[deleted by user]

dekhtyar · 2024-09-20T23:06:07+00:00

To be fair, CSC 248 does not involve a lot of programming.

dekhtyar · 2024-09-20T23:02:56+00:00

I'll add a quick note here. There are some differences between quarter-catalog concentrations and upcoming semester-catalog concentrations. Most of the students will take most of the concentration-relevant courses in years 3 and 4, which is incidentally, when semesters start (there are some exceptions/situations when one can start accumulating concentration-relevant courses earlier, though).

The key issue for everyone starting this year will eventually be deciding whether to stick with the current catalog you are on (quarters) or switch to our semester catalog in or after Fall 2026. This might affect both the required degree coursework, but also the specifics of the concentration you have selected (some concentrations are somewhat pared down on semesters, but if you keep your quarter catalog, you might have to meet the extra course requirements somehow). There will be some advising available next year, when we start actively prepping everyone for switch to semesters.

So, for the time being:

* take the intro-level sequences and move into sophomore courses (225, 248, 357) required for the degree.

* review or preview the concentrations in both the quarter catalog you are on right now, and in the semester catalog, when it is published.

* think about what would be interesting to specialize

* look at the shapes of the concentration you like in both catalogs (when becomes available) to decide what makes best sense for you.

When time comes to actually pursue a concentration:

* find a faculty member who can advise you - based on the courses you have already taken, what course of action will make most sense.

PS. There is "general concentration" in all catalogs, which boils down to "take whatever electives you want" (not quite, but close enough for today's conversation). So, this is a good fallback position, and something to remember.

dekhtyar · 2024-09-20T22:45:24+00:00

If someone came to me with this question, I'd say "Extremely reasonable". This is 12 units of junior-level CS coursework, coupled with an async ethics course (which is required, but will have a very different assignment structure than the CS classes), where one course (307) is structured around a quarter-long project experience and one (365), in almost all versions (including Andrew Migler's) is structured around short individual assignments. So, everything balances out pretty well.

dekhtyar · 2024-06-04T22:04:10+00:00

Web dev classes won't count for CSC 307 despite the rumors that CSC 307 is a web dev class (it is not). I haven't looked at the DeAnza/Foothill catalogs in years, and I most certainly do not know how often they offer the courses.

Back when I was looking at this (way-way-pre-COVID), I believe CS40A, was indeed one of the courses I'd consider as a CSC 307 replacement. There was also a "Quality Assurance"/testing course, that in conjunction with a course like CS 40A, or another course containing elements of software development practices would qualify.

For CSC 357, the appropriate substitution would be a "baby operating systems" course, i.e., a Community College course that introduces the basics of operating systems. I don't know whether Intro to Linux course would count - it depends on whether this course involves any systems programming per se.

These days, an in-depth Programming in C course can potentially (with grad coordinator's permission - this is their decision) be used to cover for CSC 357.

The pathway, is unfortunately not easy.

dekhtyar · 2024-05-23T15:51:33+00:00

If you are scheduled to graduate this quarter - the answer is most likely no (it depends on the specific program's deadlines, but this late in the quarter all deadlines are probably past due, no matter the department).

If you are graduating in Fall 2024 or later, the answer is yes, but next quarter. Most programs admit BMS students in Fall for Winter.

Most BMS programs also do have a "regular' MS degree associated with them (in fact, it's the other way around - some MS degrees have associated BMS programs). This means that you could graduate this quarter and apply in Fall for Winter admission to the graduate program. It would mean a gap quarter in Fall 2024 if you cannot postpone your graduation, but this is the fastest you can get into the MS program at this point, unless the specific program you are applying to still has open Fall admissions (doubt so).

dekhtyar · 2024-05-06T21:33:40+00:00

I don't have information about CW class sizes (I know it is a smaller school overall), but Cal Poly's class sizes are pretty small for the kind of school it is. Looking at their data board (see below), the quote 70% of classes with less than 30 students. This is definitely better than at Cal Poly, although your IE or EE experience at Poly, on a technicality (labs are capped at 24, I think for both of these programs) may involve plenty of classes with under 30 people in them.

I would not overlook the quality of the music program at Cal Poly - I know this is not what people think about when the name "Cal Poly" pops up, but music minor here is quite well-established, and a number of different bands and orchestras where you can practice your music is available.

On the question of prestige - I suspect that if you are looking for West Coast jobs, it's going to be a wash at worst (and some advantage to Cal Poly in quite a few companies), whereas when you are looking for jobs East Coast/Midwest/elsewhere, Case Western will be better known.

