I was recently accepted to both institutions: UW Engineering Department and UCSD Cog Sci Major. I am interested in HCDE program at UW and Cogsci (specialization in Design and Interaction) at UCSD. These two majors are pretty similar. Tuitions are not a problem for me. Which one would be a better option?
Do you want to be an engineer? Are you more into physics and math? If so, go to UW.
Are you more interested in psychology and neuroscience? Then UCSD would be a better choice.
Are you instate for either? If so, I would be very wary about choosing the other state’s school.
My daughter looked closely at both programs.
UW-HCDE is a smaller department with a very cool project-based curriculum, IF that is what you like.
UCSD-CogSci is a large department with a number of different tracks/specialties, and a wide variety of faculty research interests.
If you want more of a computation/HCI/UX focus, UCSD may be better.
If you want more of a combination of engineering with industrial design with a human-factors focus, UW is better.
HCDE certainly allows you to choose/design projects with your particular interests in mind. But the fundamental nature/focus of the program is more predetermined than the larger UCSD CogSci program with its many options. HCDE does have The HCI Degree Option track that overlaps more with Informatics, BUT we were strongly cautioned at the info session we attended that students in that track do NOT get registration preference for the required informatics classes, so it can actually be very hard to get the classes necessary to complete that track. (This was two years ago - possible it’s changed, but this would be an important question to ask if the HCI track interests you.)
To me, HCDE is the ideal program for a student who would like an almost Olin-like academic experience in their major, without giving up a large-flagship-U experience in terms of campus life and broad GE offerings.
UCSD CogSci is more of a large-scale blend of true interdisciplinary types with a substantial number of CS-focused students who would rather have been in Computer Science, but didn’t get into Jacobs. Extremely dynamic and innovative program on the grad level (where CogSci is everyone’s first choice!), and a wealth of opportunities for undergrads, but like most large programs, it’s on the student to go looking for what they want.
FWIW, UCSD CogSci faculty have a number of free courses on Coursera - you might want to watch some of those lectures to get a sense of their approach.
Hope that helps. Congrats on two terrific options!
Thank you so much for your response! Unfortunately, I am outstate for both universities, so it doesn’t make too big of a difference tuition-wise. I am good at math but also interested in neuroscience and design. It is really a tough decision to make between these two programs.