Has anyone experienced taking classes at both colleges? I was to transfer to UCB EECS and I’m wondering which one has a better computer science program.
Both are the same distance from where I live.
Both are in the same district.
In just comparing the Computer Science program, which one is better?
https://www.assist.org/transfer/report/22722794
https://www.assist.org/transfer/report/22723466
Out of the lower division UCB courses CS 61A, 61B, 61C, 70, and EE 16A, 16B, both De Anza and Foothill have only a course for partial CS 61B (must take CS 47B after transfer if you take that course before transfer).
After transfer from De Anza or Foothill, it is likely that most of your first year at UCB will be doing these lower division EE and CS courses, meaning that your upper division EE and CS courses will be compressed into your second year at UCB. It is likely that many transfer students to UCB EECS take five instead of four semesters due to the number of “catch up” lower division EE and CS courses they need to take.
Out of the lower division CS courses, the most common one to find covered at a community college is CS 61B, though probably significantly fewer than half of community colleges offer it. CS 61A and 61C are rare (Laney and Diablo Valley respectively), while the other courses appear to be nonexistent at community colleges (although there may be some courses that cover portions of the material but not recognized for transfer subject credit).
At a school like Ohlone College in Fremont, you can actually fully articulate the Berkeley CS61B class by taking a Data Structures class along with a C++ class. No need to take a bridge class at Berkeley. However…
The difference in the Data Structures class between what you take in a typical CCC as opposed to the CS61B class itself is vast. It is usually recommended to retake the CS61B class at Berkeley, as opposed to taking the bridge CS47B class or skipping entirely, especially if you’re planning on going into software development.
Here’s the litmus test - if you can walk out of your CCC Data Structures class prepared to do a software internship, you don’t need to retake the CS61B class. Otherwise you should retake.
To answer your original question - there probably isn’t much difference between the 2. Gaining lots of experience with writing proofs in your math classes and your Linear Algebra class will be the most helpful thing that you need to get out of CC.
Actually, a check of your knowledge that is easier to evaluate is to consider the projects and try the exams of an actual UCB CS 61B course from https://datastructur.es/ . Also, https://eecs.berkeley.edu/resources/undergrads/cs/transfer-prereqs/faq describes some criteria that can indicate whether a course at some other college may be considered equivalent to UCB CS 61B.
Being prepared to do a software internship can be hard to judge oneself (some people are overconfident or underconfident). The difficulty of getting hired may not necessarily be the same as actually doing the work, so that may not be a good measure either.
Although not articulated to UCB CS 70, community college courses in discrete math (e.g. De Anza or Foothill Math 22) can help with logic and proof practice, along with partial preview of the content of UCB CS 70.