UCI: Computer Science Major

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Irvine
1

Hello,

I’m an incoming freshman and I’ll be attending the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (under the Computer Science major).

I was wondering if there are any students that have gone through the major and could answer a few questions for me?

  1. The computer science major at UCI requires a student to choose a specialization; which would be the best if I wanted to pursue a career in software development?
  2. What's the best schedule of classes for my freshman year? I've looked through the catalogs, but I'm still very confused on this.
  3. I'm not sure whether or not I want to switch from Computer Science to Computer Science and Engineering. I know that CSE has engineering courses that are more difficult, but I'm not sure which major is best to pursue a career in software development.
  4. How are the classes for CS majors?
2

Im not gonna be able to answer questions on this but - give your school a call? They have counselors who can give you advice on classes and specialties. :slight_smile:

3

Current CS student here at UCI, I made an account just to post because I made the mistake of overthinking like you did


[QUOTE=""]
  1. The computer science major at UCI requires a student to choose a specialization; which would be the best if I wanted to pursue a career in software development?

[/QUOTE]

Whatever you want, instead of specializing you can graduate as long as you take 10 upper div CS courses. Specializing does not show up on your diploma and employers don’t care.


[QUOTE=""]
  1. What's the best schedule of classes for my freshman year? I've looked through the catalogs, but I'm still very confused on this.

[/QUOTE]

If you have AP Calc or AP Lit and can avoid taking Math 2A and Writing 39A, in Fall take ICS 31, Math 2B, Writing 39B. Winter take ICS 32, Writing 39C, ICS 6B, some GE. Spring take ICS 33, 6D, Informatics 43, +something else.


[QUOTE=""]
  1. I'm not sure whether or not I want to switch from Computer Science to Computer Science and Engineering. I know that CSE has engineering courses that are more difficult, but I'm not sure which major is best to pursue a career in software development.

[/QUOTE]

Okay, honestly the engineering part of CS is useless. After job hunting I’ve realized employers either want software engineering, or electrical engineers. CSE is essentially just a CS major with physics stacked on it and circuit courses.When you apply for software engineering jobs, employers won’t care that you took those courses.

Likewise, I made the mistake of majoring in Software Engineering at first, after taking 1 upper division informatics course I dropped it and switched the Computer Science.

Lowerdivison for all the CS related majors is the same, you have to take ICS 31, 32, 33, 45, 46, 6D, 6B, 6N, 67.
But CSE and SE/Informatics courses are actually so useless for finding a job or just for software development in general.

Take CS (The CompSci ones), those teach you things employers actually want. Things like requirement analysis, software testing, (the informatics courses) employers train you on. CS courses are more valuable.

  1. How are the classes for CS majors? ??????? They're ok
4

Thank you for your response @shwne1. It’s much appreciate! :smiley: