My major for Berkeley is Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The school has a great department and is very prestigious. Yet, I’m worried about it being suicidal for my GPA.
My major for UCSD is Electrical and Computer Engineering. The school is very good, and it would likely be less competitive than Berkeley’s program. Still, it does have less prestige.
Help please!
You will do very well in either for jobs. I can’t really think that your gpa is going to be particularly different in one college or the other.
@BrownParent Do you really think so? Berkeley is known for being extremely competitive, making it extremely difficult to get A’s. In the hypothetical scenario, which would have better prospects? B’s at Cal or A’s at UCSD?
Honestly this kind of thinking just doesn’t sit well with me. I just never made decisions with my kid that way. It isn’t like you are trying to get into med school and have to practice gpa protection to a major degree. I think you are making conclusions that are not valid. But if you know yourself maybe that is the issue. Are you looking to skate by or just give yourself some slack? I think you should believe in yourself. But I also think you should pick the college that suits you more. Likely no one will care about your gpa after your first job, though, and possibly not even then.
@BrownParent It’s the kind of thinking going on with my parents. I didn’t mention earlier, but I am trying to get into med school after college, so I really need a good GPA. My parents also told me that GPA apparently defines your job opportunities and I wanted to find out how true that was. I know a Berkeley degree is very valuable, but my dad (who is an electrical engineer) says 3.0’s are crushing for job opportunities. He didn’t go to Berkeley though, so I don’t know how true that is for other schools.
I honestly want to go to Berkeley for opportunities and prestige, but I’m hearing so many horror stories about Berkeley EECS. I honestly feel like I would fit into either school. I have a lot of friends at UCSD, but I love the NorCal vibes of Berkeley. The city of Berkeley has a lot of things to do, and hiking would my specialty in San Diego.
If you want to go to med school I don’t think it is a good idea to major in CS. CS and software dev is different than straight engineering. Or maybe your dad is in software and knows different. I will have to ask my daughter if she has ever been asked her gpa. But I think at Berkeley you will have a lot of networking. Even my dd has offers from people from her undergrad school, job leads from internships, etc and you will too. But if you don’t want to work in CS I don’t know why you are studying it. Pick something easier without that workload that will help a bit more to prepare for MCAT and to focus on your premed reqs. UCSD has a very good bio program too, so any bio work and research should be very good-also in case you want to switch major. Good luck.
@BrownParent I’ve been told it’s very difficult to do well on the MCAT and get into med school. I’m majoring in Computer Science as a backup plan in case I do not into medical school. My parents refuse to pay for my college tuition if I do not do Computer Science or if I switch my major. They were fine with Biomedical Engineering (which I really wanted), but not BioEngineering. Berkeley and UCSD only have BioEngineering. I find it would be near impossible for me to pay for college through jobs/etc because of the workload I will have on my plate. Switching my major isn’t an option. I just really need to figure out which school and likely GPA would maximize my job opportunities. I would really love if you could ask your daughter about that!
Ugg, your parents suck, sorry. Go to UCSD, it will piss off your dad. I will ask her, but she has an MS and some PhD student research (ABD) so it might not be a direct comparison.
At UCSD you can look for research with guys like this (I haven’t looked up what he teaches undergrads):
http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/research/profile/447/
@BrownParent Haha. Actually, that would make my dad happy! He really wants me to go to UCSD for the likely higher GPA. I honestly want to go to Berkeley for its richness in the major and all. Except, I’m afraid for my apparently life- threatening GPA.
He sounds like a pretty cool guy! I would like to hope researchers like him appear at both schools.
Do you know when you would be able to ask her? Decisions are later this month and I’m trying to get all the advice I can get. I really appreciate your help!
I usually don’t post any more but when I see a train wreck I feel compelled to chime in. Premed and and EECS, what are you thinking? I also agree you cannot know for sure you will get As at UCSD because it’s a very academic school. Kids there have very strong work ethics also. My daughter is at UCSD, she did pull straight As last quarter but she spent a few sleepless night in the library. She was offering Regents and had much higher test scores and GPA from high school then you(sorry I took a quick look at your stats). But there are tons of smart kids at UCD especially Computer Science.
My advice is for you to go to the school you like, if it’s Berkeley then do it, you will most likely do well if you like the school.
Man, your parents were really not on top of this. Bioengineering programs at UCSD and Berkeley are biomedical engineering except in name (a BENG adviser at UCSD straight told us on the first day that the focus is solely on medical applications, not agricultural engineering or anything of the sort). However, that’s advice for future readers of this thread; looking at the situation you’re in right now, it looks like you don’t have that as a choice anymore.
First, as all the other posters have tried to state, a B student at UCB does not become an A student at UCSD. The environment at UCSD is perceived to be less cutthroat, but is still almost equally competitive (there is a difference between the two concepts). The average engineering GPA at the latter is 3.14, which isn’t really a med school caliber GPA (I’d know, I’m screwed too seeing as I’m a pre-med in BENG). The real interesting bit here is that you want to be pre-med AND EECS; those .14 GPA points might be all the difference. Also, UCSD has a ton of on-campus research opportunities and four walking distance medical centers, which could help. Basically, UCSD is pretty rich in the major too, and I think you’ll be able to balance engineering with pre-med better here (because pre-med would be more time-consuming at Berkeley).
@DrGoogle Well, this is all very depressing to know now. Thank you for informing me. Wait, how do you know my stats?
@groverrohan Also thank you. I’m guessing it’s impossible to switch from EECS to BioEngineering?
@DrGoogle Nevermind. A google search works.
@CuroHeights it’s difficult but not impossible. (Just very difficult). CS is still a solid program, you’re just not gonna have as many overlaps with pre-MDs requirements necessarily