Rejected to Berkeley. Now it’s time to decide between UCLA and UCSC 
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I was rooting for you! But now you have a tough choice to make. Thank you for all of your help and enthusiasm over UCSC and the CS department in particular. I forwarded it all to my son. It was a big part of why he chose UCSC over UCI and Colorado School of Mines.
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Of course! My final decision is still pretty far away but I already have a feeling that I’ll become a banana slug. I’ll be sure to let you know what my final decision is when the time comes
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My son was also accepted to UCSC in CS and is weighing that against UCI undeclared. We’re still not clear if he’d be able to easily declare CS at UCI. Just curious how your son came to a decision on UCSC?
If your son is set on computer science, I strongly suggest he picks UCSC. Switching into computer science at the UC’s is nearly impossible. At UCSC, they clearly state that if you weren’t admitted into computer science, you cannot switch into it. Some other UC’s aren’t as strict, but from what I’ve heard it’s nearly impossible to switch into it and isn’t worth the gamble. At UCSC your son will have priority enrollment to all CS classes. At UCI, he’ll be lucky to get into one CS class during his first year.
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We have this situation too at UCSD where S was accepted to bio. They pretty much tell you you can’t get the classes to minor in CS. I wonder if he could get any CS classes there at all. At SC he can go in CS and always switch to bio. Plus we love the Ewok Forest.
I’m still worried though about how open the campus will be and if he will get housing so hoping to hear some more announcements before May 1st.
Good luck choosing! My S is WL at UCLA but I think he would be happier in nature at SC. Hard to turn down the prestige and job placement edge of LA but you’re living 4 years of your life there.
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My son was in the same boat as yours- Undeclared instead is CS at UCI but CS at UCSC. Irvine had been his top choice school, and he agonized over whether or not trying to get into the major was worth it. The consistent advise we got was that it is better to go to the school that admitted you directly. We reviewed the change of major requirements and debated contacting admissions and advisors at ICS. Then, my son realized that he wanted to start his college career as stress-free as possible. He didn’t want to start his time with the added stress of getting high marks in all of his classes (especially the ones required to change into CS) and still not have a guarantee of being able to get in to CS. And with being considered Undeclared, he worried that his ability to get into the required classes (all lower level that fill up quickly) will be difficult and thus delay his ability to graduate on time. The number of CS hopefuls grows each year. A lot of them end up being admitted as undeclared, put on waitlist, or denied. Everyone who gets admitted as Undeclared are all thinking the same thing re: how to change into the major. Too much competition for an unknown number of space into the major with no guarantee that if you follow the requirements you’ll get in. We are OOS, so the expense with no guarantee also didn’t make sense. If my son was not so hellbent on being a CS major and had more broad interests for a major (like completely outside of ICS), then he would have chosen UCI but since CS is his passion we had to see what UCSC offered
My son likes the general setting (redwood forest overlooking the ocean versus suburban, residential area with a shopping mall). he also likes the residential college approach with the social themes that you will be focusing on in some classes. RyanBball here was very enthusiastic about the UCSC CS program, and although he did get into UCI for CS he was clear that UCSC ranked higher for him and would go to UCSC instead. He helped get some questions answered by his friends already in the program. Others here also indicated why they either preferred UCSC CS to other programs or what they love about their time so far at the school. We didn’t get the same level of enthusiasm from the UCI board. Every student we contacted about UCSC, however, were very excited about the school.
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And if you do, you’ll already have some connections with other CS frosh!
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Thank you for your thoughtful reply. This is extremely helpful for us. UCI was one of his top choices from the start and he actually likes the location better than UCSC. We used to live in Orange County and know the area well. However, your points about not getting the CS classes and the added stress level of not having a major resonate with us too. One complication for us is that he would consider something CS-related in addition to CS itself. UCI has several, like Business Information Systems or Informatics. These are presumably extremely popular as well so our situation may not be any better. In any case, thank you again for your response, which gives us a lot to think about.
Thank you! Your enthusiasm for UCSC is contagious and your points help us see clearly and understand the benefits of direct admission into CS. I also totally understand that the proximity to Silicon Valley is a huge plus for internships and future opportunities. My son is not necessarily dead set on CS. He would consider other CS-related majors at UCI such as Business Information Systems and Informatics, in which he would still be taking some CS-classes. I’m assuming the same types of issues getting classes would exist with those as well. We’re still evaluating his options though, including a few waitlists at other UCs.
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I would recommend speaking with someone in admissions or perhaps even better an academic advisor at Bren to get a better idea of how realistic it is to change into one of the other majors. One main issue is not being accepted directly into the school itself (even as undeclared in the school) which will put your son behind the others in terms of ability to enroll in the core classes required of all (or most?) ICS majors. Good luck to you all! My son did like the fact that he could walk to Trader Joes or a few fast food places at UCI, but overall, he likes the UCSC setting. He will miss the SoCal weather experience, but a NoCal winter is 100% better than our New York winter hands down.
My guess is if UCSC doesn’t open up completely, other UCs would likely be the same. Is there something specific about UCSC that makes you think it would lag behind the other UCs in that respect?
Yes. They are planning the fall classes now. UCSD told faculty they will starting from full in person assumption and scale back as needed. Sc told us at the webinar that they are starting with
50% classroom capacity and remote for 100+ classes and did not promise to modify before Fall. I specifically asked about that. It seemed like they were largely leaving it up to faculty / departments beyond those guidelines. They did say they expect to adjust housing up from 2/3. UCLA has said to expect remote for large lecture classes.
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They provided another update on the 23rd:
I believe their next webinar is on April 3rd.
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Yes, this was only shortly after the webinar so I’m wondering if they got some feedback and realized it was a very conservative approach vs. what other schools are planning. Anyway, we love SC and hope it’s close to normal in fall. Not getting housing would be disappointing because there isn’t much of a student hub on campus so we hope that S would meet people in the dorms. If most of the housing is near full capacity, my hope is they would prioritize freshman.
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One of my main concerns is whether or not the campus will fully reopen too. I’m pretty hopeful because there are still 6 months until we would move in and by that time covid should be much less prevalent.
I’m trying to not let the prestige make the decision for me. I know UCLA is considered to be a better school but the difference is so slight that I’m not worried about it. I also know deep down that Santa Cruz is where I want to be.
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Of course! I’m not too familiar with majors like Business Information Systems and Informatics, but I would call UCI to see what their viewpoints are on how hard it would be to transfer into it and get into CS classes. Good luck to you and your son on the decision!
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My son got accepted in CS as proposed major. Is this normal for all the admitted freshman to be in proposed major in UCSC, or they admit certain kids directly in the major and some are admitted as proposed major. I will really appreciate any insight because my daughter goes to UCSB and sometimes getting into major from premajor status can be challenging because of negative curb in impacted majors.
Hi! My son is deciding between UCSC (Ecology and Evolution major) and Humboldt State (Biology with Ecology/Plant Science emphasis). He recently visited Humboldt and really liked it, and their admissions zooms are really friendly.
He’s signed up for some of the UCSC zooms, but being larger, it does seem more impersonal. We plan to visit the UCSC area for a couple days in mid-April. Hopefully we can poke around the Coastal Science Campus, which isn’t on the main campus. Does anyone know how much you can see or tips for visiting with things shut down?
Yes- this is completely normal. If you were accepted into CS, all you need to do is complete 5 CS/Math courses by your 5th quarter (mid sophomore year). This should help you out: https://undergrad.soe.ucsc.edu/sites/default/files/file-content-type/2019-07/proposed%20major%20flow%20chart%20cs%202019-20.pdf
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