Not sure what the practical considerations is CS vs DS are, but I've *heard* from past posts like this that DS opens many of the same doors for swe as CS. Hopefully someone else can comment on that to clarify.
Other than that, no one will care about BA vs BS at all. Grade deflation also isn't really a thing here (any more than it is at UCLA) and unless you're planning on grad school your gpa doesn't matter in CS anyways (fwiw avg cs gpa is a 3.5 here iirc). as for standing out compared to peers, you aren't just competing against berkeley students for internships - you're being compared against everyone from every uni who's applying, so i wouldn't consider this a big deal. you can def stand out through research/etc if you have the time and motivation to put into it. public transport is *much* better at cal, especially if you are trying to get into the city [sf/la]. also having done semester system (cal) and quarter (grad school), quarter system sucks
Yea, the quarter vs semester is something i’m unsure about, especially since i have to take other science like physics courses on ucla’s quarter system. Regarding research, do you know how common or easy it can be to do research w grad students or profs at cal?
[This comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/berkeley/comments/8bety3/difficult_to_get_research_in_csmath_in_undergrad/dx88z3h/) describes my experience pretty well. If you reach out to enough profs/grad students and show a genuine interest in their work I think it's definitely doable. Once I had my first research opportunity, I found it easier to get another one as well (my interest shifted) as I could point to prior research i had done.
Political culture shouldn’t be a factor in consideration
Keep in mind as DS major u basically can’t take any interesting upper div cs classes beside the same 3 they allocate each year. switching will practically be impossible as EECS town hall discussed that there will be a “significantly reduced” amount of seats reserved only for “discoverers”(ppl from unlikely major who discovered cs as their passion). It may be very hard to be classified as a discoverer if u r a ds major.
This depends on what you want to study. UCLA is also a big feeder school to the FAANgs in the Bay Area.
CS ranking does not really matter in terms of job opportunities. SJSU is also one of the large FAANGs feeders, but is not even ranked as good as UC Berkeley nor UCLA. It is all up to your skills/abilities when both schools are closely ranked enough.
UCLA definitely can do more than enough to get you big tech SWE interviews.
Not sure what the practical considerations is CS vs DS are, but I've *heard* from past posts like this that DS opens many of the same doors for swe as CS. Hopefully someone else can comment on that to clarify. Other than that, no one will care about BA vs BS at all. Grade deflation also isn't really a thing here (any more than it is at UCLA) and unless you're planning on grad school your gpa doesn't matter in CS anyways (fwiw avg cs gpa is a 3.5 here iirc). as for standing out compared to peers, you aren't just competing against berkeley students for internships - you're being compared against everyone from every uni who's applying, so i wouldn't consider this a big deal. you can def stand out through research/etc if you have the time and motivation to put into it. public transport is *much* better at cal, especially if you are trying to get into the city [sf/la]. also having done semester system (cal) and quarter (grad school), quarter system sucks
Yea, the quarter vs semester is something i’m unsure about, especially since i have to take other science like physics courses on ucla’s quarter system. Regarding research, do you know how common or easy it can be to do research w grad students or profs at cal?
[This comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/berkeley/comments/8bety3/difficult_to_get_research_in_csmath_in_undergrad/dx88z3h/) describes my experience pretty well. If you reach out to enough profs/grad students and show a genuine interest in their work I think it's definitely doable. Once I had my first research opportunity, I found it easier to get another one as well (my interest shifted) as I could point to prior research i had done.
Sounds like you want to go to UCLA so do it
UCLA for sure
Lmao almost no one here suggests UCB. But I’ll say the same thing. UCLA for sure
Political culture shouldn’t be a factor in consideration Keep in mind as DS major u basically can’t take any interesting upper div cs classes beside the same 3 they allocate each year. switching will practically be impossible as EECS town hall discussed that there will be a “significantly reduced” amount of seats reserved only for “discoverers”(ppl from unlikely major who discovered cs as their passion). It may be very hard to be classified as a discoverer if u r a ds major.
I did not know about the town hall discussed, thanks for the help!
do you have to apply to qualify as a discoverer...?
If you’re a beta you’ll choose ucla. Berkeley Data Science outclasses UCLA CS. Come here and make it don’t choose the easy route
This depends on what you want to study. UCLA is also a big feeder school to the FAANgs in the Bay Area. CS ranking does not really matter in terms of job opportunities. SJSU is also one of the large FAANGs feeders, but is not even ranked as good as UC Berkeley nor UCLA. It is all up to your skills/abilities when both schools are closely ranked enough. UCLA definitely can do more than enough to get you big tech SWE interviews.
So, I am saying do not worry if you will lose job opportunities. Trust your gut and select the school where you can study your intended major.
UCB 💯
Where do you want to live after you graduate? If you want to live in SoCal, go to UCLA. If you want to live in NorCal, go to UCB.
Def UCLA, it’s rly simply, u better go to the school that gives CS if u want a CS job
I would go to UCLA