Son got admitted to the following school/major:
SDSU - Pre-Computer Science
U of Portland - Computer Science
U of the Pacific - Computer Science
UCR - Computer Science with Biz
UCSC - Computer Science - Game Design
His stats are 3.62 unweighted 3.87 UC GPA. ACT 28C. He has 19A/3B in his sophmore & junior years no APs. His Math is not brilliant. Studying AP Calculus AB (borderline B/C grade) and AP Computer Science Principles (borderline A/B grade) in his senior year. He is a late bloomer, a slow processor with average organization skills but extremely hard working (nerdy) & determined. He shows some talent in computer arts animation and game design. I believe CS major is the right choice for him to explore. He is also taking Econ (B grade) but hasn’t really got the acumen.
He wants to go to UCSC hoping to declare CS major at the end of sophomore year. We think UCSC has the strongest CS programs among the schools that have accepted him
I do not know where to find stats on secondary admission success with CS major at UCSC. Reviewing UCSC admission policy, he MUST complete all the foundation courses within first 3 quarters. Plus some game design & GE, all together look daunting to me for my son with limited CS background at the moment.
Is the “Complete all foundation courses within the FIRST 3 QUARTERS” requirement strictly adhered to? Will he be allowed an extension into say first quarter of sophomore or summer quarter in freshman year?
Is going to another school a better path? (no financial issue) Should we at least let him try?
Grateful for any help for us to make a final decision!
https://ua.soe.ucsc.edu/major-qualification and https://registrar.ucsc.edu/catalog/programs-courses/program-statements/cmps.html indicate that all variants of CS at UCSC have a major qualification GPA of 2.8, and it has been that way for the last few years.
The second link says that “UCSC students that have completed three or more quarters at UCSC must complete the foundation courses before they can declare a computer science major.” I.e. it looks like a student in his/her fourth or later quarter can declare the CS major, but only if s/he has completed the foundation courses. Also, it looks like there are five foundation courses, which should not be difficult to schedule within the first three quarters if he wants to declare as soon as possible.
Thank you again for the links and your last comment of “it should not be difficult” was very reassuring to me! Grateful… for all your posts on CC!
The first link is much clearer to understand for me listing the foundation courses in a table / side by side.
Although I tried mapping the courses referencing the Sample Plan A, B etc. to come up with the 5 probable courses for first quarter, I am still confused on the loading as to exactly how many GE vs Foundation. Plus another course from the residence hall/hall that he chooses.
Guess it would be his academic adviser to assist. I should just let go and stop worrying! Son is very hardworking if he knows what he is taking in fall, he will head start in summer.
He is pretty much made up his mind to be a banana slug even though the school counselor thinks a smaller school is a better fit.
A typical schedule is 3-4 courses per quarter. It looks like most UCSC courses are 5 credit units, so 3 such courses would make a full load of 15 units per quarter (which would add up to the 180 needed to graduate in 12 quarters (4 academic years)).
Sample first year schedule:
Q1 Q2 Q3
Math 19A* Math 19B* CompE 16
CS 12A CS 12B other course
CS 12L (2) CS 12M (2)
<h2>other course+ other course+ other course</h2>
17 units+ 17 units+ 15 units
<ul>
<li>Math 11A-11B or 20A-20B may be substituted.</li>
<li>Assumes other course is 5 units.
Slower paced introduction to CS if he has little experience:
Q1 Q2 Q3
Math 19A* Math 19B* CompE 16
CS 5J CS 11 CS 12B
CS 12M (2)
<h2>other course other course other course+</h2>
15 units 15 units 17 units+
<ul>
<li>Math 11A-11B or 20A-20B may be substituted.</li>
<li>Assumes other course is 5 units.
Faster paced introduction to CS if he has more experience:
Q1 Q2 Q3
Math 19A* Math 19B* CompE 16
CS 13H other course other course
CS 13L (2)
<h2>other course+ other course other course</h2>
17 units+ 15 units 15 units
<ul>
<li>Math 11A-11B or 20A-20B may be substituted.</li>
<li>Assumes other course is 5 units.
It does look like some of the other possible courses associated with the residential college are 2 or 3 units, so one or two of those would be used to round out a quarter where he needs a 2 unit lab (CS 12L, 12M, or 13L) to make a 15 or 16 unit quarter instead of a 17 unit quarter.
If he earns a high score on the AP calculus AB exam, he may be able to skip Math 19A (see https://ua.soe.ucsc.edu/advanced-placement ), but it is best for him to try the old Math 19A final exams (some linked from https://people.ucsc.edu/~eastman/Math%2019A%20-%20Winter%202017/19AhomeW17.html ) before deciding whether to skip.
Thank you so much for taking time to lay out the Plans in detail for me!
If son enters as a proposed Game Design major (not a CS direct admit), do you know whether he will also be REQUIREd to take some ARTG foundations too? For example, ARTG80H/80K? I can see the above Plans are already fully loaded to 15-17 units. Oh, can “the other course” be one of these ARTG or they will be GE?
https://registrar.ucsc.edu/catalog/programs-courses/course-descriptions/artg.html indicates that ARTG 80H and 80H do fulfill some general education requirements (see https://registrar.ucsc.edu/catalog/undergrad-acad/gened.html ) as well, so taking them as “other courses” can cover both the game major prerequisites and general education requirements.
Thank you again for pointing us to these pages - we definitely need to spend time understanding GE next! I personally start to see how all link together… husband & I didn’t go to an American college (even we did, it wouldn’t be the same in the old days). So, grateful for all the guidance!
@ucbalumnus, we had a chance to discuss some plans with a UCSC Prof/student adviser at a Q&A Session for admitted students. And with your previous assistance it has become all clear to us how things work. We were told that we could switch major from Game Design to CS even at the Orientation Day. The dept is very flexible with these 2 majors which require literally the same mandatory foundation courses for frost. Students just need to choose based upon their passion for the subject. If CS is what you really want, then all GD classes can be “skipped”; as some of them actually fulfill GE so can choose them for “fun”. The Prof told my son to decide for himself without mum interfering… ha ha. We also visited UP during spring break and felt that the engeering dept was too small. Thank you again!