I am a current California community college student and I have been admitted into UCLA for Mathematics and the University of Michigan for Computer Science. Both would be in the Letters & Science college.
If I were to attend UCLA, I would major in pure mathematics with a specialization in computing. This can potentially lead me to the same career path if I were to attend UMich for CS.
Career goal: programming/tech field
The big pros about UCLA is the in-state tuition and it is ranked extremely high for Mathematics. UMich is giving me a generous financial aid package, but still more expensive than UCLA.
ucla prohibits xfer students from changing into engineering majors.
Why do you believe that, and what meaning do you assign to the word “potentially”? UCLA says
“Potentially” doesn’t carry a lot of meaning, IMHO. Potentially you can get a drivers license, and potentially you can be elected to Congress. One is more likely than the other. Unless you have done the research to find employers willing to hire the math majors from UCLA into CS jobs and made an estimate of the likelihood of this occuring, you are throwing darts and hoping for the best.
A CS degree from Michigan puts you squarely in the path of those trained and hired for jobs in CS.
If you are interested in a career in programming/technology, a CS degree from Michigan will serve you better than a Mathematics degree from UCLA. As such, if you cannot switch to CS at UCLA, and if the cost of attendance at Michigan isn’t much higher, I think Michigan would be a better option for you.
I know somebody who graduated from UCLA with Applied math, she went eventually got either a certificate or Masters degree in Computer science. So I think a direct degree CS is better.
Because I would be entering as a junior at UCLA, the rules prohibit transfers and juniors to change majors from LS to the Engineering department.
Cost-wise:
UCLA would approximately cost 5k for two years.
UM would be about 13k, which is excellent considering I’m an out-of-state student. However, I have not fulfilled a lot of the requirements, so I would have to stay an extra semester or possibly an extra year.
JessICan, considering your major and career interests, I think it may be worth the extra money to attend Michigan, since we are talking about an incremental $20k (assuming the $13k for Michigan is also for two years, and that you are required to stay an extra year to graduate) to complete your degree.
I say “potentially” because I know a few people who have graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics and landed jobs in the tech field. One went one to pursue a Masters and the other is working in the programming field without a Masters. This is why I said potentially. However, I can definitely see your reasoning. Thank you for your input- much appreciation
You are lucky to just pay $13k for Michigan. Go to Michigan. Summer internship will make up the difference in cost. From what Ive read the career fair is quite bustling. Got all this from reading Quora.
CS majors tend to earn high starting salaries (Michigan CS undergrads start, on average, at $85,000/year). JessICan can factor that in the final decision.
As you noted, it’s likely many of your credits won’t transfer at Michigan. I would generally not recommend going there as a transfer student from a CCC. Like M2CK noted, you should find out how financial aid is generally like in the third year for transfer students at Michigan.
Did you apply for math since you thought you’d be rejected for CS at UCLA? If that’s the case, and you really can’t imagine doing anything other than CS as a profession, it might be worth it to go to Michigan. Make sure to factor in housing and travel costs for both schools as well.
Michigan would certainly serve you more well than UCLA (in this case) if you really wanted to do CS. But with that major at UCLA and maybe a few related classes and internships, you might have a decent shot at a CS career. Again though, there’s risk involved. So you should think carefully about how much risk you’re willing to take and how much debt you’re willing to take to mitigate your risk (and have good preparation in a field you want to become employed in.)
EDIT: although you can’t switch into computer science at UCLA, you could switch to linguistics and computer science, which is not in the school of engineering but in L&S. This would be cheaper than Michigan and give you a computer science degree. Here’s some information on the major:
