Background: I got into UCSD for math&cs in Warren college, and UCI for cs in Bren school of ICS. I have to take SDCC or entry writing class at UCI. I will have 8 AP scores by this July. I am an international student, currently living in Irvine, and my family can afford full tuition.
My comments: Both schools are good computer science schools. UCSD is more prestigious, its cs is ranked higher, but I’m not directly admitted into CS. UCI has a school of computer science, which is among its best programs. But UCI is ranked lower, and it has a bad reputation in my country.
Here are my questions and concerns:
- How hard is it to transfer to CS in UCSD? Is there a limited number of students for transferring? Will I compete to other students that are trying to transfer into CS?
- Which school has better professors in CS?
- Which school will be better if I want to find a cs job after undergrad?
- Which school will be better if I want to transfer to a top private school in soph/junior year?
- Which school will be better if I want to apply for Grad school?
- Which school has a better environment for entrepreneurship (startup)?
- Which school is better if I want to graduate in 3 years?
- Is UCSD more stressful than UCI? How hard is it to get a 3.8 in both schools?
- How hard are the writing classes in both schools? (I want the writing classes to be as easy as possible)
- How is UCI’s reputation in the rest of US besides California?
If there is anything else come to my mind, I will post them in comment section.
Thank you guys so much!
Changing to CS involves competitive admission, but it is not listed on the web page how competitive. You may want to ask the department directly.
http://cse.ucsd.edu/ImpactedMajor
UCSD bioengineering student here. I’ve answered the ones I can:
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You can try to transfer into Computer Science at the end of each quarter at UCSD. Applicants are ranked against each other solely on GPA in four courses: CSE 8B or 11, CSE 12, CSE 15L, and CSE 20 or Math 15A. The odds of getting in vary from quarter to quarter; it’s difficult, but not impossible.
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Irvine, because you won’t feel the need to transfer out of SD 
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I think San Diego has a stronger culture of entrepreneurship, and UCSD contributes to this through programs at The Basement and the Entrepreneur’s Challenge. There’s also an entrepreneurship minor offered jointly by the Jacobs School of Engineering and Rady School of Management that you might want to consider
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you’re studying engineering at a public school, so neither. Math-CS might be slightly quicker but will probably still take four years.
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allegedly it’s more stressful at UCSD but I wouldn’t know
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some of the UCSD writing courses are notoriously hard. Warren Writing is supposed to be one of the easier ones.
Thank you for your response! So how big is the difference between a degree in cs and math&cs?
Background: I got into UCSD for math&cs in Warren college, and UCI for cs in Bren school of ICS. I have to take SDCC or entry writing class at UCI. I will have 8 AP scores by this July. I am an international student, currently living in Irvine, and my family can afford full tuition.
My comments: Both schools are good computer science schools. UCSD is more prestigious, its cs is ranked higher, but I’m not directly admitted into CS. UCI has a school of computer science, which is among its best programs. But UCI is ranked lower, and it has a bad reputation in my country.
Here are my questions and concerns:
- How hard is it to transfer to CS in UCSD? Is there a limited number of students for transferring? Will I compete to other students that are trying to transfer into CS?
- Which school has better professors in CS?
- Which school will be better if I want to find a cs job after undergrad?
- Which school will be better if I want to transfer to a top private school in soph/junior year?
- Which school will be better if I want to apply for Grad school?
- Which school has a better environment for entrepreneurship (startup)?
- Which school is better if I want to graduate in 3 years?
- Is UCSD more stressful than UCI? How hard is it to get a 3.8 in both schools?
- How hard are the writing classes in both schools? (I want the writing classes to be as easy as possible)
- How is UCI’s reputation in the rest of US besides California?
If there is anything else come to my mind, I will post them in comment section.
Thank you guys so much!