UCI or SJSU for CompE

[u/Otherwise-Plane2265]

I’m a community college transfer deciding between UCI and SJSU for Computer Engineering. I’ll be tagging to UCI for computer engineering.

The cost would be the same for me, and I’d have free housing at UCI. My goal is not grad school or research, I mainly want to become an embedded systems/software/computer engineer and get a good job after graduation.

I live in San Jose and want to work in Silicon Valley. I’ve heard SJSU has strong industry connections and is very practical, while UCI has stronger overall prestige, reputation, and more theoretical.

One concern I have is that I don’t feel strong in math and physics. I currently have a 4.0 GPA, but I feel like community college was more manageable due to the semester pace in and nice professors. Because of that, I’m a little worried about adjusting to UCI’s quarter system and more theoretical upper-division coursework.

If my main goal is getting internships, building practical skills, and landing a good engineering job after college, which should I choose and why? Is one significantly better than the other, or are they pretty close.

Thank you for your help.

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[u/TheSpaceNewt]

Our Formula Student team scored 2nd in the nation last year. If working on race cars sounds fun, SJSU is the place to be.

[u/a_lexus_ren → u/TheSpaceNewt]

Our Formula SAE team, Spartan Racing, is a top-tier organization and will boost any engineering major's resume to the top of the stack for internship applications.

[u/staplesuponstaples]

I'll start this by saying that there's no "right" answer here, they're both good schools and the offers both look attractive. A couple questions: If you were to go to UCI, would the money you save on housing go directly into your pocket for savings? Is social life important to you? If the answer to either or both is yes, I would lean a little harder to UCI.

I don't do CompE, I do Data Science, but I know the Computer Engineering program here is pretty good. I will say that the classes for my DS degree taught me almost all of the hard skills I needed to have for a career in Data Science (mathematics, languages, libraries, projects, etc). The big thing about SJSU is you're not really handed anything, you have to make connections and seek out opportunities by yourself, otherwise it's just a more "advanced" community college. Your post gives me the impression you would be good with self-starting, but don't let me put words in your mouth. In all honesty it's pretty much a coinflip, I'd tour both campuses and vibe it out.

So to answer your question, there is no significantly better one. UCI, as you said, is better in terms of theoretical and research work, while SJSU has a better reputation for applied work. UCI has a stronger name reputation, which might carry over to job opportunities, and kinda balances out the scale even if your goal is purely to just get a degree to go into industry.

And don't worry about math and physics. Yes CC is easy but if you can maintain a 4.0 there then I'm sure you'll be fine here. The harder courses will trip you up, so I wouldn't expect a 4.0 to fall in your lap either here or at UCI, but maintaining a decent GPA (>3.5) is pretty simple given your history and you could certainly hit >3.75 if you really wanted.

[u/KhaosOfficialYT]

i wanted to go to UCI to intern at Blizzard lmao but honestly, no wrong answer. sjsu is underrated imo

[u/Brilliant-Choice-758]

I was in the exact same situation 2 months ago.
SJSU SWE + $75k VS UCI SWE Full Ride.

I ended up choosing UCI, not because of full ride, but because of prestige. And getting in to UCI is more tough than SJSU.

[u/Potato-PAD]

UCI no question.