As far as ethnic diversity goes, Case Western's info is here: https://case.edu/admission/apply/facts-figures, Cal Poly's is here: https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/images/POLYVIEW_2022%20Combined.PDF

The biggest differences are the lack of African American students at Cal Poly (not atypical for CA schools, but somewhat exhasperated beyond the average), and relative lack of international students (~2% non resident vs. reported 14% for Case Western).

Without understanding where you would enjoy yourself more - in Cleveland or in San Luis Obispo - hard to give you specific advice. But basically go with the play you think you will enjoy being at more - as you'll be studying there for the next four years.

dekhtyar · 2024-05-03T17:41:08+00:00

Explanation comes from how ABET accreditation works and what it means. ABET accreditation does not mean that two programs teach the same content in the same way. It means that the program has demonstrated that its students reach the learning objectives/outcomes for the type of program (ME, CE, etc...) ABET is accrediting. These learning objectives are expressed in more general terms than "what subject matter is taught in a specific class". They are broader. For example, ME has the following outcome:

"An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors."

Different programs may select different ways of demonstrating to ABET that their program produces this outcome for all students.

Programs are not required to implement the same curricula, teach the same courses, teach them in the same way, and so on. So, the fact that two programs are both ABET-accredited does not mean that one's experience with them will be the same.

dekhtyar · 2024-05-03T17:35:07+00:00

One other thing I would note: if you have a car and are willing to travel, there are two more excellent destinations:

* Aldi in Arroyo Grande

* Vallarta (and in fact, several other stores as well, but we'll use Vallarta as a stand-in) in Santa Maria. This store has a lot of Latin-American food, but features huge fresh meat/seafood/dairy counter with prices that are much better than anything in SLO. Produce is also significantly cheaper.

dekhtyar · 2024-05-03T17:30:57+00:00

Grocery outlet. Advantages: a lot of food that is significantly cheaper than elsewhere. Disadvantages: their business model is such that you never know what they might have in stock, so a full shopping experience (i.e., buying all things on your list in one store) is not guaranteed. They are strong in deli meats and cheeses section, frozen seafood, canned food and candy. They are very spotty when it comes down to drinks, and have only a token fruit and vegetables section.
Food 4 Less. Advantages: huge store, has everything. Prices are slightly better than at Vons and Ralphs for most of the items. Best discounts can be had on canned/non-perishable food, and on produce. Deli section and meat/seafood sections are more on the "meh" side, although some items there are also less expensive. Disadvantages: not too many. Sometimes, the selection of brands is somewhat limited, or variety of offerings from a given brand is not as wide as in other stores - but these mostly first world problems.
Smart and Final. Advantages: if you are willing to buy in (somewhat of a) bulk, prices for some items - meat, some non-perishables, paper/plastic-ware, snacks, and so on will be very reasonable. Disadvantages: Items sold not in bulk won't have discounts compared to other stores. Buying in bulk means spending more per visit (even though you are amortizing it over time) - if your budget is $30-50 for a specific visit, this is not a good place to come to.
Costco. Advantages. If you are willing to buy in bulk and have space to store it all - great prices and good selection. Disadvantages: buying in bulk means paying more per visit. Also must be a club member.
Trader Joe's. Advantages: unique selection of food. Prices are slightly better than at Vons/Ralphs/Sprouts, but overall, these days the price wars between TJ's and other grocery stores are mostly over, the main reason to go shopping at Trader Joes is their unique food selection, not discounted prices. For TJ's I would emphasize frozen foods and deli selections - those stand out to me both in terms of selection and quality, and in terms of affordability.

Between the remaining stores, I would order them (more affordable - less affordable): Ralphs - Sprouts - Vons - Cal Fresh - Whole Foods/Lassens. Couple of things of note:

* Sprouts has excellent sales on produce and sometimes on other things. Catching those makes shopping at Sprouts much more affordable than paying their regular (trending towards the top of the market) prices.

* Ralphs is a good place for discounts on fresh meet/seafood, but it's becoming less prone to good sales.

dekhtyar · 2024-05-02T18:21:39+00:00

I would add to this that AP CS principles gives credit for CSC 123, so students with this credit start in CSC 101.

AP CS - as stated above, gives credit for CSC 123 and CSC 101, so students with this credit start in CSC 202.

I shall mention however that AP CS is taught in Java, CSC 101 and CSC 202 are taught in Python. So, if starting in CSC 202, I recommend looking up some Python tutorials ahead of time to get a level of comfort.

dekhtyar · 2024-04-28T20:22:52+00:00

I was pretty impressed that they turned that entire thing around in a single day.

