<p>I'm trying to decide between UC Irvine and UC Davis for Computer Science & Engineering major. Are the two schools pretty comparable for the major?</p>
<p>I've visited Davis and Irvine and I do like the Irvine campus better (its a very nice campus).</p>
<p>However, I'm a little confused about how the two rank when it comes to CSE. If someone's got good info about that, I'd appreciate it if you could post it.</p>
<p>DJC
Neither school is ranked in CE. There is no specific ranking for their CSE departments. These are the overall rankings for engineering.</p>
<p>Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
Rank/School Peer
assessment
score
( 5.0 = highest)</p>
<ol>
<li> Massachusetts Inst. of Technology 4.8 </li>
<li> Stanford University (CA) 4.7
University of California–Berkeley * 4.7 </li>
<li> California Institute of Technology 4.5
U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign * 4.5 </li>
<li> Georgia Institute of Technology * 4.4
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor * 4.4 </li>
<li> Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 4.3
Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)* 4.3 </li>
<li> Cornell University (NY) 4.2 </li>
<li> Princeton University (NJ) 4.1
University of Texas–Austin * 4.1 </li>
<li> Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison * 4.0 </li>
<li> Johns Hopkins University (MD) 3.9
Northwestern University (IL) 3.9
Pennsylvania State U.–University Park * 3.9 </li>
<li> Texas A&M Univ.–College Station * 3.8
Virginia Tech * 3.8 </li>
<li> Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY) 3.7
Rice University (TX) 3.7
Univ. of California–Los Angeles * 3.7
Univ. of California–San Diego * 3.7
Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities * 3.7
University of Washington * 3.7 </li>
<li> Columbia University (NY) 3.6
Duke University (NC) 3.6
North Carolina State U.–Raleigh * 3.6
Univ. of Maryland–College Park * 3.6
Univ. of Southern California 3.6 </li>
<li> Harvard University (MA) 3.5
Ohio State University–Columbus * 3.5
University of Florida * 3.5
University of Pennsylvania 3.5 </li>
<li> Brown University (RI) 3.4
University of California–Davis * 3.4
Univ. of California–Santa Barbara * 3.4
University of Colorado–Boulder * 3.4
University of Virginia * 3.4 </li>
<li> Arizona State University * 3.3
Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH) 3.3
Iowa State University * 3.3
Washington University in St. Louis 3.3 </li>
<li> Lehigh University (PA) 3.2
Michigan State University * 3.2
University of Notre Dame (IN) 3.2
Vanderbilt University (TN) 3.2
Yale University (CT) 3.2 </li>
<li> Dartmouth College (NH) 3.1
Rutgers–New Brunswick (NJ)* 3.1
University of Arizona * 3.1
University of California–Irvine * 3.1
University of Missouri–Rolla * 3.1 </li>
<li> Colorado School of Mines * 3.0
Drexel University (PA) 3.0
Michigan Technological University * 3.0
Northeastern University (MA) 3.0
University of Iowa * 3.0
Univ. of Massachusetts–Amherst * 3.0
University of Pittsburgh * 3.0 </li>
<li> Auburn University (AL)* 2.9
Boston University 2.9
Clemson University (SC)* 2.9
Illinois Institute of Technology 2.9
Rochester Inst. of Technology (NY) 2.9
SUNY–Stony Brook * 2.9
University at Buffalo–SUNY * 2.9
University of Delaware * 2.9
University of Illinois–Chicago * 2.9
University of Utah * 2.9
Worcester Polytechnic Inst. (MA) 2.9 </li>
<li> Colorado State University * 2.8
Kansas State University * 2.8
Polytechnic University (NY) 2.8
Syracuse University (NY) 2.8
Tufts University (MA) 2.8
University of Kansas * 2.8
University of Tennessee * 2.8
Washington State University * 2.8 </li>
<li> Oregon State University * 2.7
University of Cincinnati * 2.7
University of Connecticut * 2.7
University of Houston * 2.7
University of New Mexico * 2.7
U. of North Carolina–Charlotte * 2.7
University of Rochester (NY) 2.7 </li>
<li> Brigham Young Univ.–Provo (UT) 2.6
Clarkson University (NY) 2.6
Louisiana State U.–Baton Rouge * 2.6
New Jersey Inst. of Technology * 2.6
Oklahoma State University * 2.6
Southern Methodist University (TX) 2.6
Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ) 2.6
Texas Tech University * 2.6
University of Kentucky * 2.6
Univ. of Nebraska–Lincoln * 2.6
University of Oklahoma * 2.6 </li>
<li> CUNY–City College * 2.5
George Washington University (DC) 2.5
Indiana U.-Purdue U.–Indianapolis * 2.5
Univ. of California–Riverside * 2.5
University of Central Florida * 2.5
Univ. of Missouri–Columbia * 2.5
University of Rhode Island * 2.5
Univ. of Wisconsin–Milwaukee * 2.5
Wayne State University (MI)* 2.5 </li>
<li>denotes a public school.</li>
</ol>
<p>To be honest, you won't be feeling the difference in ranking as an undergraduate student. As for comparison between the two, Irvine might be strong in CS and informatics, but, becuase it's compsci "engineering" the two programs will be around the same. In all honesty, any undergraduate engineering program will end up the same because they are all ABET accredited and there are so many requirements that adding more to make a program more challenging would be really going out of our way. Engineers nominally eat up 195 units (the workload should be worth more than those units) by the time they graduate. In the end, you'll be learning the same thing. Choose which school you like the best.</p>
<p>Cool, thanks for the info. I'm leaning towards Irvine because of the location and campus. Probably going to make the final decision tonight.</p>
<p>@jas0n, just wondering, what year and what major are you?</p>
<p>I agree with Jas0n. the rankings dont really mean much. I mean if you went by rankings, would you pick University of Texas over UCLA or university of Maryland over Harvard?</p>
<p>I'm a freshman in electrical engineering :]. CSE majors actually take a lot of the first half of classes EEs.</p>
<p>So what do you think of the professors?</p>
<p>Well every UC is full of professors from the top schools like Stanford, MIT, UCB, UCLA, etc. Right now I have a math professor that graduated from MIT just 4 years ago and I attended this presentation by an EE professor from Stanford doing research on digital imaging. Even though the professors are from these schools, however, it doesn't necessarily mean they are the best teachers. They do know their stuff really well though. It's going to be very similar for the rest of the UCs.</p>