Hello! I’ve been accepted to USC as a Trustee Scholar for CS and UC Berkeley for L&S CS with the Berkeley Undergraduate Scholarship ($5k). I’m from Pasadena and have a 4.7 GPA and a 1,580 SAT along with being the top of the class at my school and the Student body President and the president of the competitive programming club at my school. Which would be better for someone who’s interested in a future career as a game programmer?
@CADREAMIN and @Gumbymom your opinions would be very helpful! I’m leaning towards USC but my parents are unsure because they think Berkeley is better for CS and for opportunities in CS and Game Dev.
If you guys are curious why I edited the post and changed the location, its because it was autocorrect on my phone. I meant to say Pasadena but accidentally put down Palo Alto because that was where I lived until 2017 and was at the top of my autocorrect list on my phone. Sorry about that!
Congratulations on the Trustee scholarship! Were you also offered Viterbi Fellows as well?
USC is considered top in the nation for Game Design. Combine that with USC’s extensive Trojan Network and I don’t know why your parents feel that Berkeley would offer more opportunities.
While I try not to be to to biased/or too opinionated one way or another, and don’t want to “sell” anyone on any school, including USC, your question seems to have a simple answer (at least from my perspective). Have your parents looked deeply into both programs or are they just relying on general impressions they or friends have? What are their concerns specifically? Do they harbor ideas of the “old USC” when it wasn’t the school it is today? Do they understand what L&S CS is and how it works? My student was accepted to EECS so I understand the public perception/allure of UCB, but we couldn’t resist the idea of private education (I do have a preference/bias to that, I will admit.)
On every ranking, USC is the #1 Game Dev school in the nation & world, and has been forever. They are giving you $200,000+ dollars in a trustee/full tuition scholarship to attend an elite private school with a beautiful campus, in the major you want to be in, with the ability to double major, add a minor, or change majors on a whim (very simple). At UCB you are in L&S CS which isn’t even guaranteed (this in not the same as EECS at UCB). The way I see it, the only reason to pick UCB is because you want to be in Norcal rather than Socal, and that’s not a very strong reason to choose one school over another.
My two CS majors (that were also accepted to UCB/UCLA) had amazing experiences that lead to incredible opportunities/organizations/networking (real life projects in both gov and business while at USC) and post grad. USC is a different environment…it has the same rigor, but in a much more collaborative and supportive environment. Smaller classes all around. UCB is a more competitive environment - and that can both push or crush people, so you have to decide if that atmosphere is right for you. At USC, professors are accessible, mine worked closely with several profs over the years (on special projects and as TA) and still keeps in touch. Your classmates will often work like real life does - as a team - to get things accomplished. You leave USC with lifelong friends/contacts in your industry. The internal organizations are amazing and the Trojan Family network is real. Your stats are great, and similiar to the other tippy top students you will find in Viterbi and at UCB. You would be with peers at either school. But you aren’t in game dev or EECS at UCB.
Of course, UCB is an amazing school, no denying that, but for what you want to do and what you are being given to accomplish it, it seems like an easy choice. Even if same price or money wasn’t a factor at all, I would still be choosing USC because I think the program there is everything you are looking for. Congrats on the Trustee and good luck with your decision, I’m sure you will excel wherever you go!
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@CADREAMIN I’m on the USC side but we are from NorCal so my parents are biased about this. I really want to attend USC for a CS Major and a Video Game Programming minor so that I can have the ABET accredited CS along with an amazing minor. My parents graduated from Berkeley so it’ll be tricky to persuade them but I’ll show them your answer.
@lkg4answers I was offered Viterbi Fellows! I’m very excited about it also! It’s one of the reasons that I’m leaning towards USC!
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Game development is only a small part of the computing industry, so it is best to be open to all kinds of computing jobs.
It is also better to get a CS degree and add game electives than a game degree that may be limiting in the eyes of some non game employers.
Thanks for that advice! That’s my plan. A CS major with a Video Game Programming minor so that I get the CS and Game Dev mix while still getting in those core CS courses.
