<p>So i got into UCI for Informatics in their School of computer science. I got into SJSU for Software Engineering. I have no idea which to choose. My biggest consideration is future job/internship opportunities so that college actually pays of since i like both schools. I've only visited SJSU since I live close but I liked the campus. I know that with silicon valley near by, there should be a lot of internship opportunities but Irvine seems to be pretty strong in computer science too. I'm running out of time but how heavy do you guys think the "UC" name counts in terms of Computer Science related employment in this day and age would it trump the possible experience I might be able to get with a silicon valley internship that I wouldn't be able to get at Irvine?</p>
<p>Take a look at this link for Computer Science pay: <a href=“http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2014/best-schools-by-major/computer-science”>http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2014/best-schools-by-major/computer-science</a>
Little difference between the two schools. If money is an issue, go with the cheaper school which would be SJSU.</p>
<p>Thankyou Gumbymom.
My greatest concern above salary or cost is employability. I really don’t want to struggle too long with finding a job when I graduate. I wonder if the major makes any big difference? Informatics vs Software Engineering.</p>
<p>As to the question of Informatics vs Computer Science degrees, you should spend some time looking that up online for numerous sources of qualified opinions at various sites. Computer Science is one of those degrees that can put you in careers meant for other degrees on top of the ‘standard’ careers that Computer Science grads end up in. </p>
<p>I’d take that payscale report on face value. I don’t see anything proving its significance in terms of response rate, sample size, etc… </p>
<p>I’m the last person to be giving advice on this but was recently doing searches about UCI computer science and they’re a very highly ranked school for Computer Science, much higher than San Jose State, and that there are plenty of internships for CS students at Irvine, with the major companies recruiting from there. </p>
<p>Think about the perceived quality of the average CS grad from SJSU compared to UC-Irvine, from an employers perspective. If you were hiring, which school would you prefer to recruit from? After looking at the admissions stats and rankings.</p>
<p>For SJSU read about it and ask questions… I saw a recent post about overcrowding, of increased chances of needing 5 years for a CS degree at SJSU. The number of CS majors is increasing rapidly every year and universities cannot cope with the increase, especially CSUs that are under tighter budgets. My understanding is UC-I and UC-B have recently made their CS majors impacted, for example.</p>
<p>But again I possibly am less knowledgeable of your questions than you are, sorry. Just trying to throw some ideas and considerations out there. Good luck!</p>
<p>UCI CS is very good, SJSU is close to proximity to Silicon Valley. Plus it is right next to Google, if you go to SJSU you have to compete with the UCB people. CS majors at most UC schools are impacted.</p>
<p>Please forgive my error in my last post. I wish I could edit. When I said UC-Irvine’s CS major is impacted I spoke in error… I was thinking of UCSD’s CS major. </p>
<p>DrGoogle, which UC CS majors are impacted besides UC-B and UCSD? I’m not aware of any.</p>
<p>Thankyou willtohelp and DrGoogle. That was very helpful. From what I saw, Software Engineering, being more broad and versatile than Informatics, tended to be more highly recommended. I’m not sure if CS is impacted at UCI. I am glad to hear that there are internships available for CS at Irvine as well but I cant shake the feeling that San Jose will offer so many more(and better ones at that). Thats only based of of the fact that it’s silicon valley however and I’m not aware of the actual percentage of SJSU CS students that get internships at those big companies like google etc. I definitely see the point about UCI being perceived as an over all better school. What I’m really unsure of is how much an employer (at a company like google etc.) might weigh the prestige of a school like UCI compared to SJSU when also considering internship experience these days.</p>
<p>I wish I knew. </p>
<p>I don’t know but from what I read, for CS oriented jobs, quality of employee matters a lot more than experience of employee. If you have free time that you wish you could be spending on an internship, spend it on learning, practicing, and working on projects online. (Github for example?) It’s a more meritocratic field than most.</p>
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<p>Do a web search for “[school name] change major computer science” to see what you get. If you find pages indicating a competitive admission process, or a GPA higher than that needed to remain in good academic standing (usually 2.0), then the major is at capacity and needs to limit the number of students entering it.</p>
<p>CS major is very popular lately. While it’s hard to find a list that contains all the UCs with impacted major, this link seems to indicate that UCB, UCLA, UCSD are not participated in the exchange program and therefore they are more impacted than the rest of the UCs.
<a href=“http://www.eap.ucop.edu/ReciprocalExchanges/Pages/Majors.aspx?t=2”>http://www.eap.ucop.edu/ReciprocalExchanges/Pages/Majors.aspx?t=2</a></p>
<p>Thankyou all. I ended up choosing UCI!</p>