Hi,
I am a rising senior and have a SAT score of 1530 (800/800 in Math and 730 in ERW). I have done a few AP courses (5/5 in Comp Science and calc A/B). What UC colleges offer direct admission to comp science and what are my chances?
Should have added - I won the state tennis championships (doubles) for the toughest division as well for extravehicular activities…
I can only speak for the following:
UCB - EECS is direct admit; L&S requires 3.30 in 3 select CS classes before you can be admitted
UCLA - EECS is direct admit
UCSB - CSE is direct admit
UCD - I believe that both CS and CSE are direct admit but I heard from someone else that CS may not be.
I thought I read somewhere that UCSD CSE has a 3.3 requirement but I could be wrong. I think UCI’s CS programs are all direct admit but I could be wrong. Pretty sure that all the other UC CS programs are direct admit.
The most important thing for admissions evaluation is your GPA, so without that there’s no way of knowing your chances. Unless you’re being recruited for tennis, chances are that your championship will be treated as a nice EC.
Thanks for the response. I have an unweighted GPA of 3.92 with all classes at Honors and a good mix of APs.
3.92 probably translates to around a 4.20-4.25 UC capped GPA, which puts you in decent shape for all the UCs except for UCLA EECS and UCB EECS. For those 2, your odds are probably around 20%, SAT is on the low side and median GPAs is 4.3 ie pretty much a 4.0 uw GPA.
Forum Champion Note: I have merged two different threads that are basically asking the same question about chances for direct admit admission into CS and CSE programs.
UCD has CS in the College of Letters and Sciences and CSE in the College of Engineering. CSE is a direct admit into the College of Engineering. CS is a direct admit but your admitted by division within L&S so you need to take the foundation courses before continuing onto the upper division courses.
**One of the most common questions students ask advisers concerns the difference between the Computer Science (CS) and Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) majors.
Actually, the two majors
are almost identical in terms of computer science core material,
including digital circuits. The difference between the two
curricula is that CSE also covers microprocessors, analog circuits
and electronics, while CS offers greater flexibility via large
numbers of free electives.
An important advantage of CSE is that the student sees the entire
machine, from top to bottom, insight that is highly beneficial in
developing software for today’s high-performance applications.
On
the other hand, CS is attractive in that it facilitates
supplementary study in another field as a minor or even as a
double major.
Graduates of the two curricula tend to go into the same kinds of
jobs, or focus on the same research fields if they attend graduate
school. In either case, success stems overwhelmingly from the
depth of insight gained in school, rather than the specific
major.**
UCI admits first into the University and then into the major, so you can get a direct admit into CS if you meet their threshold. However, if you do not, then you are admitted with your alternate major or undeclared.
UCSC admits with a “proposed major” into the College of Engineering and then you need to take the foundation courses before officially declaring the major. However, if you cannot get admission directly into the College of Engineering, you will not be able to change into the CS later.
UCR has a direct admit into the CS major but do consider alternate majors if you do not meet the direct admit thresholds.
You look like a competitive applicant, so I do not think you will have any issues with getting a direct admit into the majority of the schools.
What is your UC GPA capped weighted and Fully weighted?
Please compute your UC weighed GPA. As you’re an OOS student, the weighting is different than an instate student.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Let us know…
Also Cal Poly SLO uses 9-11th grades for a-g courses and only uses capped weighted UC GPA with 8 semesters of AP/IB classes for the extra Honors points in the calculation taken 10-11th grades.
OOS Honors courses do not count for the extra Honors points in the UC GPA calculation only AP/IB courses taken 10-11th grades.
USC might end up being more affordable than the UC’s since they do offer merit aid, while the UC’s offer little merit aid and no need-based aid for OOS students.
What are my chances of getting into UCs for assured computer science or computer engineering?
SAT 1530 (Math 800/800 and ERW 730)
Won state high school championships for tennis (doubles)
AP scores - 5/5 in Computer Programming and Calc AB; 4/5 in Environmental Scien
UCB
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
UCD
USC
Cal Poly
Also - would you recommend USC over UCB and UCLA? I am from Washington state so will be paying out of state in any case.
Thanks!
UCSD may direct admit CSE majors; those who enroll without direct admission must earn a 3.3 college GPA in the prerequisites and then enter a lottery to get into the CSE major. https://cse.ucsd.edu/undergraduate/cse-capped-major-status
My UC weighted GPA seems to come out as 4.3
@Gumbymom, @ProfessorPlum168 @ucbalumnus @TdoesCollege - thanks for the great insights! I am more interested in CS (not necessarily in CSE courses).
But, what is your UC weighted capped?
Still figuring it out but looks like 4.30
If you use the Rogerhub UC calculator linked in post #8, it will give you your UC UW GPA, capped weighted and fully weighted. Just remember if OOS, only AP/IB courses taken 10-11th get the extra Honors points.
What was your uw GPA for grades 10-11? The capped weighted GPA will be around .3 higher than your unweighted GPA for 10-11. 4.3 on a 3.92 seems high, especially if you’ve taken a bunch of AP classes.
Assuming the GPA math comes in at 4.1+, you will be competitive for all the UCs. The top 3 will be a little stretch (maybe 40/60 odds) , but your ECs and a strong essay will help you stand out.
I should add that there is a lot of subjectivity to UC admissions so, they can be unpredictable Apply broadly.
I’d add SDSU to your ap list as a safety.
Good luck.
@bhanu274 Were you admitted to any of the CS major in the US schools? It seems this year the UC’s are supper competitive.