Computer Science

The curriculum itself is really helpful for introducing programming and very theory heavy, however there aren't many courses that focus on what you'd actually be doing in the software engineering industry. Overall it's a great experience and there are outstanding professors here, but if you want to break into industry, you need to do a lot of work outside of curriculum, mainly clubs and personal projects will help you with recruiting.

studying cs at ucla has been a lot more hands-on than I expected, especially getting into systems and low-level stuff. I’ve liked figuring out how things actually work under the hood instead of just using high-level tools. It’s been challenging, but being around people who are building cool things makes it really motivating.

At UCLA is a very theoretical major compared to other schools but it gives you a broad overview of a lot of different topics within Computer Science. More often than not I felt like I was taking classes that I honestly did not need whatsoever for my career I was planning to go into (Software Engineering), like Physics and Microprocessors and that made it difficult to stay motivated and do the work, but the classes that really applicable like Software Construction and Data Structures were fantastic. The connections are also really great here for Computer Science, everyone in the major is super smart, but you really have to fight for them and put yourself out there.

Because computer science is in the engineering school at UCLA we are required to take heavy mathematics, physics, and electrical engineering classes. That being said, I was able to secure an internship at NASA and get internships at Amazon, IBM, TikTok because of the value and weight of my major and acknowledged course rigor. Additionally, computer science has provided me with a strong background in mathematics, computer fundamentals, and engineering concepts. It is an ABET accredited degree and I've been able to be relatively successful. It is quite stressful but alas that is what a college degree sometimes comes with.

Computer Science at UCLA is pretty chill all things considered. Major classes are easy to get since we have priority over other students, and typically a large percentage of class is made up of projects, so getting good grades isn't too difficult. The professors are overall somewhat interesting, and the basic classes teach good foundations for interviews.

It's a pretty complicated topic at the beginning but as time goes on, the experience you'll gain from CS courses + Hackathons + CS extracurriculars like research, labs, and other ACM clubs are really great for your resume. Overall, it's a fun major/subject to learn and have fun with other people

The Computer Science major at this school is very all encompassing! You get a good understanding of things at the low level as those closes are all part of the core requirements (unlike a lot of other schools surprisingly) and there's a ton of modern AI/ML electives.

Being a CS major has its ups and downs. The impostor syndrome is crazy when everyone is so cracked and good luck trying to get into clubs. The ratio in class is also horrible. But if you manage to land a job it will be a very lucrative career.

It's great but also i think the school doesnt have enough support in terms of career advising. Also a lot of the classes feel like they are slightly outdated. With that being said its super applicable in the real world and i love the problem solving aspect of it because i enjoy building things.

UCLA CS was very practical, like at my internship at Shopify I learned a lot about OS and Programming Languages that was applicable to the job

As someone who doesn’t come from a very strong Computer Science background before university, I feel like the UCLA CS program is not super beginner friendly. I came in with a couple classes, so enough to bypass the very beginner class, however the next level up was a lot heavier of a load than I thought it would be. There should be a little bit more support for someone in between a real beginner and someone like me.

Computer Science at UCLA is something that I would highly recommend to other students if given the opportunity. First and foremost, the class sizes are great with really balanced faculty to student ratios making guided learning very achievable. Secondly, with basic effort, finding industry placement is pretty easy. Overall, would recommend, but be mindful of the more theoretical program.

I think one of the scariest expectations about Computer Science comes from the toxic competitiveness that arises due to over saturation of the major but CS at UCLA or any school with a sense of community does a good job of having a student body that supports you in both classes and job recruitment.

feels pretty theoretical but i feel like ive learned a lot of useful concepts that i've been able to apply in projects, in work, and in interviews

I like that Computer Science gives us practical skills that has a large range of use cases. It requires very little equipment, so you can learn a lot on your own. I started with little to no experience coming into college, but quickly rose the ranks past my peers by working hard to grow my skills and experiences. There's so much innovation for the field, and I think the skills lay the foundation for me to build a business one day and solve a unique problem one day.

I like that it gives us practical skills and requires little equipment. We can learn so much on our own time to get ahead and learn about areas that we're interested in. I leave this major feeling like I have real problem solving experience and skills that I can use to build a business and solve a unique problem.

Great experience. Very strong core subject teaching. Lacking modern undergraduate courses.

This major is a good fit for analytical thinkers who are driven to understand why things are true and not just trust that they are. It's important to do projects and homework to the best of your ability to build mastery of the material, because remembering something from lecture is different from really having an understanding of it.

It is challenging but rewarding if you out the effort in. In class its hard to make close relationships with peers In order to create meaningful connections with other people in computer science, I’ve found clubs are a great method.

I really enjoy the practical aspects of Computer Science even though the workload does get very heavy at times. For me especially, I’ve been taking a lot of math classes throughout my first year so those have been more tough than my CS classes, but I’m looking forward to learning more throughout the rest of my college career.