Hi everyone! I’m interested in the UC/CSU schools and have a few questions.
— How would the UC and CSU schools rank when put in a list according to overall strength of their CS programs?
For instance, I would probably put UC Berkeley as #1 on the list, but how would UC Irvine compare with CSU SLO for a CS major?
— What are the pros and cons of attending UC’s vs. attending CSU’s for CS?
I’m thinking of factors such as class size, variety of classes and pathways, quality of classes and professors, opportunities like clubs or internships or research, networking opportunities, success after graduation, etc.
— And any advice or stories from students who have gone through or are in a UC or CSU CS program would be super, super great!!! 
— Also, what are some other schools in CA with good CS programs? For example, the first that comes to mind is Stanford.
Class size: Look at each school’s online class schedule.
Variety of classes and pathways: Look at each school’s course catalog, degree requirements (both CS major and applicable general education), and options for the CS major.
Quality of classes: Some of them have course home pages on their web sites.
In regards to rankings for CS, this might be more appropriate:
In regards to CS, as long as a school as a good overall program, you will get a job. Employers are not interested in the schools rankings as much as your job skill set. You can get a great education any of the UC’s and CSU’s. Find some schools that fit you academically, socially and financially.
You might also want to consider the area you plan to live when targeting possible CS schools. UCB/Stanford/SJSU/CSU East Bay/SCU/UCD would offer more opportunities in the Bay area/Silicon Valley.
If you like Southern California/Orange County area, UCLA/UCI/CSU Fullerton/CPP/SDSU and UCSD might be options.
If you’re willing to pay for Stanford, you might as well look at USC, too. I agree that where you go to school isn’t a big deal for CS, though.
Cal Poly SLO also does well in Silicon Valley, as Apple recruits heavily from SLO.
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/alumni-network-2/
Berkeley has two programs, EECS (electrical engineering and computer science) and CS in the College of Letters and Sciences. EECS is very difficult to get into with acceptance rates below 10%. If you are interested in hardware, you would apply for this program. If you are interested in being a software engineer you can go into either program. Recruiters don’t see a difference. If you apply to the College of Letters and Sciences, you apply as an undeclared major. To become a CS major you are required to have a minimum 3.3 GPA in CS 61A, 61B, and 70.
Thanks so much for the advice @ucbalumnus, @Gumbymom, @simba9, @Yomama12!!
CS is the most competitive admit at most CA colleges. Your qualifications will probably limit your options somewhat but, in the abstract, CalTech is good too…
What are your test scores and GPA? (include SAT breakdown).
(Do the UCs superscore now? Or not?)
How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess. We see later posts from a lot of disappointed students who thought their parents would pay more.
UC’s do not superscore, they take the highest score from a single sitting. Are you in-state CA?
UC/CSU GPA? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Test scores? EC’s related to CS?
UCs do not superscore the SAT or ACT. CSUs do superscore.
Berkeley is amazing for CS. However, it is a good school so it requires good grades. What are your stats?
Thanks @NCalRent, @mom2collegekids, @Gumbymom, @ucbalumnus, @Arman23!! 
I am in-state CA. My parents can support me with about $100,000 for four years of college. I don’t have a lot of EC’s related to CS specifically, and mostly I’ve just been exploring CS on my own through online Coursera courses. Any suggestions for CS-related activities to try for fun?
Test Scores/GPA:
- 2230 SAT(730CR/770M/730W)
- 35 ACT(36E/36M/32R/36S/21W)
- 36 ACT(36E/36M/36R/34S/26W)
- 4 on AP CS test
- 4.23 capped weighted GPA calculated using RogerHub’s UC GPA calculator
http://cs10.org can give you an overview of what CS is about, particularly if you have little or not experience.
http://cs61a.org is UCB’s first course for CS majors (though students can take CS 10 first if they want).
In any case, apply widely. CS is very popular these days, so direct admission to the CS major at many schools can be significantly more competitive than the school overall is. Admission as a general undeclared student (which some schools may offer if you are not directly admitted to the CS major, or if they do not offer direct admission to the CS major) may mean having to earn a high college GPA and/or go through a competitive admission process to enter the CS major later.
Here is a listing of secondary admission requirements at various schools for students who were not directly admitted to the CS major: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19262574/#Comment_19262574 . Verify on school web sites because they may have changed.
Top UCs are certainly worth a shot but, you never know. Apply for LA, B, and SD and see what happens. . I’d also suggest SB, D, I and SC as very solid schools likely to accept you. Santa Clara is also very good and will probably offer some merit money.
Good luck
Another good site for CS activities is Codecademy. https://www.codecademy.com/
Thanks @ucbalumnus, @NCalRent, @Yomama12!
You can find lots of suggestions for ECs on the web, places such as Quora. But fundamentally you need to focus on doing, even if its not an EC recognized by a UC/CSU, to get a feel if CS is right for you. Taking courses is a start, but are you spending time applying them? You can write tons of small apps to automate things in your life or do other useful things you find interesting, maintain a website, etc.
Thanks @mikemac! Yes I’m working on making an app for fun