We are in the midst of receiving acceptances (and rejections) from CS programs. My son has dreamed of transferring to GT or Berkeley (we have not heard back from yet). So far he has received acceptances from the UC’s listed above. I am trying to think ahead so that our minds are clear when we receive the news from GT next Monday.
I know GT is extremely competitive so even though my son has a 4.0 GPA and has completed all the required courses (now articulated) for admission, it is possible or even likely he will receive a rejection letter.
It seems like there are many people on this list who have been immersed in CS and know the field well. I would appreciate insight on the pros and cons of the programs listed in the subject head. My son’s present interests would be, upon graduation, to work for an American company here (LA or Silicon Valley) and abroad and to eventually form his own company making games or some type of app.
As an aside, he has pretty much taught himself three foreign languages so he would like a CS program where study abroad is a possibility.
Thank you for giving us your thoughts.
San Diego is the top rank of those three for CS and many other science fields ( between Santa Cruz, San Diego and Irvine). San Diego has strong mathematics and computational fluids for fields like meteorology as well. Its also strong in bioinformatics, chemistry, and biology. Be sure he got into the CS major there, as the major is impacted at San Diego.I like the engineering college best at San Diego as well, should he change his mind, although I don’t know that transferring between majors is possible. But CS students may work with engineering professors at San Diego. Good luck. Has he visited all three campuses and does he have a preference? You may want to post your question on the UCSD page to get more responses. There is a general U of California page too.
It seems UCSD would let him study abroad in the summer or one quarter for any major. Given that he has less time
there, planning it will be important, as a transfer student.
https://studyabroad.ucsd.edu/getting-started/academics.html
If he goes get into GT the CS program in Hong Kong is very good,and there are programs in Barcelona and France, as well. All these programs teach in English as I understand it, but there is time to travel and practice languages and take language classes. GT foreign language classes are outstanding. My son is in Japanese 2 this semester.
UC San Diego is on an intense quarter calendar. Georgia Tech is a semester calendar with lots of students studying
the summer as well to finish in four years. GT has a lot of credit requirements for CS and all majors.
My son got into the Computer Science Engineering program at UC San Diego. We will go
to the Transfer day this Saturday. It’s an all day presentation and it looks like he will get to briefly
meet some faculty, students and counselors. We also look forward to seeing the transfer dorm.
A UCSD student has assured my son that the students are able to get summer internships. Santa Cruz does not offer a transfer day so we will have to figure out the logistics of visiting that campus.
Do you know if Georgia Tech offers a transfer day for admitted students? We attended a fall introduction program and were amazed at how friendly staff and students were. My son liked the campus vibe and we were impressed that staff were very welcoming even though my son was only an applicant. @Coloradomama you are very knowledgeable about CS and GT as well as other schools and it is very kind of you to try to help the applicants out. We’ll see what Monday holds.
@suenos53 Are you in-state or oos for CA vs GA? That may also be a consideration.
@SDCVdad We are in-state California. The program at UCSD looks very solid class-wise. However, I have wondered if my son would have a tough time getting internships because of the distance from high tech companies. At the orientation, I will try to get more information on internship possibilities. I do like the in-state tuition and the proximity of UC San Diego to our home. Ever since my son heard about GT’s combined CS and international program (which they now tell students about at the school visit), he has been enamored with GT. I wonder how feasible it is for a transfer student to join this program even if he adds an additional year to his studies. After reading posts on this forum, it looks like there are fewer opportunities than we thought in Japan and Switzerland.
Here is a full list of Georgia Tech study abroad programs by country. Japan and Switzerland are listed.
https://oie.gatech.edu/study-abroad-programs
Often if a student wants to go to a certain country, there usually is a way to do it. I think U of California is similar
in that there is a large international opportunity office and students are free to explore options. Some options may delay graduation.
Good luck on Georgia Tech. Sounds like you can afford it and your son seems to prefer it right now. I can only imagine UCSD is less expensive for you, but it may depend on what GT offers you etc.
I think there will be no problem getting internships from UCSD San Diego is a large city in close proximity to Los Angeles jobs and good students at UCSD will compete for jobs all over the globe. U of California students have some of the best options in the world for jobs as California offers so many jobs in so many locations. LIkewise GT kids get internships across the globe and may have other advantages in changing majors, class size and technically focused university.
While I don’t usually use WIKI, this is a nice list of local companies to show how good a location San Diego is for a software engineer, hardware engineer or biotech engineer. San Diego is a hotbed of high tech jobs in software, biotech, telecom and financial sectors:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_headquartered_in_San_Diego
Thanks so much @Coloradomama . I will check these links out for GT study abroad and high tech jobs.
Although saving tuition money seems awesome, it is not our primary concern -getting a good match is. I don’t think my son will want to change majors so we’re good there. My son is very intrigued by GT’s choice of threads and he likes the idea of studying two threads in depth. GT’s small classes and being around intellectually/technically focused students especially appeal to him. I am happy to hear you believe there are plenty of internship possibilities at both GT and UCSD. It feels a little strange waiting until mid June to see if Andrew gets into GT. If he likes San Diego, he will go ahead and pay a deposit at UCSD (due by June 1st) and then wait to see what happens with GT.
Do you (or anyone reading this) have an idea if transfer students at GT are asked to take a summer school course or fly into Atlanta for orientation or an early class registration? We are trying to make summer plans but want to make sure my son is available for early registration or orientation.
Thanks for all your help!
@suenos53 Comp sci is a very, very impacted major currently at UCSD, so congrats on your son’s acceptance! We just visited GT. Campus is very nice (very green compared to UCs, as expected). Good diversity and campus vibe. I cannot speak for transfers but for freshmen, they allocate the week (or two) before school starts for registration by students coming afar. Contact GT’s west coast admission rep for any questions (she is very helpful).
@suenos53 GT leaves it up to the student entirely to enroll in summer school or not.
Transfer students have their own FASAT to sign up for, which is registration for the first semester classes in the fall. Its mandatory, as I understand it.
Here is all the information about it. FASAT is a two day orientation including panels, lunches, tours and then your student will get his Buzz Card at the Barnes and Noble in Tech Square and register for his classes on day two.
Freshmen have seven FASAT sessions to chose from, in July and August. Transfer students, I am not certain, study this website and click on the links. Transfer students have their own FASAT. It may focus on their needs better.
http://nssp.gatech.edu/transfer-faset-orientation
@suenos53 I don’t think your student is eligible to attend classes this summer, because of the late date you mentioned, that he may be admitted in June. There are three summer sessions at GT. Early Short Summer, Late Short Summer, and Full Summer. These seem to be different length sessions.
Here is the calendar, its complicated! Perhaps late short summer, he could enroll, but registration is in May, If I read this correctly:
http://www.registrar.gatech.edu/calendar/