I am thinking about applying to UC Berkeley for CS. Does applying L&S significantly increase my chances for admission? Also, will graduating with a BA vs a BS reflect poorly on me? I am OOS if that helps.
It helps a little bit. But going thru L&S is not direct admit, you come in as undeclared. You need to get a 3.3 GPA from your first 3 required lower division CS courses before you can declare. You should read other threads that talk about your chances of getting thru these 3 classes.
Can you afford full fees at UCB if you are accepted? $65K/year with little to no financial aid for OOS. UCB will be a Reach school regardless if you go the L&S or EECS route so plan accordingly.
L&S is easier to gain admission than EECS
How much easier? Do ECs play a big role?
For some people, this is a very difficult decision. My S went back and forth multiple times and applied/admitted to EECS.
UCB website contains more details. I think major factors for EECS are course rigor, GPA, demonstrated interest.
As folks mentioned L&S is much easier for admission Eg., From my Son’s HS, 3.9 GPA can get into L&S and not into EECS. Even with 4.0 GPA there is no guarantee to get admitted into EECS.
It’s all relative. EECS acceptance rates might be 3-5% of applicants, while L&S CS intent applicants might be 10-15%. So while it is accurate to say that L&S is easier to get in, it’s still difficult either way. And once again, if you go through L&S, you have the additional gauntlet of going through the 3 weeder classes.
UCs in general tend to view GPA, course rigor and then test scores as the most important criteria.
No one cares about the BA or BS, they know about Berkeley.
If you would rather go to Berkeley but are okay with doing a major other than CS if you can’t meet the declaration requirements, do CS.
If you’re set on doing CS as your major, do EECS.
If I can meet the declaration requirements, am I guaranteed admissions to the CS major? I would be fine with doing another major, though, because Berkeley is great overall
Yeah, if u get the 3.3 you are guaranteed the CS major in L&S. No other loopholes. This is, of course, assuming you meet the other CS and L&S prerequisite course requirements.
The needed GPA to declare L&S CS is 3.30 in CS 61A, 61B, and 70.
https://eecs.berkeley.edu/academics/undergraduate/cs-ba
Around half of the students in those courses earn B+ or higher grades:
FWIW, I went to Cal day and talked to a professor in CS there. He said over half of students who intend to major in CS end up successful.
The rule of thumb back in my day was that a BS was better than a BA (my business degree from a CSU was a BS for instance), from an employer desirability standpoint. I’m sure that doesn’t hold much with computer science these days, and I would think a Cal degree either way would open doors. If you REALLY want to go to Cal (and have your fate a bit more in your hands), maybe the L&S CS path is the way to go. Probably make you a better communicator, which will be an asset in such a technical field.
@CanadianSoyCow Here’s a link that gives you all the details, but it is from 2 years ago.
http://rkwan.me/blog/ucb-eecs-lscs-admissions
I am a direct admit in to EECS, I have a good GPA, solid rigor, test scores, Awards and some CS related EC’s. Not much in sports. arts or leadership and no hooks. I was consistent in what I did. I think the Awards made a difference.
Good Luck
@CanadianSoyCow if you do chose to go through college of L&S based on all the materials that I have looked at, (a big thank you to @ucbalumnus ) it looks fairly easy enough to earn a 3.3. It sounds intimidating, but if you carefully read all the requirements, while it is hard work, it is not impossible. Also there is plenty of help available both online and at the university.
L&S CS does not require more communication-type courses than EECS. Indeed, CoE does not let you get out of the second reading and composition course with AP credit, while L&S does (with a 5 on AP English literature).
However, L&S CS has more free elective space so that you can load up on more communication-type courses if you want. But you do not have to.
Would you mind telling me what specifically you did to get in? Thanks.
@ucbalumnus The expert in all things Cal is correct again! I was speaking of the general differences between a BS and a BA, which wasn’t particularly helpful in this case. So glad my kid isn’t pursuing either major - this is a tricky decision.
FWIW, my kid’s HS had a ton of students who got into UCB this year. Not sure how many actually SIR’ed but around half (around 15-20) was going for Computer Science. With the exception of one guy (Regents guy who turned down MIT and Caltech) who went thru EECS, the others (I think) took the L&S path. Some of the kids, looking at their scores, probably could have gotten in via EECS but didn’t want to chance it.