Please help with Targets/Safeties for Game Development/CS

College Search & Selection
1

Would really appreciate input on colleges for my S24. He is interested in Game Development or CS with Game focus. He has been intrigued by a Cognitive Science major with AI focus recently. He doesn’t want an art/design focus for Games, but a technical programming focus.

CA resident
GPA 4.03 (W), school does not weigh Honors classes, but gives 1 point for APs
All honors classes except Pre-calculus (regular)
3 APs so far : APWH (5), AP Comp Sci, and APUSH (11th)
12th: AP Psychology, AP Calculus AB, and AP Physics 1.
Math classes: H Geometry (9th), H Algebra 2 (10th), Regular Pre-calc (11th).
Science: H Bio (9th), H Chemistry (10th), H Physics (11th)
3 Bs (all in 10th), the rest As
B in one semester of H English (fall 10th), B in both semesters H Algebra 2 (10th).
SAT 1380 with no prep. Might take it again in August with summer prep.

ECs: Not much. A few clubs, no leadership. Spends all his spare time programming and making games. Published a couple on itch io.

Safety
University of Arizona, AZ (Game Design/Development BS)

Target (?)
University of Utah (Early Action) (Games major in Engineering school)
Chapman, CA (Data Science + Game Dev Programming Minor)
Lehigh, PA (CS, also considering Cognitive Science).
RPI (Cognitive Science + Games dual major)
WPI (Game Design BA and Games BS), but he didn’t like Worcester
CU Boulder (game focus is not strong)
RIT (Game Design BS)
University of Denver (Game Dev BS in Engineering)

High Reaches:
Northeastern (CS/Game Dev) Would be ED if he applies. He loved the campus and Boston.
UC Irvine -Game Design BS, or Cognitive Science (alternate)
UC Davis (Cognitive Science)
UC San Diego (Cognitive Science)
UC Santa Cruz (Game Design BS)

Finances - we can cover ED for Northeastern.
He has a strong preference for Northeast (lots of family in MA, NJ, NY) or West coast so it’s been a struggle to find schools that have the right CS/Games track for him.

With the exception of Arizona, we are just not sure what his chances are at the other schools Would love to add a few more targets/safeties to the list.

Northeastern seems unrealistic, even with ED, so I really want him to find some programs that he is very excited about. We are visiting Utah and Chapman in April.

Thank you for any advice.

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I think Utah and Denver are givens in addition to u of a.

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I know you’re looking for more targets/likelies, and I’d place this one with your other in-state reaches, but in case you haven’t seen it, Cal Poly SLO has a Game Development Concentration in their CS department that might be worth taking a look at.

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Have you looked at the CSUs? It looks like Chico, Monterey Bay, and SLO offer Game Design. Not sure if it is exactly what he wants.

https://www.calstate.edu/CSUEA/Pages/degrees.aspx

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5

He will get into RIT and they have a great program that includes required coop (similar to NEU)

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6

I would first calculate the UC GPA’s: Unweighted, Capped Weighted and Fully weighted for the California UC’s. The calculation uses a-g course grades taken the summer after 9th through the summer prior to 12th. UC approved Honors courses (look up HS on this website: University of California A-G Course List) AP/IB and DE/CC courses can extra honors points for each semester.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Below are the overall admit rates for 2021 (most recent data) based on the capped weighted UC GPA for comparison. CS/Game Design and Cognitive Science admit rates will be lower than overall.

Campus 4.20+ 3.80-4.19 3.40-3.79 3.00-3.39
Berkeley 30% 11% 2% 1%
Davis 85% 55% 23% 10%
Irvine 60% 31% 14% 1%
Los Angeles 29% 6% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 98% 96% 89%
Riverside 97% 92% 62% 23%
San Diego 72% 25% 2% 0%
Santa Barbara 73% 28% 4% 1%
Santa Cruz 91% 81% 46% 9%

Now for specific admit rates based on major if available.

