<p>I recently got accepted into Berkeley's College of Letters and Sciences for Computer Science, and I'm mighty confused about this major. Since Berkeley runs a parallel major in their College of Engineering, why is there this similar major in L&S, and what is the major difference between these two degrees? </p>
<p>I've heard that since the L&S school just offers a B.A degree and not an 'engineering' degree, most companies/startups discard it? Is this true?</p>
<p>If I plan on switching to the CoE, how practical is such a plan? And can anyone suggest a courseload which would be ideal to make such a transfer? If there's someone here who has managed to make such a transition, I'd love to hear how you did it.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>PS: This is my first post on CC, I'm mostly a silent observer of the forum posts. :-/</p>
<p>To be honest, I don’t really know why these majors are still separate.</p>
<p>Yes, the L&S BA does have a little less prestige than the EECS B.S. but don’t worry about it, it won’t make a difference in terms of employment opportunities. Take look at the career center website/surveys to see for yourself.</p>
<p>What are the differences then?
- EECS majors need more Physics, Math and EE40 + EE20N are in their requirements.
- They get a B.S. degree.
- They can take EE classes and get major priority
- The CoE has events/workshops/organizations restricted to EECS majors.</p>
<p>Except for the required EE classes the schedules and classes for EECS and L&S CS majors are pretty much the same.</p>
<p>Can you transfer? Yes, it’s pretty common. Just do well in your classes and you should be fine. There have been tons of similar threads and questions about this, just look through the forums.</p>
<p>This question comes up multiple times PER DAY. Just do a goddam search.</p>
<p>Short, and long answer: There is essentially no difference between an EECS emphasizing software engineering and a CS major. They’re both awesome.</p>
<p>No. Here’s one reason why it seems to exist: L and S is a college for liberal arts and sciences and mathematics. The upshot is that a lot of people in a science or mathematical discipline will benefit from studying CS. A math and CS double major is pretty common.</p>
<p>Technically CS is not engineering at all. You can easily focus in on theory courses, and take very little programming is my impression. </p>
<p>Those who don’t really want to do engineering probably don’t want to take the EECS option. Mathematics + CS double majors seem to do great in the job market routinely (well, strong ones at least).</p>
<p>L&S CS and CoE CS are seen as equivalent. I have seen no employers preferring one over another.</p>
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<p>CS 61A-61B-61C include programming assignments. L&S CS requires six upper division courses, so it is theoretically possible for someone to take the three theory courses (170, 172, 174), two hardware courses (150, 152), and only one software course (162, which is required for L&S CS). But 150 and 152 are not exactly light workload courses.</p>
<p>People who are good at math are likely to find two theory courses to be about as much as or less workload than one hardware or software course.</p>
<p>It’s a matter of pride (and prestige)…</p>
<p>I graduated from L&S CS in 2003… The main difference is in the admission process!</p>
<p>To get into L&S CS, you must re-apply after completing 6 lower division CS courses. In other words, EECS students are admitted to Cal as students with major in EECS, but L&S CS students are admitted as students without a declared major.</p>
<p>Back then it required a 3.3 gpa in the 6 lower division courses to make it into the L&S CS major… 1 out of 2 used to get in. Now, this was 9 years ago so things might have changed…</p>
<p>L&S CS back then was a capped major with competitive admission to get in. But the major dropped in popularity during the tech bubble crash, so it is no longer a capped major.</p>