EECS vs. CS

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>I am nearing completion of my application and am beginning to second guess myself. After reading posts upon posts about top notch transfer students being rejected from UC Berkeley I am beginning to wonder whether I should apply for EECS or CS. It is to my understanding that although cs at Berkeley is competitive, it is significantly less competitive than that of EECS. </p>

<p>I am asking for your help, cc, which should I apply for?</p>

<p>I have finished or will have finished nearly every pre-req for EECS (cs61a & cs70 are not offered at my community college) and have maintained an A in every course except for two psychology courses which I have gotten B's. My reasoning that I may have a chance to get into EECS is that I took a course (math 54-linear algebra & diffeq.) at Berkeley this past summer and got an A-. I have also worked at Safeway for the past year. As much as I would love to be an EECS major, are the chances that I will get rejected so great that it may be better to just apply for CS? </p>

<p>note: I will happily provide more information as to specific classes, grades, test scores etc. if needed.</p>

2

<p>Honestly these aren’t majors you can just pick at random. Especially considering your personal statement needs yo be intuned with your choice. </p>

<p>CS is just that, CS. If you love programing and you just want to code code and more code then CS is a no brainer. It’s easier to get into and it’s a great program.</p>

<p>EECS is a real engineering degree. Do you love physics & chemistry. Do you want to learn about how the electrons travel in a circuit? Do you want to design new integrated circuits? </p>

<p>So basically if your passion is software do CS, if your passion is hardware do EECS.</p>

3

<p>bomerr, that’s not true. If you want to do EE/hardware, yes, it’s better to be EECS. But a lot of EECS students focus on software as well. There are more technical requirements because it’s a CoE degree, and the breadth requirements are different, but it’s certainly not just for hardware people. If you look at the program, there’s 4 required lower div CS classes, 2 EE, and upper division can be focused on whatever you choose. It’s a very flexible major.</p>

<p>DubbTom: Where do you stand on the L&S pre-reqs? Would you have IGETC? Which breadth requirements are better for you? Do you have any interest in EE/hardware? There’s tons of things to consider, a lot if it depends on you. Back when I was applying, I looked at the majors with the exact same doubts as you… from what I remember, L&S and EECS’s pre-reqs were pretty different, enough so that my math/physics/CS heavy schedule made EECS a much better option. So, look at that as well.</p>

<p>The chances of being rejected from either are pretty high, it is Berkeley, after all. Of course, your stats are good enough to give you a chance in either, provided you’ve got the right coursework.</p>

<p>Another thing to keep in mind: If you get in as EECS, you’re EECS. Declared, in your major, good to go. If you get in as L&S, you need to take the lower div pre-reqs, keep a 3.0+ technical Berkeley GPA (requirement might go up again), and then declare your major… that means there’s a chance you won’t get to be CS at all, if something goes bad in a lower div. Classes here are hard, so GPA can be stressful, even if you’re smart. So, after getting in EECS is less of a headache in that regard.</p>

<p>I’d say go with your gut feeling. That or apply to the major you like more. Admissions can go either way, for either major.</p>

4

<p>^ That is technically true BUT IRL people specialize. A person that does coding will most likely not be on a career path where they design circuits and vice-versa. So if you do want to do EECS and then focus on a lot of coding classes, well all you are really doing is make the program more difficult for you.</p>

5

<p>Again, not true. As an EECS major who transferred to Berkeley and is honestly awful at hardware/EE/circuits, I haven’t had any trouble with it. I’ve had to take one more EE class than I’d have needed for L&S, that’s hardly a huge difference. Overall the benefits of EECS (for my own situation) definitely outweigh having to take that one extra EE class.</p>

<p>Nothing about EECS prevents you from focusing on Software. Doing CS through CoE/EECS is more flexible than L&S CS. If you want to do EE you need to be EECS, but for CS it doesn’t make a huge difference.</p>

6

<p>If you are at Diablo Valley College, can you get to Laney College to take its CIS 61, which articulates to Berkeley’s CS 61A?</p>

