Please kindly chance my son for Berkeley EECS. He isn’t sure to apply as undeclared or EECS.
High School Senior.
GPA - UC Weighted 4.5
SAT 1540 - MATH 800, R/W 740
AP’s - World History (4), Physics 1 (5), Calculus BC (5), Physics C (5), English L&C (5), Computer Science (5), US History (5)
Extracurricular Activities - National Honor Society, Key clue, various volunteer work.
Work experience - Tutor Math and Physics
Should he apply as undeclared because his chance to be admitted for EECS is slim? And also, just in case he doesn’t get admitted for Comp. Sci. @ UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, etc. I know the competition for this major is fierce.
Do you mean L&S undeclared or CoE undeclared? CoE undeclared is highly competitive for admission, since CoE undeclared can choose any CoE major later.
L&S undeclared is generally less competitive than most CoE majors. However, L&S students must earn a 3.3 GPA in CS 61A, 61B, 70 to enter the L&S CS major (about half of students in those courses earn B+ or higher grades). Changing into EECS from outside of CoE is not allowed any more due to how full EECS is.
It depends on if getting into Berkeley or being admitted into EECS is more important to him. The UCs won’t look at his test scores as they are all test blind. EECS will likely look for activities/research/ECs deeply related to STEM but that will be the case across the UC Engineering schools.
Berkeley has a CS degree (BA) in the College of Arts and Sciences - has he looked at that? I think the admission bar is lower.
Thank you!
What do you think about his chances for EECS? His UC Capped GPA is 4.29. I forgot to include that in the original post.
Do you know which is the hardest of the 3 - CS 61A, 61B, 70?
Appreciate the vs. chart, very helpful. Son says he’s leaning towards CS and Math double majors in L&S.
Thank you! What do you think about his chances for EECS? His UC Capped GPA is 4.29. I forgot to include that in the original post. Do you know which is the hardest of the 3 - CS 61A, 61B, 70?
Appreciate the vs. chart, very helpful. Son says he’s leaning towards CS and Math double majors in L&S.
CS 61B is likely to be the most familiar to students who have had AP CS A in high school (or introductory programming and data structures at many community colleges), since it contains that material plus additional or more difficult material along similar lines. Course home page is at http://fa20.datastructur.es/ .
CS 61A includes topics that many other introductory CS courses do not cover; see the course home page at https://cs61a.org/ .
CS 70 is a discrete math course. Some students find it difficult because it is unlike the math that they have previously encountered. Course home page is at https://www.eecs70.org/ .
