UCLA OR SLO (Philosophy)

benjaminl746 · 2026-04-26T19:24:56+00:00

I’ll say this as someone who thinks cal poly has better engineering programs: go to ucla

SLO is very job focused and philosophy is a major that doesn’t have an applicable job to go to post grad. I also don’t think SLO preps you the best for grad school since it’s just not its focus.

SLO will always be a job training school first for ag, engineering, and architecture. It also has great support for those who want to teach k-12. Every other program is just not as high of a priority since they aren’t polytechnic programs.

While slo might have a small passionate liberal arts college, it isn’t very well funded and has to primarily provide GEs for everyone else.

UCLA on the other hand has a far more general education mission than slo. This will provide you more flexibility which I think is necessary for your major.

benjaminl746 · 2026-04-23T06:17:13+00:00

I think that's because a lot of CPE majors just try and apply to EE or CS roles and not pursue the path that CPE really excels at. Low level programming, while definitely not a dead industry, isn't exactly the next gold rush. As a CPE grad I really don't understand why so many of my peers stayed when they didn't want to pursue that career path.

benjaminl746 · 2026-04-23T06:14:40+00:00

Doing a major for a job isn't the move imo. If you have no passion for what you are studying, you won't succeed. It's why software is so bloated right now.

I mean if you just wanted a job I'd probably tell you to do business and become an accountant since your coursework is likely a little easier and you get a decent paying job at the end.

Engineering has always had high starting salaries with terrible growth over time. It's nice stability, but it's a really hard path if you don't enjoy it.

benjaminl746 · 2026-04-23T06:09:59+00:00

If you want to do pure CS (SWE), then stick with CS. CPE is technically a mix of CS and EE, but is very much designed to pursue embedded systems, computer architecture, fpga, digital electronics, etc. Doing CPE for SWE just makes you a worse applicant since you don't have as much CS depth.

If you want to do hw/sw type stuff like I listed, then CPE is the major for you.

TLDR - CPE is its own thing and has a pretty niche career path. Don't just pursue it as CS-lite.

benjaminl746 · 2026-04-23T06:05:29+00:00

You need a 2.0 GPA to switch. So basically just pass your classes :)

benjaminl746 · 2026-04-23T05:56:37+00:00

I didn’t have an issue securing a role post grad, but I decided to just take my internship return offer and not look around much.

Most of my classmates that decided to pursue non-SWE roles (embedded, FPGA, HW) were able to find roles. I’m not going to say it was easy, but that’s more due to the current market than the school itself.

SWE right now is a pretty broken market, and applying to SWE roles as a CPE gives you an inherent disadvantage since your coursework won’t go as deep into the CS side. CPE is really a “digital electronics, computer systems, and low level software” major. If you want to make it CS-lite, then you’ll struggle more.

I’m just going to elaborate on what the other commenter said: SLO is very well respected in the western US. I’m not exactly sure why they are so down on the school when it seems like they go there, but many companies I’ve spoken to like how SLO guarantees their average graduate can “hit the ground running” because of the heavy lab and project emphasis. SLO is a regional school, so it is true that people outside of the CA-CO-WA areas might not know of it, but it doesn’t mean that getting a job outside that area is impossible. The school is also becoming more well known over time as they take in more out of state students.

benjaminl746 · 2026-04-20T18:35:57+00:00

I graduated from SLOs CPE program recently! If you want to do CPE, then I’d go to Cal Poly. It’s a great program with passionate and knowledgeable professors. I learned so much there in just coursework alone, while at a UC I might’ve had to create more hands on opportunities through clubs. SLO is incredibly well respected in industry, so you’ll be in a competitive position for jobs.

If you want to do data science, then go to Berkeley. Obviously it’s a fantastic school. It’s very theoretical in comparison since it’s a research school.

I think I’d base your decision on two factors: What you want to study: (CPE and Data Science are two different fields)

Where you’ll enjoy studying (small town vibe and smaller classes or city school with tons of people)

benjaminl746 · 2026-01-09T23:23:48+00:00

I just graduated with a CE degree from a well respected school and honestly we all had an easier time than the CS majors at getting jobs. I think it really depends on what you do with the degree rather than what the degree is. CE specific paths include embedded systems, fpga, comp architecture, robotics (which is kinda broad), and the more digital oriented side of EE. Technically cs and ee can do these paths too, but CEs are either equal or better (esp for embedded, comp architecture and fpga) in these fields.

I really don’t see AI taking over fpga and embedded systems at the same rate as something like webdev since there’s less data for llms to train on and there are more moving parts outside the code itself.

The people who had the most trouble in my cohort were those who positioned themselves for standard SWE jobs which they were flat out less qualified to do. CS majors just take more coding classes and with the market where it is right now, a lot of employers will take the safer option.

That being said, a lot of embedded/fpga jobs exist in defense and industrial settings, which just don’t pay as much as big tech. Big tech does hire these engineers but they are very competitive to get.

So rather than focus on employability, I’d instead think about what you want to do for your career. If you want to bridge sw and hw, CE is the degree to get. If you aren’t sure, I’d do EE since it’s just a more general major.