<p>You may want to be sure to take an American Cultures course listed here before transfer: [ASSIST</a> Report: DIABLO 13-14 UCB GE/Breadth Articulation Agreement](<a href=“http://web1.assist.org/web-assist/report.do?agreement=aa&reportPath=REPORT_2&reportScript=Rep2.pl&event=21&dir=1&sia=DIABLO&ria=UCB&ia=DIABLO&oia=UCB&aay=13-14&ay=13-14&dora=AMCULT]ASSIST”>http://web1.assist.org/web-assist/report.do?agreement=aa&reportPath=REPORT_2&reportScript=Rep2.pl&event=21&dir=1&sia=DIABLO&ria=UCB&ia=DIABLO&oia=UCB&aay=13-14&ay=13-14&dora=AMCULT)</p>

<p>Post transfer differences you may see:</p>

<p>L&S CS requires either EE 20N or 40 (not listed in ASSIST or required to declare the major, but required for graduation). EECS requires both.</p>

<p>L&S allows IGETC to fulfill breadth. CoE does not; see <a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/requirements/hum-ss-requirement/HSS%20NEW_10-24-13.pdf[/url]”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/requirements/hum-ss-requirement/HSS%20NEW_10-24-13.pdf&lt;/a&gt; .</p>

<p>L&S requires at least 6 upper division units outside of your major.</p>

7

<p>bomerr:
I would rather do EECS because I have always had an interest in the hardware side of things but the opportunity for me to get thoroughly involved never presented itself. I thought that if I didn’t enjoy the hardware side of things then I would be able to shift so that I am focused on cs which is already something that I enjoy doing. If I go cs then I would only be focusing on coding. However, if applying for EECS would entirely jeopardize my chances of getting admitted then I would rather go the cs route.</p>

<p>failure622: I would be one of two classes short of IGETC. If I choose to go through L&S then I can shift my course load next semester to accommodate the required classes. However, as of right now this is what I have planned so far:</p>

<p>Highschool AP course: score
AP Computer Science AB: 4
AP Calculus AB: 5
AP Environmental Science: 4</p>

<p>Diablo Valley College course:UCB equivalent: grade
CHEM 108: A
CHEM 120:CHEM 1A: IN PROGRESS
COMSC 110: A
COMSC 165: A
COMSC 200: PLANNED NEXT SEMESTER
COMSC 210:CS 61B: IN PROGRESS
COMSC 260:CS 61C: PLANNED NEXT SEMESTER
ENGIN 230: PLANNED NEXT SEMESTER
ENGL 122:ENGLISH R1A: A
ENGL 123:ENGLISH R1B: A
MATH 140: A
MATH 193:MATH 1B: A
MATH 195:MATH 55: IN PROGRESS
MATH 292:MATH 53: A
PSYCH 101: B
PSYCH 200: B
PHYS 130:PHYSICS 7A: IN PROGRESS
PHYS 230:PHYSICS 7B: PLANNED NEXT SEMESTER</p>

<p>UC Berkeley course: grade
MATH 54: A-</p>

<p>I am trying to get as much done so that I will have the prereqs done for other colleges as well, but I fear that if I take GE classes next semester to complete IGETC for L&S then I will only have the requirements for CS at Berkeley and none of the other UC’s. </p>

<p>ucbalumnus: Yes, I am currently at DVC and am located in Danville so I would be able to attend Laney with a short commute. I was told that if I were to be accepted then I could just take CS 61A at Cal to fulfill the requirement, but is not having it on my application going to hurt significantly despite the course not being offered at my community college?</p>

8

<p>^ I would say it would be significant. </p>

<p>[Profile</a> of Admitted Transfer Students by Major, Fall 2013 - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof13_mjr.htm#SEAS]Profile”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof13_mjr.htm#SEAS)</p>

<p>While not a direct comparison you can see how damn competitive engineering is at UCLA. Avg gpa for CS was almost a 4.0 and EE was a 3.9. It already sucks that you got 2 Bs. Simply put the more pre-reqs you complete, the more competitive your application will be; I would not miss any pre-req that you can complete.</p>