<p>My son is admitted in UCSB (Santa Barbara) Computer Engineering Program and now he is also got accepted in UCI (Irvine) (as Undeclared/Undecided Major). He want to be a Computer Engineer but has no prior programming experience and therefore I am not sure if it is the right choice for him or not or he will be able to take the pressure. My concern is if he will go to UCSB and want to change major then he has not too many choices as their Engineering Department is too small compare to UCI. </p>
<p>How difficult is it to get in to engineering program from Undeclared/Undecided or it's very common to get accepted as Undeclared/Undecided and later transfer to engineering.</p>
<p>Any suggestion or guidance from your past experience will really be appreciated. I have to finalize the decision in next 3-4 days. </p>
<p>If he wants CE and is accepted into CE then he should go. If he was to transfer out, it will be a lot easier than transferring in. That is a lot better than an undeclared major where he may not get into engineering but could do mathematics, in the general arts and sciences, for instance. If he is good at his math and science classes he should be okay. In CE you start with preparation for the major: math, physics, chemistry, electrical engineering and computer science basics. No previous knowledge is supposed.</p>
<p>The real problem here is your son is about to enter college and yet you are deciding where he will go. What are you going to do when he’s out of your reach?</p>
<p>And BTW weren’t the enrollment forms for frosh due May 1st? If you didn’t submit by the deadline then he’s probably going to neither.</p>
<p>UCSB’s engineering department is world class. This is the oddest thing when I run into people thinking it isn’t. I undertand US News ranks all sorts of things besides actual academics faculty and facilities but even US News has UCSBs engineering program up very high. Here is the National Research Council ranking of computer engineering (listed under electrical and computer engineering, the cs ranking doesn’t work, as you will see if you click it.) To use it you click the subject matter and then go to the table and click ‘s rank high’ to get the scholar’s ranking of the programs from highest to lowest. These are graduate programs, but at UCSB with so few graduate students you will see undergraduates get the research positions, etc often. <a href=“NRC Rankings Overview: Electrical and Computer Engineering”>http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124726/</a></p>
<p>It is possible putting computer engineering together with electrical somewhat skews the results, but computer engineering is more the hardware side than the software side, so it makes sense. Here is some recent UCSB stuff on computer engineering AND computer science - note I limited my search on google to stuff coming up in the last month, and these are just the first five listings that came up </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2014/014130/ucsb-places-among-top-10-leiden-ranking-750-major-universities-world”>http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2014/014130/ucsb-places-among-top-10-leiden-ranking-750-major-universities-world</a>
<a href=“http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1113136972/rapid-synthesis-technique-developed-for-bilayer-graphene-high-performance-transistors-050214/”>http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1113136972/rapid-synthesis-technique-developed-for-bilayer-graphene-high-performance-transistors-050214/</a>
<a href=“Research & Development World”>Research & Development World;
<a href=“http://www.pacbiztimes.com/2014/05/02/power-is-knowledge-as-unite-to-light-devices-spread-around-the-world/”>http://www.pacbiztimes.com/2014/05/02/power-is-knowledge-as-unite-to-light-devices-spread-around-the-world/</a>
<a href=“http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2014/014123/future-effects”>http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2014/014123/future-effects</a></p>
<p><a href=“https://www.ce.ucsb.edu/”>https://www.ce.ucsb.edu/</a></p>
<p>Thanks collegevetting for you very useful reply and mikemac, he already submitted his SIR for UCSB (in May) but later (yesterday) admitted to UCI from Waitlist. He is still waiting for UCLA, UCD, and UCSD waitlists.</p>
<p>The factor to consider is the cost, as UCI is local to us and we are not getting any financial aid therefore going to UCI is really very cost effective compare to any other UC’s (for room and boarding)</p>
<p>At UCI many of the classes required for CE are restricted to engineering students as you can see from this list:
<a href=“http://plaza.eng.uci.edu/schedule/major_restrictions”>http://plaza.eng.uci.edu/schedule/major_restrictions</a></p>
<p>He will have to look closely at the feasibility of getting into the major and what he might pick as an alternate major should he not be allowed.</p>
<p>Yes, but to qualify for the engineering major change you only need to have these units completed as per their change of major criteria web site:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.changeofmajor.uci.edu/CoM_Engr.html”>http://www.changeofmajor.uci.edu/CoM_Engr.html</a></p>
<p>======================================================================
Cumulative UC GPA: 2.7 or higher</p>
<p>Minimum 3.0 GPA in all courses required for the major and completion of at least the following:
Math 2A-B-D
Physics 7C-D, Physics 7LC-LD</p>
<h1>EECS 1, EECS 12, EECS 20, EECS 31</h1>
<p>Now my questions if he is able to finish all these classes with 3.0 GPA then we will get the transfer guaranteed or still he has to compete with other students as they may have limited seats, so may be merit base acceptance.</p>
<p>I have heard generally that it is difficult to transfer into engineering because the classes are full, however, you should call UCI school of engineering academic counseling to find out. We don’t really know how hard it will be for your son, and they will know.</p>
<p>I think UCSB is better in CE major than UCI, however, UCI is slightly better for CS.</p>
<p>That’s what you should be asking THEM. If it were guaranteed, they would say so, so you can bet that it is not.</p>
<p>Which does he want to attend?</p>
<p>If he chooses UCI, consider whether putting him in the dorm frosh year is affordable and makes sense, particularly if the commute requires driving on roads with unpredictable traffic jams.</p>
<p>I called their admission and U/U department and as per them prerequisite Math and Physics classes are easy to enrolled as they are common GE classes, but all 4 EECS {engineering specific} prerequisite classes are reserved for engineering students {as priority} and later if the spot is available then only he can enroll or otherwise has to wait for either next semester or summer (if the classes are offered}. Overall their answers are not very satisfactory or convincing if those are available to non enginering students.</p>
<p>Even undeclared engineering is not part off U/U. They told me that because of U/U he has to enroll in their U/U department {no major choice} and later in summer orientation he will sit with counceller one on one and let him know his choice of major so they will plan his program of study accordingly, but once again no guarantee that he will be able to get enrolled in all engineering specific perequisite classes due to these restrictions. </p>