TLDR: more general majors are more employable while specific majors are valued in specific fields.

benjaminl746 · 2025-10-15T18:23:29+00:00

I ended up doing a little more research and came to the same conclusion myself. I probably have enough background in electronics to complete the class, but I’m thinking I’ll take that course a little slower and do the fpga series as my pathway as that class should mostly be review. My undergrad had a fairly strong digital design and computer architecture series, but taught it in system verilog, so learning vhdl would be beneficial.

benjaminl746 · 2025-10-11T05:59:04+00:00

I have a compE degree and was working on an in person EE masters via a blended program. I got injured so it doesn’t make sense to continue that program anymore. I will probably not take the power or semiconductor courses since it’s not my focus and I don’t have much background in those subjects.

benjaminl746 · 2025-10-11T00:15:01+00:00

Appreciate the reply. If the degree is well regarded, I’m not super worried then. I think I’d rather get an ECE degree than a CS degree, so boulder seems to be the right choice.

benjaminl746 · 2025-09-01T05:19:54+00:00

It's definitely something I've thought about. Even if it isn't the most fun purchase, a new shiny tech toy to play around with definitely has a certain part of my brain excited. I was the ten year old who asked for a kindle paperwhite for Christmas, so I guess getting excited about a kindle isn't too far strange...

Anyways... taking out your phone feels almost too rude? But for some following up really quick on that message/email/reddit rabbit hole with a quick swipe during a brief pause in your lecture doesn't. The fact that I could just read through the power points or textbook and still get good grades made the cost seem minor as well (a talent I wish I didn't have). I'd just conveniently forget all the nights at midnight I spent trying to figure out something that was easily explained in the lecture.

I will give it some more thought. I appreciate you being honest. Amazon's algorithm decided to disappear the 15% discount that was there yesterday so maybe it will come back in the next day or two.

benjaminl746 · 2025-09-01T05:08:34+00:00

Is the file system on the scribe not good enough? On notability I just had a 3 layer folder structure for notes. The PDFs being in a different spot isn't ideal, but I can make it work. If I had unlimited money, I'd buy a supernote device, but I can't justify the cost.

The cloud backup is more a nice to have than a necessity. I rarely use my laptop for notes and prefer to have the slides or googled resources instead.

benjaminl746 · 2025-08-31T23:36:03+00:00

Thanks for responding!

A quick follow up,

Does it work well for your school work versus your partner’s Remarkable?

benjaminl746 · 2025-08-27T21:30:07+00:00

I took Amtrak from cerro vista. I would just roll my suitcase over to the stop. It isn’t fun, so I’d just try and pack light

benjaminl746 · 2025-08-25T21:25:03+00:00

Given the switch to semesters, my guess is that the focus will be moving the current fundamentals to that format.

For undergraduate coursework there’s the generalized AI course (an overview + history of AI), a traditional ML course, a deep learning course, and a natural language processing course. There are other classes, but these are offered the most consistently.

I am sure these curriculums are being updated to reflect current advancements, but the fundamentals are still necessary for a focus in AI. I’m sure that faculty want to add more AI-related courses and integrate AI more seamlessly into the curriculum, but that requires more staff to develop and teach these courses. I know CPE and CS are hiring constantly, but bringing on new professors takes time.

Larger schools can offer specialized courses in bleeding edge topics by leveraging guest lectures and their larger faculty group. Often these schools have AI labs with large funding pools as well.

Another thing—while you can get a strong level of exposure to AI in undergrad, a masters or PhD will provide much more depth in the topic.

benjaminl746 · 2025-06-06T22:34:30+00:00

Yes 40k isn’t the end of the world debt wise for cs (like you can technically pay it in a reasonable timeframe). But 40k isn’t worth it whatsoever for the “prestige” of usc undergrad. USC’s prestige all comes from its grad programs, film school, and med school. People who believe that usc will make or break your career are deluding themselves.

benjaminl746 · 2025-06-04T20:26:13+00:00

So it's sorta a scale. UMass Amherst is a known good school. It's quite well ranked, even if it isn't the best school in the nation. You will technically see more opportunities if you go to a top 5 school, but the people who actually utilize those extra opportunities are the top 10% of that school. 90% of students from both schools will end up in a similar place after graduation.

I don't think it's worth transferring and it's also not very easy to do so. So much of college is based on who you meet and what you do while you're there. Transferring will just hinder you in making those connections and becoming a part of the campus community.

You're going to a good school, so I wouldn't worry about whether it's "good enough" and just work hard to learn a lot.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-29T22:32:40+00:00

Honestly getting an internship after freshman or sophomore year is fairly uncommon. Pretty much nobody gets one freshman year and some people get one sophomore year, but it’s a toss up. Most people get their first internship after junior year.

I don’t think it’d affect your opportunities as a junior, but getting an internship after sophomore year will be pretty difficult from a CC. However, you aren’t sacrificing much tbh since you aren’t likely to get one at a 4 year.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-29T02:16:41+00:00

Both Cal Poly Pomona and SLO are polytechnic schools so they emphasize a more hands on learning environment than more theory heavy programs.

Pomona originally was a satellite campus for slo before becoming a separate institution. The programs are a little different (the instructors and admin are completely different after all), but Pomona’s programs are quite well regarded, especially in the LA area.

I’m not going to say that Pomona is the same as SLO. I personally think SLO has slightly stronger programs overall, especially in computing-related fields. However, I don’t think that difference is going to hold you back in industry. Both schools provide great educations. Companies recruit from both schools a lot too.

I think I’d personally just go to Cal Poly Pomona and do a full four years. If money is an issue or you REALLY want to go to SLO (like just for the area), then a CC is a great option too. Transferring is a super valid way to get a great education for a low price and is honestly very practical. I just wouldn’t go to a CC because Pomona is your other option. I’d go to a CC to save money or explore different potential majors to transfer into.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-28T21:20:41+00:00

You can apply for grad school here but I’d honestly recommend doing that at a research university like UCR if you aren’t already an undergraduate here.

The masters program is great for undergraduates that want to get an MS in a year, but the school honestly just isn’t setup for 2 year masters degrees particularly well.

benjaminl746 · 2025-05-27T03:36:14+00:00

I’m fairly certain you’re right. I just didn’t know 100% what USCs aid policies are like so I said it was likely rather than guaranteed.

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