<p>I think Im missing something,
but if Cal has the top ranked computer science program in the nation next to Stanford/MIT/Carnegie Mellon, why is it in the Letters and Science category where it's not impacted at all and it's much much easier to get in than for an impacted major like EECS in the CoE? </p>
<p>Of course I would extremely bummed out if it was harder to get in, but I'm just curious why it isn't.</p>
<p>because lots of people don’t major in it? I don’t know.</p>
<p>that would be my guess too ^.
You don’t really just dip your toes into CS for the hell of it the way I see it and when people do, it’ll be a “I really want to pursue this” or “**** this” reaction and less “eh I’ll stick with this for another year and see what happens.”</p>
<p>impacted majors aren’t based on prestige… it’s just based on how many people want to major in it. i guess another answer to your question is that most people who know for sure they like the CS stuff will major in EECS instead and that is indeed impacted.</p>
<p>I guess maybe the BA is less prestigious in some people’ points of view…</p>
<p>Computer science (L&S) used to be a capped major, where you had to apply for it and needed a GPA substantially higher than 2.0 as listed now. However, enrollment dropped significantly after the tech bubble crash and the offshore outsourcing business fad[1]; it would not be surprising that was also the time it became uncapped.</p>
<p>As it is now, for someone who wants to study computer science, it is a major arbitrage opportunity, as it is generally considered easier to get into L&S as a freshman than it is to get into EECS as a freshman, and it is generally considered easier to get into L&S CS as a transfer than to get into EECS as a transfer (and L&S CS transfers would not have to “catch up” EE 20N, and may have been able to find EE 42 at CC, while EECS transfers would almost always have to “catch up” both EE 20N and 40).</p>
<p>Other possible major arbitrage opportunities at Berkeley include chemistry (CoC versus L&S), environmental economics and policy (L&S and NR), and ORMS versus IEOR (L&S and CoE), although in the latter two cases, the L&S major is capped, so the arbitrage is not so clear cut.</p>
<p>Berkeley is not unique in having major arbitrage opportunities. At San Jose State, there is a software engineering major whose curriculum is very similar to the computer science major there. But it is much easier to get into the software engineering major than the computer science major at San Jose State, either as a freshman or a transfer.</p>
<p>[1] Offshore outsourcing continues to this day, but it reached the point of being faddishly over-popular (to the point that some venture capital companies were said to be more interested in a start-up’s outsourcing plan than its business plan) around the same time as the tech bubble crash, making job and career prospects in computer science very poor at the time. That probably drove a lot of both experienced persons and students out of the field, resulting in a lower supply now, resulting in better job and career prospects.</p>
<p>It’s EECS that is tough to get in…
when they say top CS in country, they’re talking about CoE, not L&S
CS and Chemistry in L&S are people who want to use that for something else…
most people who want to go into industry or academia in that particular field go to
CoC or CoE</p>
<p>What difference does the department make if we’re taking the same classes?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh, really?</p>
<p>L&S CS: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm</a>
EECS: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
As it is now, for someone who wants to study computer science, it is a major arbitrage opportunity…[/quote</p>
<p>True, but note that CS (in L&S) is definitely not EECS from the CoEng. According to my techie friends who hire EECS majors, they are few and far between at most colleges. Thus, extremely high demand for that major – which is a double at some/many colleges, at least according to him.</p>
<p>Obviously, someone who wants to focus on EE and does not want to take at least six upper division CS courses (as required by L&S CS) would want to do EECS over L&S CS. EECS at Berkeley allows the student to select his/her upper division EE and CS courses to be all EE, all CS, or some combination of EE and CS.</p>
<p>CS and EECS are looked upon as the same by employers and grad school. I think the biggest different is just the handling of the breadth courses.</p>
<p>A lot of engineers want to avoid as many breadth courses as possible, and the set EECS has is slightly less. Also, some people dislike EE and don’t want to take EE20.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not necessarily, and not ALL employers. My friend who I referred to abovea and who heads up an engineering design firm, recruits primarily EECS types. I know little about his business or his reason for preferring EECS grads, but that is what he mentioned over lunch one day. His second choice is EE.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>L&S CS and EECS with mostly CS courses will be looked at essentially the same. But EECS with mostly EE courses will be different, obviously.</p>
<p>Breath is not necessarily easier in engineering; for example, engineering majors have to take R&C B regardless of AP English credit, and must include at least two upper division humanities and/or social studies courses.</p>
<p>^ Yeah, but they mostly take the Econ for their series req, which is pretty much math oriented. And some people just prefer those to the 7 breadths of LS. </p>
<p>And yes, hardware firms such as samsung etc would prefer EECS with a strong EE background. I should rephrase to:</p>
<p>CS and EECS (/w empahsis on CS) are looked upon as the same by employers and grad schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Both majors pick from the exact same pool of CS courses…</p>
<p>Wow guys thanks for all this indepth info.</p>
<p>If EECS (with the emphasis on CS) and CS is the same, I think I’ll apply to L&S for a better admission chance. Thanks again guys</p>
<p>Hi, I’m currently a student in COE thinking about switching out into L&S CS, just wondering what do you guys think are the chances that L&S CS will become impacted again? What was the GPA break-off required to gain admittance to the major when it used to be impacted?</p>
<p>Yeah, side note: it’s relatively very easy to get into CS at Berkeley as a transfer. For example, the average accepted GPA for transfers into Berkeley CS was < 3.5. For UCLA it was like a 3.82. This was a factor I considered when I chose UCLA (definitely not the main reason though).</p>
<p>I think it’s quite simple: before you can declare CS as your major, you need to have completed the lower-div requirements. This includes the 61 series.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, those classes are hard. They’ll weed out people who are not cut for CS. After all of that, there’s really not that many people who are qualified, hence no impact.</p>