How difficult are Cal’s CS classes compared to other schools such as UCI or UCSB? I heard it is difficult to meet the 3.3 GPA requirement for CS so I’m considering other colleges. Thanks.
And job outlook? I heard Cal graduates make about $100,000 right after graduation. Idk about CS graduates from these other schools.
You need to complete CS 61A, 61B, and 70, and their grade distributions are as follows.
As you can see, the average grades for these classes are B, 3.0.
https://schedulebuilder.berkeley.edu/explore/department/SP/2016/53
Here is the 2015 survey of graduates from the CS department. It shows the average salary as $99,700
https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2015CompSci.pdf
Bear in mind that regarding getting a 3.3 gpa to be admitted to the major in CS 61A, 61B, and 70, many students taking the courses are not CS students. This could be one reason the average grades in these courses are lower than the required grade to enter the major.
I have spoken to a lot of students from different UCs and the vibe I was getting about berkeley was mostly negative . The thing about Berkeley is that it is very competitive and cut throat. I was told by a student that every classmate see’s you as a rival and hardly anyone even helps one another as everyone want’s to be the best so it’s hard to meet people who actually care. I kept speaking to other computer science/ EECS students and they attend schools like UCD and UCSD and described how the environment is totally different as everyone in class basically comes together to help one another through term projects and assignments. It is unlike where everyone is just fighting to be the best as people actually seek to help one another. I will most likely be choosing Davis as the environment at Berkeley is not for me. The salary varies greatly and depends on the internships you are involved in throughout your years, and not necessarily the school. I met a student/friend that goes to Davis and will be interning at Google this summer and there’s many interning at big companies (Amazon, HP, etc). The school you choose doesn’t decide everything on how your financial career will be, it is yourself which defines it. I certainly am looking forward to an experience I will remember and an environment where I can see myself grow and be happy with my career and friends which is why I will be going with Davis.
If this is the case, my D (an EECS undergrad and now a PhD student) and her cohorts apparently didn’t get the memo. PhD is of course different, but when my D was an undergrad, she joined study groups and informal CS clubs; she asked other students for help and others students asked her for help (and got it). She told me that anyone who was willing to seek help would get help.
The atmosphere appears to be competitive because almost everyone is so smart and works so hard. But “cut throat” it is absolutely not.
She was admitted to 5 top-10 schools for her PhD but she liked UCB so much she decided to stay there.
Have you talked to people in the Ivies as well? I think it might just be the norm for prestigious universities or is it something unique to UCB?
@ifantum
@Pentaprism is correct about atmosphere. It’s definitely not cutthroat.
Everything I have seen in my three years here at Cal is that, as you say about other UCS, “everyone in class basically comes together to help one another through term projects and assignments”. I’ve gotten nothing but support from my classmates, and have honestly never seen anything that I would describe as “cutthroat”. So many hard classes (CS 162, CS 164) are done as large group projects that it would be crazy for students to not treat them as communal, team activities. And in classes such as algorithms, where work is done as an individual, my experience has always been that people are happy to give a bit of help, and that most people form informal groups that meet to work together on problem sets. So, I would not describe out atmosphere as cutthroat at all. Competitive, yes, but not in a negative way.
Frankly, I have no idea where the “cutthroat” myth comes from. My guess is that it’s from students who’ve been overworked and are annoyed by it. Berkeley isn’t cutthroat, but is is very hard at times.
I say this mostly because you said “I will most likely be choosing Davis”, not “I have SIRed to Davis”, and I thought I’d try to put in a good word for the place that has given me three amazing years : ).