UCB EECS+MET

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

Hello,

I have been a silent spectator of CC for a few years now and have enjoyed reading the posts. Am an early admit OOS for EECS+MET and wasn’t invited to Regents/Chancellor’s. I have read about problems with getting desired courses if NOT an R/C scholar. So, I have the following questions:

  1. Can one take more courses in CS as part of EECS or it is EE heavy? I am not crazy about Physics but just love CS.
  2. What are the opportunities available for research and internships starting 1st year?
  3. Where (which companies) do students normally end up for careers?
  4. How hard/easy is it to find on-campus part time jobs?
  5. I have a LL from Columbia for CS as well (Egleston Scholar) and am not sure which is better. How does it compare with Cornell's COE-CS and Columbia's Fu?

I would like feedback especially from current/past CS undergraduates.

Thanks much and good luck!

2
  1. Congratulations on your accomplishment. Getting admitted to EECS+MET is no small feat.
  2. No problem taking a lot of CS classes. My D (formerly EECS undergrad, now grad) took just the minimum numbers of EE classes (EE20N and EE40 I think). The rest were all CS.
  3. In most cases, research and internship start during/after the second year. Most 1st year students do not have sufficient basic knowledge to be useful. But if you are good, and are assertive in your search, you can find something after the 1st year. My D started her research the summer after the first year. But she was not the norm, already having 6 months of research in high school, before entering UCB.
  4. My D is currently a PhD student. But everyone in her small undergrad friends found employment before or immediately after graduation. Most of them ended up in big companies (Google, Apple, and NVidia).
  5. If you are good, reader and TA jobs are not difficult to find. I don't know about other jobs.
  6. I can't answer this question. My D was also admitted to PhD program at Cornell (and some other schools), but she chose UCB.
3

You won’t get a ton of feedback on MET as it’s brand new, but both Haas and EECS do very well. As part of MET, you shouldn’t have any problem getting classes you need. There’s like 30ish MET students and they’ll be a priority in some way, I would assume, for the classes they need. With Haas specifically, Haas students are given priority.

Both Haas and EECS are very highly recruited on their own, and if you look on the websites for each you’ll see where they’re being recruited. Tech, start ups, Facebook, Google, Salesforce, international banking, consulting, etc etc etc.

4

@Pentaprism and @briank82 - Thanks for your replies! I know since MET is new, I was looking more for responses from HAAS/EECS grads. Good to know that TA jobs aren’t difficult to find - do they give it to Freshmen with advanced math courses? I have already taken Calculus BC, MVC, Diff Eq & Lin Alg.

Any other experiences/opinions from others, please?

5

I’m not a Haas grad, but am a junior at Haas. Being CS or Haas alone will expose you to practically any opportunity imaginable, it all comes down to the individual closing the deal.

For MET, especially being the first cohort, I’d imagine the students would be very highly sought after. It’s a brand new program with a lot of people talking it up, and competition from fellow MET students (and students from similar programs) will be quite low. I don’t know much about the other programs you mentioned but I don’t see how it could get much better at MET.

6

There was a webinar for admitted M.E.T students where they said M.E.T. students would get the class priority that they and that everyone understands the rigor of the elite program of two degrees in four years means the students can’t be waiting on the right classes to make it out on time. So I think that’s covered. Congrats on being admitted to the founding class.

7

@bskcollege Thanks for sharing this! Yes, I attended the webinar too. Congrats to you too! Are you planning on enrolling or waiting for other offers? Are you OOS? I’m conflicted about UCB because my cousins at California went OOS to other top schools and didn’t want to enroll at UCB stating HUGE classes and not much opportunity being at a big state school and that you are always competing with tons of other good students. I know that UCB is a wonderful school for Engg & Bus but I have offers from other great schools too (no financial aid though). But I think MET is very special and unique! This is going to be a tough one to decide. Let me know what you decide.

8

@anonstem Congratulations! Can you share your stat (GPA, EC, SAT/AP scores) and M.E.T. interview experience? My son will apply this year, and hope to get some data on the new M.E.T. program. Thanks a lot!

9

@CupertinoSon

I see that you are from Cupertino. Does your son go to either Monta Vista or Lynbrook?
I have friends who went and go there, and I know these are very competitive schools.

The following is from anonstem’s earlier post, and good luck to your son.

“I apologize for sounding cocky but I just want to prove a point. I have perfect grades, perfect ACT/SATI&II, research awards at Siemens, NMSC finalist, US presidential scholar candidate, multiple AIME qualifier, great essays/recommendations, international awards, etc.”

10

@StevenToCollege Thanks a lot for the info. Yes, my son goes to Monta Vista.

11

Thanks @StevenToCollege for posting that.

It sounds bad but sorry…I had to defend myself against another “know it all” poster who was just plain rude & presumptuous. I’m also OOS. Good luck to your son next year!

12

@anonstem

There is no need to apologize. When you got to defend yourself, you just got to do it.
By the way, I saw that you got into some of the fine schools, congratulation.

13

@anonstem, are you able to afford Berkeley as a non-resident?

14

@StevenToCollege ik but I didn’t want to give the wrong impression since I’m normally a down to earth person. Thanks! I’m very nervous about today (Ivy day) though I kind of know that I will not make it.Good luck to everyone!

15

@aunt bea My parents are willing to pay by taking unsubsidized loans but it will cost almost the same as a top private university since I’m OOS (was not offered Regents/Cancellors & got admitted in early Feb).

16

Well, I think Berkeley is a good school, but I don’t think you should put that kind of debt on your parents nor yourself. Paying $240K (think: quarter of a million dollars) for the school, just isn’t worth your parents losing their retirement dollars. @thumper1 and @mom2collegekids would agree.

17

@anonstem

I am pretty sure you will get into some of the Ivies. Please let us know how it turns out today. Good luck!

18

@aunt bea Thanks for your sincere advice! My parents & I will have to sit and discuss our options once we hear from all colleges. Unfortunately, not expecting financial aid from anyone. The only affordable school would be my state flagship UIUC but it’s a party school and not a good fit for me. Hope things work out for me somehow…

19

@StevenToCollege Thanks for your optimism… am a “pessimist with experience”…ha! ha! I’ll probably mourn for a few days and then post how it turned out :slight_smile:

20

@StevenToCollege Am here much to post earlier than expected …tears…

Things turned out mostly in my favor and am very happy with it. Thank you GOD!!

Accepted into :
SEAS - Princeton
M&T - Penn
Columbia FU(Likely-Egleston Scholar)
MET(EECS & Haas) - UCB
Caltech
SCS - CMU
CS - UIUC
CS & Bus (Pref Adm) at UMich

WL:
MIT
NU
UChicago
Cornell
Duke

Rejected:
Harvard
Yale

Waiting:
Stanford (no chances here…totally okay with that:-)

Congrats to those accepted & waitlisted and Good luck to others.