College College Oh Boy

Jawa

So its about that time to choose a college to go to.

I have been accepted to
UC Santa Barbara
UC Davis
UC Merced
UC Santa Cruz
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

I plan on majoring in Computer science or Electrical Engineering

Right now I am really looking at Santa Barbara or Cal Poly because they seem to have better science departments but any extra opinions would help

Thanatos

Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, and Santa Cruz all have hella good comp sci departments, and access to beaches.

khain

Go check out the school. It doesn't matter how good their Comp Sci departments are if you can't stand the place.

Sevorak

I'm pretty close to graduating with a computer science degree at Cal Poly. We've got a great CSC department, and a pretty good EE department from what I can tell by talking with my friends. We're in a really nice location with great weather and a 10-15 minute drive to several beaches. Plus our week long orientation is pretty much the best thing ever.

Santa Barbara is very similar climate wise, since it's only 1.5 hours away. I've heard good things about their CS department too. It's also got quite a bit more of a party atmosphere. You can find a party at either school most nights of the week, but it seems more overwhelming at SB, but that may be what you want.

But like khain says, you should visit the schools you're thinking about to see if you could live their for 4+ years. Cal Poly's open house is on the 20th and 21st of this month, so that'd be the best time to come, but the school's pretty much in open house mode for the next month, so if you can't make it to open house you'll still get a good idea for what the school's like.

clsCorwin

Right now UC Merced's Comp Sci program is pretty much being run by Berkeley until they get on their feet. So if you want a Comp Sci experience that you'd see at Berkeley (you know, one of the top schools in the country for comp sci) go there.

However, I'm not too sure about the area. I live about 30 miles north of Merced in Turlock, and well, theres jack to do here... but Merced is bigger...

You'd be close to Fresno I guess... lol

Jawa

I have visited all of the schools except for SB and really a "party" school isn't entirely what I want.

Another thing I need to consider is which major to choose Comp Sci or Elec. Engineering, Opinions in either of the fields and what a degree in either will help with?

I do have a passion for both of these things, just curious as what options become available after making one a career and leaving the other as a hobby.

khain

I have a EE degree from the UW, which is kind of amusing since my job is a CSE one that deals with programming firmware. EE pretty much encompasses anything electronic, the curriculum at the UW changed recently but expect to take courses dealing with basic circuits, power, EM, Digital systems, transistors, basically a whoole gambit of electronics. Comp Sci at the UW was split into two different majors that you could essentially switch between but one was more software oriented and one was hardware.

Edit: When you say you have a passion for both what do you mean because while Comp Sci is fairly specific, EE is not.

Jawa

Comp Sci, writing progams and making stupid game mods and that jib jab

As far as Electrical Engineering goes I work with my dad at a Computer repair store and we do that kind of stuff, and also my friends and I make robotic death contraptions for fun.

khain

Jawa wrote: »

Comp Sci, writing progams and making stupid game mods and that jib jab

As far as Electrical Engineering goes I work with my dad at a Computer repair store and we do that kind of stuff, and also my friends and I make robotic death contraptions for fun.

I'm really bad at explaining this, but what you think Comp Sci is isn't what it actually is in the academic world. If you go to Digipen or someplace like that then thats what you'll learn but if you get a Comp Sci degree at the UW, Berkley whatever its totally different. You learn data structures algorithms, basically the science behind the software. I think I'm really failing at explaining this, but to make a analogy (that is probably retarded) if you think of Chemistry you think of experiments however if you went to a college to get a Chemistry degree while you do experiments thats not the main focus of the degre.

Along the same lines I really don't think you understand what a EE degree will teach you from the above statement. You start off with circuits built with resistors, capacitors and inductors and how to analyze them but it branches out from there. Theres digital where you make hardware with physical gates and chips, embedded systems and VLSI are both a part of that. Power where you deal with transformers, power grids electric motors, analog where you use transistors etc to make amplifiers instrumentation, basically anything that is processed continiously, EM which I hate so its getting ignored, Signal and Image Processing, communications.

variant

Cal Poly dude, no brainer, they're ranked hella high for CS.

benz0rs

Parties are unavoidable if you live in the dorms. Make sure you like the area and the school before you choose. I know some of my friends who just straight up hate their school (mostly UCR) and some people at UCI, too. Make sure the school is for you or else it won't really matter if they have a good CS program or not. I UCI

I'd throw in my vote for cal poly SLO just because.

variant

Well its not just that they have a good program, the campus is awesome, its not exactly known as a party school but there are plenty of parties, its "small" in terms of overall students, so you will get to know alot of people on a more personal level then others because the campus has a tight community, etc.

Joseph Stalin

I'm studying Comp Sci at Davis right now. While it might not be ranked as highly for Comp Sci as other schools, I don't really see this as an issue. Rankings deal with grad school. For undergrad education, you'll get a quality education at any reputable school you choose. I'd pick the school that you feel most comfortable at, and like the feel of the most. With that said, I love Davis and have had a blast since coming here. It is a really laid back, fun place to live.

Thanatos

clsCorwin wrote: »

Right now UC Merced's Comp Sci program is pretty much being run by Berkeley until they get on their feet. So if you want a Comp Sci experience that you'd see at Berkeley (you know, one of the top schools in the country for comp sci) go there.

However, I'm not too sure about the area. I live about 30 miles north of Merced in Turlock, and well, theres jack to do here... but Merced is bigger...

You'd be close to Fresno I guess... lol

You have my condolences. Turlock is pretty much used as synonymous with "shithole" in California. I've been through Merced, and yeah, it didn't look like there was shit to do there (though, it's been awhile). UCSC and UCSB tend to be party schools, but both have good academics, too.

kaliyama

UCSB hands down.