Purely form the academic point of view, If you are interested in Computer engineering, I would say Olin is an excellent choice. As you already know they offer a ECE major which gives you in-depth education in Computer Architecture and software design. So the broad question is do you want to design computers or do you want to program them?
If you want to explore computer science then the task of designing the curriculum is left to you, as in there is no set path, you chose the courses, get approvals and take classes either offered @Olin, Babson , Wellesley or study abroad. There are students who are doing this successfully. It boils down to your interests, your streak of adventure to carve out your own path and having the guidance to do it successfully. Your advisors and professors will help you along the way but it is not a prescribed path.
You should plan out all the questions you have regarding the course selections and designing them to meet your interests and make an appointment ahead of time to meet with one of the faculty members in ECE on the day of you visit. Make sure this visit is about getting answers to academic questions rather than about campus tour. Now it is your turn to select them holistically
Although this doesn’t directly apply to you EECE @ UCB has 2 tracks in the upper level courses, you could chose the ECE route or the CSE route. I am mentioning this because their ECE track is similar to Olin’s ECE track.
GT’s CS is more Comparable to BA in CS @ UCB but it depends on which of the 8 tracks you chose to take.
I agree with you that UCB has a stronger curriculum than GT, but LLC gives you an edge, making it easier to enroll in a class of your choice, having access to profs, dibs on research projects, smaller class sizes, community of like minded students, better housing… Being one among few vs being one among the many.
A side by comparison of the courses will give you a better idea. I would also add the EECS curriculum @ UCB to the comparison to make it fair assessment.
Another issue to consider/ask UCB is the accreditation, they have chosen to opt out of ABET starting 2019 for the EECS.
a big distinction is that EECS @ UCB is vastly different than a BA in CS @ UCB. yes the curriculum crosses over, but simply put, the core is different, one is an engineering based core and the other is a humanities and science based core. For a STEM major, an engineering core is more desirable.
As a practical matter, the CS content of EECS and L&S CS are the same (though each student has significant choice in which upper division CS courses to take). An L&S CS student could choose to take additional physics and math courses that an EECS student has to take if s/he really wants to take them.
But the choice between L&S CS and EECS is not relevant to the OP (who was admitted to L&S undeclared), since getting into EECS other than through frosh or (external) transfer admission is not currently possible according to https://engineering.berkeley.edu/admissions/undergrad-admissions/change-college , while the OP would be able to get into L&S CS with a 3.3 GPA in CS 61A, 61B, and 70.
@ucbalumnus, is the UCB’s ranking for the CS based on EECS or BA in CS? is it a combined ranking for CS? if not what is the ranking for the BA program? there are plenty of resources that shows an excellent ranking for the EECS but I haven’t found the ranking for the BA program.
Which ranking? Many of the commonly cited rankings for CS are either departmental rankings or PhD program rankings. To the extent that they relate to undergraduate programs (a sometimes controversial subject), they would related to both L&S CS and EECS as far as CS is concerned.
@ucbalumnus my question is if it the same program then why 2 separate degrees? EECS does give an option to chose the path of CSE or ECE so it is not like you have to graduate with a EE focus.
The ranking in reply #25 is a PhD program ranking.
It has been that way for decades, for whatever reason. But that is not unique. At UCB, the following majors can be done in different divisions:
Biochemistry: CoC Chemical Biology, L&S Molecular and Cell Biology
Chemistry: CoC, L&S
Computer Science: CoE Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, L&S Computer Science
Environmental Economics and Policy: CNR, L&S
Operations Research: CoE Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, L&S Operations Research and Management Science
Having computer science available in different divisions is not unique to UCB. Michigan and Cornell also offer computer science in different divisions.
25 is for undergrad rankings at a university that offers a Phd program
I am not implying that UCB is unique in it’s course offerings, I am just curious as to why they are offered separately.
The UCB website clearly clarifies that it has different core requirements. Nothing is stopping one from taking the same core classes as EECS but, that kind of discussion is between thee student and their advisor.
What Cornell & Michigan offers is not important to OP, but Michigan offers a BS in CS through their LSA and core requirements are exactly the same for both schools, the graduation requirement is higher for EECS they need 128 credit hrs as opposed to 120 in CS. The difference between the 2 are in the technical electives, which IMO is much easier to tailor than core requirements.
What is the basis of this claim (at either school)? Indeed, the link that you provide to UCB CS courses lists no graduate students as the primary instructors of CS 61ABC, CS 70, and upper division CS courses, and most of the faculty listed are tenured (full or associate).
I will say that is a gross oversimplification. However, as you can see, most of these courses are either taught by Assistant/Associate professors or professors who aren’t involved too heavily with research. One such example is Machine Learning 289A at UC Berkeley (a fairly popular course). Its taught by two professors during Spring and two Associate/Assistant professors during Fall (https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Courses/CS289A/). Graduate Students are usually the Teaching Assistants (TAs). In fact, some courses at both universities even hire undergrad students as Teaching Assistants.
Regarding my comment on similar content covered, the introductory machine learning courses don’t cover exactly the same material, but if you take intro to AI and intro to ML at both UC Berkeley and Georgia Tech, you would be covering exactly the same material.
I am currently leaning towards UC Berkeley because of the location and startup culture. But since I haven’t committed yet, I might change my decision later.
By your own count, this particular course’s four instructors over two semesters include one assistant professor (the rest of them are tenured associate and full professors), which does not match your previous statement that “most courses are taught by Assistant Professors and Grad Students”.
@ucbalumnus yes you are right in saying that. But my primary point was that the 4-year curriculum at both the universities is going to be exactly the same and the intellect/experience of professors teaching these courses is going to be basically the same too (similar credentials). Hence, this should not be factored into making this decision.
Additionally, when I said “taught by Assistant Professors and Grad Students” I was referring to the combination of lecturers (professors) and TAs (grad/undergrad students) since currents students at either university have told me that during office hours I will be primarily interacting with TAs (which is also when most of the questions are answered).
“Exactly the same” would be an overclaim, since they do not offer exactly the same courses or have exactly the same requirements. Yes, there will be substantial overlap in the course content (though some of it is organized differently within the courses and curriculum), and a student can get a good CS education at either school, but you should refrain from making overclaims that are obviously not true.
