My D is accepted into some good compsci programs and she’s narrowed it down to Harvey, Berkeley, UCLA and CMU. She is leaning towards Harvey, I’m thinking Berkeley might give her a more diverse college experience? Just wondering if anyone has some good advice or input? Thanks in advance.
Net price at each, and how much does cost matter?
UCB: admitted to the EECS major, or to L&S? (L&S students need to earn a 3.3 GPA in the three CS course prerequisites to declare the L&S CS major)
UCLA: admitted to the CS major?
CMU: admitted to the CS major (in School of Computer Science)?
Thanks for the reply ucbalumnus. She has been admitted to Berkeley L&S CS major, UCLA CS major, CMU School of Comp Sci, HVM no declare major. Cost is not a problem, they all give her full ride, which make this more difficult. So for Berkeley, what if you don’t get 3.3? I wonder what is the drop off rate of CS major after the weed out?
UCB L&S students (who start undeclared) who do not make the prerequisite GPA for a capacity limited major like L&S CS need to choose a different major (many other majors like math are not capacity limited, but some popular ones like statistics and economics are).
About half of students in those prerequisite CS courses earn B+ or higher grades. But note that L&S CS is one of the largest majors now, with 557 graduates in 2017. That is in addition to 401 EECS graduates, most of whom emphasize CS.
If she does not want to risk the GPA threshold, one of the schools where she is more assured of the CS major may be more favorable.
Thanks for the good info. So half is weeded out? That’s pretty brutal. My D wants to be a programmer more than anything else so this is definitely a negative. And I just looked it up, looks like the average graduating GPA for Berkeley CS major is 3.0.
What about getting into CS major in HVM ? Any GPA requirements?
@ucbalumnus, may I ask a follow up question even though I’m not the OP? If weeded out from L&S Comp Science and thereby choosing a different major such as Classics, is there still the prerequisite of passing with a 3.3 GPA for the 3 comp sci classes if choosing to minor in comp sci instead?
And UCLA comp sci? Any GPA requirements? Sorry folks. First child going to college so I have lots of questions.
There are no major restrictions at Mudd, she can just declare the major. If she likes Mudd and feels like it is her “tribe”, then I’d say she should go there.
Re: UCB CS minor
See https://eecs.berkeley.edu/resources/undergrads/cs/minor . Note that L&S CS and EECS majors have priority for registration in CS courses, so while the minor does not have any special GPA requirements beyond 2.0 / C, actually getting into the CS courses may be difficult (the L&S CS and EECS majors are capacity limited because 900+ students per year in CS is at the limit that the department can handle).
Re: UCLA CS
If the student has direct admission to the CS major, s/he just needs to remain in good academic standing (2.0 GPA, C grades). If not, getting into the CS major is highly competitive: https://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/change-of-major/
Re: Harvey Mudd
It does not look from the web site that Harvey Mudd has any high GPA requirements for declaring the CS major. Ask the school directly to verify.
Thank you!
Become a Mudder!
Is there a minimum GPA requirement at CMU to remain in cs program?
Note that for the L&S CS weeder classes, it is a requirement of a few other majors, and it is taken often by a lot of intendees in other majors as well. So that 50% number for CS61A for example is a bit skewed.
Mudd and UCB are about as different as night and day in terms of college experience, except for the being around smart people part.
If she is feeling drawn towards Harvey Mudd, I would think twice about pushing her to Berkeley (assuming she’s already visited or otherwise done her due diligence). She’s obviously a super smart kid, let her trust her instincts on this. The college experience at Claremont is going to be second to none so don’t worry about her missing out on anything in that respect.
My kid graduated from Mudd last year. There is no GPA requirement by major, period. Obviously you have to pass your major requirements classes, and stay academically eligible overall. But they don’t cut you from the major or something if your GPA goes down.
Thanks for all the replies. Yes she’s already visited Berkeley three times, done the Regents Scholar overnight stay, and she will do the HVM overnight this weekend. What about social aspect? Berkeley admits around 10,000 freshmen every year, HVM about 200. Will connections and social circle be more limited at HVM?
Also wondering if anyone has experience with HVM grants and scholarships? HVM gave her a generous offer but she have to keep a 2.75 GPA, HVM’s average GPA is 2.7 I think. What if you don’t make your GPA? Just wondering if anyone has similar experience.
btw Otterma that looks like our cat, are you my D? Just kidding. Completely agree with what you said.
There are around 6000 students at the combined Claremont colleges. A group of 200 people in your entering class is definitely small but in reality it’s not likely that she would want to be socializing with numbers of people much greater than that (unless she is a very atypical CS type).
My son is at a small college. It is nearly the exact same size as his not too big high school. He says it feels infinitely larger though because EVERYONE is a peer. He didn’t have to seek out his people…they self selected themselves into the school. HMC will be like that.
Since she’s doing the Mudd overnight this weekend, wait until next week to worry about it. She will know after that where she belongs.