Hi everyone,
I am a CA resident and have got into UCR CS while Cal Poly SLO into my 2 choice of Engineering, I want to major in CS but I am confused if I should play safe and go UCR then try to transfer to UCD or go to Cal Poly and try to transfer to CS after first quarter. Please help with your opinion, any insight would really help me decide. Thank you in advance.
I meant transferring to UCSD from UCR not UCD, sorry
@StressedinCA All majors in CS and Engineering are impacted/Capped at every UCs except for UCM (so far). So if you get accepted directly into CS then I’d recommend you take it. Btw, CS is part of UCR Bourns College of Engineering (not the case at every UCs). It would be easier but no guarantees if you decided to switch to engineering later on. I keep hearing that it’s very difficult to switch majors at SLO. Do more research and find out the requirements for switching within their College of Engineering at SLO. You don’t want to be unhappy and eventually have to transfer out of SLO like some students have posted online but it wasn’t for CS or Engineering. Transferring from UC to UC for CS especially to UCSD will be very difficult (very very competitive). Example - current UCSD students who want to transfer into CSE, the GPA Cutoff is 4.0 and the admitted rate is between 10-30%. They would have priority over students in your case. Give UCR a chance, their Engineering programs are ranked very high globally.
Transferring into CS at Cal Poly is not easy or guaranteed. Within the CENG, moving into CS has the highest barrier, I would go to UCR and plan on staying at UCR. It’s more about what you do than where you go. Good luck.
If you work hard, then you will be able to transfer to CS. However, it is tough but it will be very rewarding in the end. Or you can play it safe at UCR
The problem is, one of the hurdles at Cal Poly for transferring is whether or not you would have been admitted with the cohort of your intended major in the first place. You already know you weren’t. It keeps students from back dooring into tougher admits. So there’s more to it than simply working hard. You could possibly be locked out of CS before you set foot on campus and there’s no way to know for sure. If you were admitted into General, it might be worth a shot because they expect Generals to switch. Their barriers are lower. If you were admitted to a less selective major like IE or Manufacturing, I’d be cautious. In the end, it’s up to you and your tolerance for risk. I’m a big fan of CP. I’m a bigger fan of students getting the major they want.