At UCB, will you apply EECS or L&S with plans to declare CS after taking the pre-requisites? Greater chance of acceptance if you apply L&S, but will need to meet the GPA requirements of the prerequisites to actually major in CS.
Being Asian is not an issue at the UCs. I also don’t think that being female in CS is a big help. LOTS of females are interested in CS these days.
@svlab112 I will apply EECS. I’ve heard how difficult it is to go through L&S and I would rather just try for EECS.
Good luck. My D just graduated EECS in May. Being directing admitted was huge for her. She stumbled a bit in the beginning which would have made it impossible for her to declare CS.
@svlab112 Thank you! Congratulations to your daughter.
@svlab112 Did being at a prestigious place like Berkeley mean that making some low grades at the beginning didn’t matter when she applied for internships?
The most recent threshold for SJSU frosh admission to CS was 4725.
OP’s eligibility index = 4.25 * 800 + 1550 = 4950, so about 0.28 GPA points or 225 SAT points above that threshold.
Of course, the threshold can change this year based on how strong the other applicants are.
She didn’t do any internships and graduated with a GPA just below 3.0. She did do summer school the last two summers and worked retail off and on for extra money.
One of her classes was a group project with a real customer. The group (3-4 students) had to meet with the customer who wanted some app development. This included face-to-face meetings. She used this client as her professional reference.
She had zero coding experience when she was a accepted which she now believes was to her benefit. She tried to explain to me that she didn’t have any bad habits to break. She follows the prescribed protocol versus something described as “spaghetti” code.
She did have a nice job lined up before graduating paying 130,000 on her own without any “help”. She loves it and seems to be getting praise from her work.
She found school very challenging and was socially isolated. It was a tough 4 years. However, she experienced a personal tragedy 2
years in that was very hard on her. So, her experience was a bit different than the usual.
@svlab112 Thank you so much for the details of her experience. Congratulations to her for such a successful outcome–fantastic starting salary! I am sorry for her personal loss and the pain she must have endured. What a great comeback! I am guessing that the prestige of Berkeley did have a role in getting her first job. Sounds as if her learning-by-doing project was really the key, though.
Sorry to sidetrack this thread a bit. I just wondered if competing for grades at a prestigious college affected getting that first job.
Although having under a 3.0 college GPA can be detrimental to seeking jobs at college graduation (NACE surveys suggest that 3.0 is the most common cutoff GPA employers use to screen new college graduate applicants), the current hot job market in CS means that it may be less of an issue now for new CS graduates. In a more average job market, or a weak job market in an industry downturn, GPA being over or under 3.0 may be a more significant factor due to employers being more able to be picky.
@ucbalumnus Thank you for that very interesting information!
@svlab112 Thanks for sharing your daughter’s experience! It’s great to see that she has a job that she loves.
@BunnyBlue No need to be sorry, any information about CS is super helpful. 
I’ll suggest also considering fit, both with the overall campus culture as well as in terms of the local flavor of CS. For example, Caltech has the reputation of favoring a more “theoretical” style than other schools, while Georgia Tech has more of an “engineering” approach. One or the other could be preferable depending on your future plans. This is second-hand information, so you may want to do your own research.
That’s very helpful advice. Thank you!
For what it is worth, the average starting salary of CS majors may not be the same as EECS majors. Comparing placement data from the same university in the same year (2017):
BS in CS average starting salary WAS $83,672;
BS in EECS was $74,267.
Students at this university are not restricted in moving between departments.
See https://www.wpi.edu/student-experience/career-development/outcomes
In the interest of full disclosure,
WPI '67
That’s interesting, thank you for sharing!