Hi Everyone,
Just found the forum and joined! My son applied for CS with a CSU GPA of about 3.78 I think. He had a decent SAT ( 780 lang; 720 math). But this year as we know, that was not considered.
He was accepted as undeclared, his alternate major. But he really wants to study CS, specifically data science and AI. He also got in CS at Fullerton, SFSU, Fresno, east bay & Northridge.
My question is this. If he goes to SJSU as undeclared and starts taking the GE/ CS classes, and afterward when the time comes to declare a major, and he can’t get into CS, CE, or his desired major, can he then transfer the courses taken to a lower-ranked CSU to finish the degree?
Or is it better for him to attend a CSU that has already accepted him in CS, like Fullerton?
We live in San Jose, so SJSU would have been ideal. What would you do in this case?
Thanks for your help in advance! Some of you sound like you know a lot on these.
I’m a mom of an incoming CS freshman and also a newbie to all this college apps. I won’t know what’s the ideal situation for your son.
What I’m learning though is that it’s hard to do transfer to CS major since it’s one of the most competitive majors, and then when the school is like SJSU, it gets even more competitive. It’s already too hard to enter as a freshman CS major in a school like this, so I can’t imagine how much harder it is to transfer as upperclassman. But I don’t know everything in this complicated college process.
Anyway, to each his own… Our priority for my son was to get into a direct admit to CS major. He’s also the type who wouldn’t want to move around to different majors or different schools so that made it easier for us to narrow down the options.
I always advocate to go for the direct admit since changing majors at SJSU or transferring are not guaranteed. I second @mmrl8794’s advice. East bay is a good option and although the overall school reputation is not comparable to SJSU, their CS program is well regarded with employers post grad.
Changing into CS at SJSU is described here: https://www.sjsu.edu/cs/practicalities/major-change/ . Note that the threshold GPA may change. Also, check whether an undeclared student is likely to have trouble getting into CS courses if SJSU gives CS majors priority to register in them.
If the student wants to transfer to a different CSU for CS after starting at SJSU (or any college), that depends on the students college GPA relative to the threshold for CS at the other CSU. Some CSUs, such as SFSU, CSUCI, CSUB, CSUDH are likely to be relatively easy to get into for CS (these are currently non-impacted for the campus and CS major). Some others may be more difficult. CSU Fullerton is impacted for all majors, but does not publish past admission thresholds like SJSU does.
It looks like CSUs generally have direct admission for almost all majors they offer (nursing being the usual exception), although some students may get admitted to a second choice major or undeclared if they did not meet the threshold for their first choice major.
For UCs, it varies by campus, although most appear to use direct admission (UCB L&S CS is the most prominent exception). Some allow for second choice major or undeclared admission if not admitted to CS, but UCB EECS and UCLA do not.
Check with the specific campus(es) that you are interested in to verify.
He would be best off going to a Community College, doing all his gen ed and his lower division major prep (with good advising, to make sure he’s doing it right), and then applying as a transfer student. He will have more favorable odds at all the CA public schools as a transfer student from a California CC. This advice is based on the idea that he would be staying home to go to SJSU. If he’s going to stay home, he might as well go to a CC, way cheaper, and probably easier to get into CS as a transfer than to transfer into the major from undeclared.
All CSU’s admit by major for CS but some consider alternate majors if the applicant does not meet the standards as in this case at SJSU.
For the UC’s, CS is a direct admit if it is in the College of Engineering. If CS is also offered in the College of L&S, then it is not a direct admit. Exceptions are UCI and UCSD which admit into the University first and then into the major. Both consider alternates majors or Undeclared. UCI has its own College for CS and Information Sciences.
I also agree that the CC to CSU transfer is another good option especially with local priority but also not a guarantee. CS is very employable so getting a degree from the other CSU’s were he was admitted, is still a very good alternative.
I just spoke with admissions and they said that they are still reviewing freshman applications. They are shooting for a March 11th date to finalize decisions.
Thank you all who replied! I will check out East bay. I had written it off earlier because its acceptance GPA is quite low (as seen in Naviance). It seems to have a small CS department with only 40 undergrads each year. But this may be something suitable for my son who is quite an introvert.
I also have a question on the modified GPA. How are people getting these high GPAs? As I understand, the high school that my son attended (evergreen valley high school) limits the number of AP courses a student can take. Those of you whose kids or who got high GPAs, how did you achieve it?
Attended a private school like Basis that offers an abundance of APs? Our friend’s son had a worse SAT, but had taken so many APs in Basis that he qualified for CS at SJSU last year just after 11th grade! But the poor guy did work really hard till his 11th grade. And of course, Basis costs a fortune to attend.
Your high school allowed a lot of APs?
Took classes at other colleges in summer?
How do you go about this? I have a daughter too who will be in to high school. So I’m just thinking ahead what the game plan should be.
The base CSU high school GPA is calculated from 10th-11th grade a-g requirement courses, with up to 8 semesters’ worth of +1 points for AP and some (not necessarily all) honors courses. See GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub and the link to the list of a-g courses at high schools (look up your high school there). For CSUs (but not UCs), a one semester college course counts as two semesters’ worth of courses and grades when calculating high school GPA. Note that the cap of 8 semesters’ worth of +1 points means that the highest possible CSU GPA is around 4.4.
I was just wondering if anyone knew if my CSU GPA and UC gpa is the same? I got mine from SDSU yesterday after weeks of messaging them ( for the sake of honors app, and I had no way to calculate it). But I was just wondering if that GPA is approx the same the Ucs and the others CSUs will also get when they lool at my app. Just trying to figure out my chances of getting in
The CSU capped GPA = UC capped weighted GPA. The UC’s also consider the unweighted UC GPA and the Fully weighted UC GPA. CSU’s only consider the Capped weighted GPA.
When I got my GPA from sdsu, they said it was 3.8. I dont have any weightage scope as I have standardized courses, so my unweighted and weighted would be the same regardless. So would it be the same for UCs too?
GPA for CSU and weighted capped GPA for UC are the same unless you took college courses while in high school. CSU double counts a semester college course, while UC single counts it.
Yes, if you do not have any weighting then your capped weighted and fully weighted UC GPA would be the same as the CSU GPA. Admissions will consider your GPA and grades within the context of what is offered at your HS.
Since this is a SJSU-specific thread, whether a 3.8 GPA is competitive depends on the major you apply to at SJSU. Multiplying by 800 gives you a base score of 3040, to which some extra points may be added for local area, military status, fee waiver, first-generation-to-college. For engineering majors, there is also a 400 * (math GPA) added. Post #90 at SJSU Class of 2025 —Regular Decision Release Date: Feb. 22 - #90 by ucbalumnus links to SJSU web sites showing this year’s threshold scores for each major. Obviously, the scores can change in later years, since they are determined competitively.
Thank you so much! Ive applied to psychology which is 2800 points. So I’m guessing I’ve met the minimum threshold. Thank you for linking the details. These scores essentially mean that if you meet it, you will be considered for the major and if you dont, it’s an automatic denial? Or how does it work exactly?
As an intl applicant, the entire process is so incredibly…confusing for me and each college has it’s own way of calculating my GPA and the impaction of CSU majors and these scores just gi over my head. ( and at like ASU, I have a 4.0 GPA according to their calculations, but according to SDSU my CSU GPA is 3.8 so it differs)
At SJSU, meeting the threshold should mean admission; not meeting it should mean denial or alternate major. If you are an international student, check (ask directly if needed) to see if anything else is needed if you have not gotten a decision yet.
