to dismiss what your gut is telling you. All good choices and you’ve clearly done your homework. Is there one of these that you would be really sad if you didn’t go there? It will work out for you.
I know someone with slightly better stats (4.8 UW, 4.5 UC W and 35 ACT) who did not get into USC, UCLA but did get into CalPoly and UCSD, UCD, UW (not direct admit though), etc. two years ago. UW is a really good school but admissions to CS there is (very) competitive so you might not get into the major you want after completing your pre-requisites. This would be a killer choice for graduate studies where it really shines above many other schools.
Here is what are pluses for CalPoly:
yes, employers heavily visit and actively recruit from the school.
you start taking major related classes from the first quarter and every quarter (in smaller classes) after that. That is a huge advantage in getting you internships after the Sophomore year. This gets you a leg up in the crucial Junior year internships.
cheaper than anything else if you don’t qualify for aid. UW might be only slightly cheaper in state, but not by much.
If you want to stay on the west coast and go into the industry right after school (have no interest in grad studies), all other things being equal CalPoly is a very solid choice, and has certain clear advantages over the others. Do consider applying to SE or CPE. Very close on curriculum, teaching staff and career prospects, better admit chances and very easy to switch into CS from.
@iulianc Thanks for the info. Amazing that your friend didn’t get into every school to which he applied, with those stats.
On another matter–I see people post UC GPAs of 4.4 to 4.5. How is that even possible when you are only allowed to count 4 years of AP? You would have to only take a total of 8 a-g classes your entire 10th and 11th grade years to get a 4.5, even with straight A’s and 4 AP classes.
There was a typo in my post, her UW GPA was 3.8 not 4.8 sorry.
4.5 was her UC not CSU GPA. CSU GPAs have the 8 a-g AP limit, not the UC. UC awards points for honors and AP, and some high schools offer insane numbers of those. The CSU GPA was something like 4.1 or more, can’t remember, anyway, in range of what you have.
@zach2016: Only UCLA and UCB will use uncapped UC GPA, the rest of the UC’s use the UC capped GPA (8 semesters honors points). The best way to evaluate your GPA for the UC’s is check the common dataset for each. The Average and GPA ranges are based on a unweighted GPA.
There’s a big problem with comparing admissions and rejections at other schools with Cal Poly. Cal Poly admits based on an algorithm, above the cutoff you’re in, below you’re not. The others admit holistically. These comparisons make it seem like it takes stronger stats to get into the holistic schools, but it doesn’t. Stats don’t really get better than that. It’s just that they get far too many applicants with those stats to accept them all. Certainly students with equal or lower stats did get into USC that year and some with better stats didn’t. It’s just the randomness of holistic admission. When we visited Brown the head of admissions said that they received 32,000 applications for 2500 spots. Of those, her words, "29,000 were FULLY QUALIFIED to matriculate at Brown. Welcome to too many kids applying to too few schools. Thanks USNWR.
Agreed. For very highly ranked schools, if you don’t have a “hook” and apply for a competitive major, your true “chances” are a fraction of the advertised acceptance rate and it becomes a true lottery. In a normal competitive system, the good schools would be incentivized to create more supply (offer more seats) for higher demand.
The real damage that USNWR does is to create the perverse incentive for highly ranked schools to create scarcity since a huge part of their rank is tied to the acceptance rate. There was an article in Economist some time ago showing the big school have not added freshman seats for years. They did increase their tuition though, without a truly measurable increase in the quality of the education they offer.