My applicant is fortunate enough to have a choice amongst UCSB-CCS (as a regents scholar), UCB and UCLA. Would love to hear pros/ cons from the group. Applicant would probably choose applied math at CAL and UCLA, and is interested in a masters/PhD program post graduation.
Thoughts on advantages/ disadvantages not just in the program but overall undergraduate life/education at these programs?
He can’t go wrong with any of them. Much of his success will be in his hands. What attracted him to the three? Have you visited?
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Planning to check out open houses for all.
Do any of the following matter to the student?
- UCB is on the semester system (two 15-week semesters per academic year), while UCLA and UCSB are on the quarter system (three 10-week quarters per academic year). The latter means taking more courses, each of which is “smaller”.
- UCB’s math major does not have any major requirements besides math courses, while UCLA’s math major has some physics and CS-for-non-CS-majors course requirements. UCSB CCS math major has a CS course requirement.
- General education requirements at the various campuses differ.
- Available course work in the math department and other related departments may vary between the different campuses. Note that if the area of application is CS, getting into upper division CS courses may be difficult since most are likely to be completely full with CS majors before other majors are allowed to register for them.
- If interested in PhD programs in math, student should investigate what upper division math courses are preferred for preparation. For other PhD programs like statistics, economics, theoretical computer science, etc., the preferred preparation may differ.
- PhD programs in math often require a reading knowledge of French, German, and/or Russian because math research papers may be published in those languages. If the student with that goal needs to take a foreign language in college, consider that in the choice of foreign language.
If you got the $5k regents award at UCSB CCS then it may pip out the others because of the housing priority you get in addition to the research opportunities.
But Cal is Top 5 for Math/Applied Math and the quality of research will be better. Have you looked at actual career outcomes for these majors at each school? I know you mentioned a focus on PhD but you never know if your student will change their mind. So, I would compare those in addition to looking at PhD destinations. See below for Cal’s Masters/PhD placements for Math and Applied Math.
Applied Math
Math
Since you asked about overall undergraduate life, (and aside from the geographical differences) I would chime in to say housing is a factor you may want to consider, all things being fairly equal - it is in our student’s similar (pending) decision.
UCLA has guaranteed housing for all 4 years, UCSB CCS - I have not heard about a housing priority, though there is (some) CCS specific housing, and the CCS program rep we spoke with indicated that there are some students who stay on in it for several years, after that, housing is a real challenge at UCSB, which he also admitted to us. And as far as UCB goes, well, housing will be an ongoing issue as well.
Good luck with the decision!
The housing priority will come with the Regents.
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At UCLA, it looks like the data theory variant of math major with statistics and data science is filled to capacity, as indicated by the 3.3 college GPA requirement to enter it: Majors, Minors & Specializations - UCLA Mathematics . Math economics has a 2.7 college GPA requirement, and other math majors have a 2.5 college GPA requirement. Nominally, this is a secondary admission requirement higher than the 2.0 needed for open admission majors, although it is unlikely that students with lower than 2.5 in pre-major courses will want to continue in that major anyway.
UCB math does not have any gatekeeping beyond C grades in the prerequisite courses, but says that “it is strongly recommended that only students who earned grades of B- or better in all of Math 53, Math 54, and Math 55 apply to the major programs in Mathematics or Applied Mathematics” at Majoring in Mathematics | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley .
What a wealth of information to be shared w. my student. Thank you!!
Is your student faced w/ a similar decision? for math/ applied math?
She’s deciding between UCSB CCS and UCB for Marine Science, UCLA was her only rejection, but would likely have been her top pick given their Marine Bio program and housing.
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I don’t know anyone who wanted to stay in UCLA campus housing even for 3 years under the prior guarantee. Just too packed: S was in a non air conditioned triple for 2 years and really wanted out by that point. Off campus he was paying $1300 per month to share a 1 bed apartment with one other person, but at least had (not great) A/C and a kitchen.
So while a housing guarantee may be nice, unless you have priority selection (eg through Regents), I wouldn’t count on taking advantage of it.
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got it, i do imagine my student will move off campus from the second year or so.
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