Sorry if I misread your original post, but answer still applies whether doing games or straight up CS. My students did CS majors with one doing a double major and other major/minor. I assume you have been to both campuses? What did you like? Frankly, if it’s even a question, maybe UCB is the one. Let us know where you go either way and good luck!
I am a Cal grad with a student who got into Berkeley and USC and is attending USC. One of the draws to Viterbi is that it is collaborative as opposed to competitive and they emphasize team building across disciplines to mirror real world situations. Another draw is that once you are accepted into Viterbi, you are accepted into all of the majors. You can switch at anytime. If you switch late, it may require more time in school but at least there is flexibility. I think, for us, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the PDP program and the fact that a student with enough AP credits could complete a BS/MS in four years.
The classes at USC are very small compared to a UC. Most classes have less than 50 students. My child’s largest class was an intro STEM course with 80 - 100 students. It would have had well over 500 students at Berkeley.
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That makes sense! I’ve visited both campuses and I love USC! I’m leaning towards there. In my opinion, a Major and a minor is the best way to go when it comes to this. I’m hoping to be a software engineer at a large game studios, like xbox, stadia or Minecraft, so this would be the best option.
I think its even simpler of a situation. For Cal you got in L&S CS. That is not guaranteed. You have to compete for a spot through the brutal prereqs; most of which is share with EECS students. EECS admits are admitted at a much higher barrier than L&S which does not consider major. So its tough to get that 3.3 needed to declare. For USC you are a direct admit. That to me answers the question right there.
If your parents are wondering, for engineering and CS, once you get to a certain level prestige no longer matters. CS companies will ask you to whiteboard in interviews and no amount of prestige can overcome that.
Good call focusing on getting the normal CS degree. Game design is secondary and most work in the game industry is game engine based. Which is a highly SWE area and has little to do with game design.
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I’m going to disagree with this. If you really want to do game development, then go to USC, which many rate as the top game development program in the world. It’s easier to find a game development job with a degree that specializes in it, than if you get a traditional CS degree with some games electives. And if you don’t find a games development job that suits you, you’ll still come out of USC’s program with enough traditional CS knowledge to be able to get a job fairly easily. I’ve known multiple people who have CS degrees with game specializations who ended up working in non-gaming CS jobs, although in every case those jobs involved graphics/front-end development.
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Hello! like in my previous posts, I’ve been accepted into Berkeley for L&S CS with the Berkeley Undergraduate Scholarship. I’m curious what their CS program is like. What is it like? Whats the game dev community like on campus? Thanks!
I’m curious to hear @Gumbymom 's opinion on Berkeley CS.
You might want to tag @ucbalumnus regarding the CS program at UCB. I have no direct experience with the CS program other than what I have been able to learn from other posters and its reputation which is top notch. However, I do know that you are deciding between UCB and USC (full scholarship) so I would say both schools are great options for CS. CS is very marketable and my younger son went to a Cal State (SDSU) and is doing great post graduation.
I would go for the obvious and pick USC. USC has a wonderful alumni network and smaller class sizes which has been pointed out in some of your other discussions.
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Hello! I’m curious about what USC’s CS program is like. As my previous post, I’ve been admitted to USC and UCB (Along with Cal Poly SLO, CSU LB, UCSC and SJSU but I ruled them out) What is CS like there? What is the Viterbi Fellows like? How are the faculty? What is the research like? Is the Career Services easily accessible? What’s online school like there? Any news about campus being online or not for this 2021-22 school year?
@CADREAMIN I’m curious about your opinion about USC’s CS program.
Due to the popularity of CS, the comparison between class sizes will mostly be between “large” at USC and “huge” at UCB. Neither will be anything close to the LAC small class size experience for CS, if that is what you want. You can check each school’s class schedule to see class sizes.
The biggest factor other than cost to consider is the requirement to earn a 3.3 GPA in CS 61A, 61B, 70 to get into the L&S CS major at UCB. Note that these courses are not graded on a curve, so it is not supposed to be a competition against others in the course. Grade distributions indicate that about half of the students in these courses earn B+ or higher grades.