UCI Game design admit rate: 10%. Cognitive Science: 24.3%. Campus 25-75% GPA range for the Capped weighted UC GPA of 4.08-4.29

UCD Cognitive Science: No specific major admit data but the College of Letter and Sciences admit rate was 37.9% overall with 25-75% GPA range for the Capped weighted UC GPA of 4.06-4.30

UCSD Cognitive Science: No specific major admit data but the overall admit rate was 23.7% with a Middle 50% UC Capped weighted GPA range of 4.12-4.30.

UCSC Game design: 42.4% with a Campus 25-75% GPA range for the Capped weighted UC GPA of 3.94-4.25.

UCSC will probably closer to a High Target/Low Reach vs. a High Reach. The rest of the UC’s will be tough admits but it will depend upon several factors but especially the UC GPA’s.

I agree to consider some of the Cal states especially Chico which is a non-impacted campus and their program might be a fit.

Cal Poly SLO’s Game design program is a concentration within the College of Engineering/Software Engineering major. Admit rate for SE is around 11% so another Reach school.

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7

Personally, I’d choose Cal Poly CS before any of the other CA schools mentioned. It’ll be a reach, but it’ll be cheaper, prettier, result in more applied projects and they offer both Game and AI concentrations. Amazon has an AWS training site on the Cal Poly campus.

I’m highly biased. My son went there. He chose it from OOS though with stats strong enough for Berkeley and passed over all of the UCs.

JMHO. YMMV.

8

My oldest studied Cognitive Science at UC Davis. Before he applies, take a look at the programs at the different schools to make sure it is what he is looking for. As an example, UCI’s Cog Sci is in the School of Humanities and it has very little CS or AI. UCSD has a very highly regarded Cog Sci department. They offer a couple of degrees that your son might enjoy (Design & Interaction and Machine Learning). UC Davis has Cog Sci with a computational emphasis.

9

Thank you for the feedback. I will definitely be passing it on to my son.
I think it was the Cognitive Science program at UC Davis that started his interest in that major. He still needs to do a lot of research to see if this is something he wants to pursue. It looks like such an amazing program. I almost want to go back to college to do it!

10

Thank you for the department breakdown. Depending on this semester, his UC GPA will range between 4.23-4.1

11

Drexel shares characteristics with several schools on your son’s current list.

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Cal Poly SLO was on the list. I think he took it off because he got nervous that he was focusing on too many reaches. I’ll tell him to put it back on the list. Appreciate the feedback on your son’s experience.
UCI and UCD made the list because he is applying to UCSC so it’s not extra work.

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13

U of Cincinnati may be worth a look.

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14

The CSU application is easy - no essays, no LOR.

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15

I am curious how cognitive science is suitable for game development. Top companies like Roblox look for low levels systems expertise. Because running the game on the company’s servers requires significant distributed system’s expertise.

On the other hand, writing the game itself — nobody programs the game anymore by hand. They take existing tools like the unreal engine or unity and use that as a starting point. And then there are the artistic types that visualize what the visual effects elements look like. By and large it is considered a high pressure relatively modestly paid space. Because the employees are in there for their passion, the companies take advantage. By the way Roblox pays well for the low level systems expertise.

The closer you are towards actual game development, as opposed to building infrastructure such as distributed systems, the more specialized you are, and less portable your skills are if you become interested in a different space.

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16

What is his unweighted GPA?

RIT is a target/likely and a great option. Utah is as well.

He could look at Digipen and Champlain College for unique gaming programs.

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17

I think he has been thinking about law school and is very interested in psychology, neurobiology as well as AI training and the legal and ethical implications. So a computational track with Cognitive Science appeals to him.
It is completely unrelated to his passion for making games. Just as you pointed out - he is already using Unity to make games and you learn by doing.
I am happy he is not completely tunnel visioned and actually doing a deep dive into what else might be out there.

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18

Maybe Clark in MA?

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Unweighted GPA is 3.88. Took all honors/APs but the school does not weigh honors classes, only APs. 3 Bs, rest As.

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20

Of possible interest with respect to understanding the curriculum of an established cognitive science program, I believe Vassar created the first undergraduate cognitive science major in the world.

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