Hi! I recently got admitted as an undergraduate transfer student to UCLA, UCI and UCSD with linguistics and computer science, computer science and cognitive science respectively as my majors. I am really having a hard time choosing where to go. I want to become a computer programmer but have no emphasis on an area yet. The next two years are very important for me as I am going to focus on further developing my CS skills and networking.
I am interested in UCLA as I feel I can make better connections/network that hopefully will help me get a good job later. Question is, is Linguistics and computer science a good path to take to land a job as a computer programmer later on?
Or would I be better off attending UCI where I know I would be taking a lot more CS courses but maybe the networking environment is not as good as UCLA?
Or is UCSD’s Cognitive Science a better option for networking and skill developing? I feel like UCSD is in between UCI and UCLA in terms of ranking.
I feel like:
UCLA, best school but not sure about the major.
UCI, good school but less than UCLA l, I like the major.
UCSD, in between UCLA and UCI, unsure about the major.
What is computer science and linguistics? They seem so unrelated. Can you switch the regular cs at UCLA? If you want to go in to computer programming then UCSD is mostly out of the picture. I can’t say much about UCI cause I don’t know anyone in the program there. I have a friend who is UCLA cs and he just got an internship in Seattle for Amazon. So the networking environment must be pretty good.
If you primary interest is CS, go to UCI.
Linguistics with CS may be useful if you want to work on computer translation of human languages and similar stuff.
^yeah, what’s the deal with linguistics + computer science? That sounds pretty similar to Cognitive Science or Cognitive Science with a specialization in Human Cognition. If that’s the case I’d give UCSD more thought, as its cognitive science department has been the best in the world since founding the field.
@nissincupnoodle @DoctorP @ucbalumnus Thank you for your input guys! The major is equivalent to computational linguistics and can be explained as the field concerned with the statistical or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective. Its nearly impossible to switch to CS as a transfer. Once you get into a major you are stuck with it or you can change to a nonimpacted major. Honestly I feel like UCI would be a better choice because it is the major I want, but I dont know if the UCLA networking environment is that much better than UCI’s that could help me get an internship, in that case, I would love to go to UCLA. There just so much pride in being a UCLA student…
You can do Cognitive Science with a specialization in Computer Human Interaction at UCSD as a way around not being able to switch into CS. That major opens you up to several engineering and other cs related jobs.
I think Cognitive Science is the worst option.
I have a CS degree, and if I were to do it all over again, I’d go for something like CS and Linguistics (or Computational Math or Computational Biology) instead of vanilla CS. I just happen to prefer the more practical applications of CS rather than the theory you learn in typical CS programs. You won’t have a problem getting a job with either UCLA’s CS and Linguistics or UCI’s vanilla CS, though.
.
I’m in a similar situation being accepted as a Math-CS to UCSD and CS to UCSB. I believe regardless of where you get your degree or what the paper says, you need to prove that you can write code if what you want is industry experience after graduation. That means doing a lot of prep-work in your own time by building side projects or studying interview questions. If you just want a CS degree and you are “unsure” about linguistics or cog-sci, the real question is do you want to take classes that you might not enjoy for the sake of attending a higher ranked school?
Computer science + linguistics = natural language processing = $$$$. Think personal assistants like Siri, Cortana, Google Now; think improving Google or Bing search algorithms to understand searches better; think parsing what you ask to determine which ads to show you. $$$$$$.
Honestly, nothing in computer science is unrelated anymore. The field is blowing up so quickly and so many skills are needed to make our world work that there’s not really a major I can think of that’s not a good combo with computer science. I just did a seminar with some 6th and 7th grade girls about this; I asked them what they liked and then pointed out how each of their interests was relevant to CS, including the girls interested in art, fashion, sports, and writing.
Either way, any of these three is a good choice in general, but if you know you want to be a software developer than a major in computer science is the best way to go, not a major in cognitive science. Cognitive science has elements of, and coursework in, computer science but it’s not really the same as a full major. If you took additional coursework in the major you could earn the skills to be a software developer, but I feel like at an already strapped, impacted UC that might be hard. I’d explore that a little more to see how easy it would be to take additional coursework in CS to make sure you have at least the basics of what a regular CS major would have, because that’s who you’ll be competing with for the plum software developer jobs.
UCLA has an excellent computer science department and an excellent linguistics department. The location is also good for potential networking and interning. To me, that seems like the best choice.
@rashomon369 out of curiosity, have you been able to make a decision yet?
@DoctorP
It was not an easy choice at the start but rather became one in the end.
It’s a question of Ranking vs Knowledge. The software industry is based on meritocracy, i.e. it’s about what you can do, which is based on what you know. I could self-learn what I’d miss, which is around 5 courses, on my own time. But that’s time I wouldn’t want to spend for the sake of attending a higher ranked school.
So I’m going with UCSB.
@nissincupnoodle Could you provide more information why “UCSD is out of picture” in terms of programming?
@rashomon369, I am confused, UCSB is not in your original list of UCLA, UCI, UCSD…
@pastalove I am wondering that what is your final choice?