Hello guys,
I was recently accepted to both UC Davis and UC Irvine for Compsci major.
If possible, please let me know the pros and cons of each school, especially rankings. I am an international student, and therefore am not familiar with the UC System. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!!
http://catalog.ucdavis.edu/programs/ECS/ECScourses.html
Compare to see if one school offers more courses of interest than the other.
UCI in large suburban city. Near beaches and within a 1-2 hours of the San Diego tech hub or LA Silicon Beach tech area. Quiet clean campus, but more known as a commuter campus with many students leaving on weekends.
I suggest you consider watching some YouTube videos on Campus life for each school.
On campus costs are comparable, but off-campus housing will be expensive near UCI vs. UCD.
The above link for best value schools is based on 2014. Here’s a link to 2017 U.S. News best global universities. You can search by subjects (engineering, CS etc…). I read some reviews on UCI engineering and some students are not happy and are trying to transfer out. Not sure if CS major is part of the engineering school (you should research more online)? Good luck!
@bighero8 , @Gumbymom , In general though, which one do you guys think is better? Which one would you pick if you were me?
Better in terms of academics? Social life? Location? Job opportunities?
Personal preference is just that. What I might like about one school, many others may not. What country are you from?
UCI VS UCD Engineering school comparison with limited reviews:
Personally, I would choose UCI for CS and UCD for Engineering. Location and social life, hands down UCI. If you graduate with a CS major from a UC school, there will be plenty of career opportunity choices.
Do more research regarding the bad reviews at UCI. I’m sure a CS major is outside their Engineering School.
Congrats on being accepted into both UCD and UCI for CS! This is like choosing between a Mercedes AMG and BMW M class.
It’s a commuter campus.
You need to visit both campuses OP. You will see a huge difference. Look at the faces of the students when you visit the campuses. Big difference!
@bighero8 , @Gumbymom, @“aunt bea” , I think I’m most concerned about ranking.
I got accepted to UC Davis as a CompSci major in “College of LETTER&SCIENCE”,
while accepted to UC Irvine as a CompSci major in “College of Information&Computer Science”.
Apparently UC Davis doesn’t have a CS major in college of engineering. Do you guys happen to know which of the two is ranked higher / more well-known. From what I’ve heard so far, people in United States will be like “WOW” if I pick Davis, while it’s just a “HMM NOT BAD” when they hear Irvine.
…of course, I know both schools are amazing, and my friends are biased ^
@bighero8 , @Gumbymom, @“aunt bea” I’ve actually visited both campus. I love Irvine’s a little more.
However, I still think that ranking and the colleges I am accepted to at Davis (vs) Irvine are my primary focus. I heard from friends that I can transfer to CS major in college of engineering if I do attend Davis though, not sure if that’s correct.
Thank you all for the helps!
It won’t matter whether the CS degree is from L&S or a college of engineering.
UCI surroundings within a 5-10 miles radius:
Then to the south about 1-1.5 hours drive is beautiful San Diego. If you up for an adventure, you can cross to Mexico. Las Vegas and Palm Springs to the east.
I can go on and on…
I agreed with aunt bea that you should visit both campuses and stay a couple of days and visit their surrounding areas.
@youcee why? can u pls elaborate
Here’s a couple more ranking sources for CS:
http://www.leidenranking.com/ranking/2016/list
http://engineering-schools.startclass.com/d/e/California
Maybe find out which college offer more opportunities for research and internships.
Difference between CS at UCD in L&S and in the College of Engineering:
@MisterStudentt Most employers will see CompSci and not care whether it was L&S or CoE. For most software jobs, any extra hardware learning you do in a CoE program will be irrelevant. IMO
Edit: From the Davis website:
“A very commonly-asked question is “From a career point of view, which major is better, Computer Science or Computer Science and Engineering?” The answer is, “It makes almost no difference.” Graduates of the two majors tend to get the same kinds of jobs, so the choice of major has virtually no impact.”
@youcee If i do go with L&S, instead of learning the extra hardware stuff, I will be learning more software stuff than people with CoE program right?
@MisterStudentt Not sure. Look at the curriculums for each. It could be that an L&S just has more flexibility in the schedule while CS from a CoE has all the sw and more hw. I didn’t look at the curriculum differences at Davis, but they did say the CoE CSE had much less flexibility because there were so many courses required for the major. I’d say choose on which school you’d rather attend in general and/or which curriculum interests you more.
As a few other people have said, try to visit each campus. Irvine and Davis have very different feels. Depends whether you prefer the LA/OC suburban area closer to the beach or the college town that is Davis, albeit more rural.