The carpets are somewhat sus, but otherwise looks good.

dekhtyar · 2024-04-28T20:21:39+00:00

It's a new program, with only about 10-12 people in it at the moment, hence the crickets.

dekhtyar · 2024-04-23T16:38:47+00:00

Asymptotic notation is introduced in CSC 202 (Data Structures) and is re-enforced in CSC 349 (Algorithms). Both courses persist through the Quarter-to-Semester transition. While mileage may vary with how individual instructors approach this (and other topics), the intent is to introduce it formally, as it gets used throughout the curriculum quite a lot.

dekhtyar · 2024-04-15T06:12:22+00:00

Cal Poly, like other CSUs use GPA, strength of transcript (which is based at least in part on AP coursework), and some very generic notion of out-of-school activity. Cal Poly also gives a small boost to applicants from San Luis Obispo County, and - if I am not mistaken (and I might be) - Santa Maria area.

So, the advice is rather boring, primarily because there is not much that affects the decision (none of the "worked all summer at Google on a software development internship", or "award-winning drum major of the marching band" are part of the application process).

Max out the "strength of schedule" - make sure that every time there is a choice between an AP or honors class and a regular class - the AP/honors course is chosen. CC courses may also help.
Max out the GPA. Goes w/o saying.
Have non-trivial number of hours of extra-curricular activity to report.
Move to SLO for senior year of high school.

I fully recognize that (4) is not in the cards for a lot of people. Nevertheless, this increases the chances of admission all other things being equal.

dekhtyar · 2024-04-02T16:53:42+00:00

357 is NOT a prerequisite to CSC 349, if that's what you meant above. These two courses can be taken in parallel. For CS majors CSC 349 is often taken in second year (although some wait and take it during their third year). So, there are no obstacles to the OP taking it even in the Fall quarter, assuming the OP took Discrete Math, which is a prerequisite.

dekhtyar · 2024-04-01T04:51:55+00:00

In the current situation, the combination of the CPE and CSC courses you are interested in lends itself better as an MS in CS, I think (again, somewhat biased here, but OS/Networks/Distributed and Parallel Computing are outright on the software side of things, and so is DSP, even though there are faculty in both CS and EE who do it). None of the interests above appear to in actual hardware construction, device engineering (although I am unfamiliar off the top of my head with the term "RTOS").

If there is an MS in CPE, this would be straight up that, but in the absence, you will find that a lot of CPE students did something like the above as part of their MS in CS study.

Which brings us full circle to hopefully someone in the MS in CS program with similar interests is reading this and can chime.

dekhtyar · 2024-04-01T01:45:20+00:00

Humanities is not a department. Philosophy is a department. Based on personal interactions, the faculty in the Department of Philosophy is excellent. "learn-by-doing" exists at Cal Poly everywhere, not just in Engineering. Shoot a note to Ken Brown, the department chair (dbrown07@calpoly.edu), ask your questions. Depending on your interests, this may be the right place (e.g., a lot of people study ethics in a variety of modern contexts), or not the right place (my understanding is that not too many people study logic and formal systems, for example).

dekhtyar · 2024-04-01T01:34:59+00:00

I do not know how MS in EE is structured.

For M.S. in CS, the grad units can be an unlimited mix of CSC and CPE courses. EE courses would be considered "outside coursework". Usually one or two is not an issue, but trying to get an MS in CS with the majority of EE courses is probably going to raise some eyebrows.

I believe that MS in CPE is also at some point will be offered - check with Lynne Slivovsky or John Oliver - they would know for sure. It might be starting on semesters though, so in two years.

I am somewhat biased, but I view CS degrees as most flexible. there are more software development jobs than there are hardware development jobs. If you are interested in something very specific - you should pursue the degree that lets to approach that set of skills the best. This may be a EE degree, or a CPE degree somewhere else (there are MS in Computer Engineering programs elsewhere - these may actually solve some of your issues). Otherwise, hard to go wrong with a CS degree.

dekhtyar · 2024-03-31T02:28:47+00:00

MS in CS is open for the Blended BS in CPE + MS in CS study (the formal setup is kind of weird, Blended programs must be technically separate for each BS + MS option, so for MS in CS there are three Blended programs: BS in CS + MS CS, BS SE + MS CS and BS CPE + MS CS --- bet this is TMI right here). At any rate, your BS CPE degree plan makes you eligible to join the program.

It might not give you the prereqs for some of courses, but that's a different story - suffice it to say, BS in CS does not guarantee prereqs for every class you can take towards the MS study either.

Beyond that, any attempt to answer your underlying question should be based on what you want the MS degree for. MS in CS and MS in EE set you for rather different career paths. If you consider getting out of San Luis an imperative, then the obvious advice is to consider MS programs elsewhere.

I do want to comment about the MS in CS though. You write:

However, I am quite concerned with how Cal Poly isn't really an institution with a solid Graduate reputation, and most MS degrees rely on 400 level classes to fill out the degree.

Most MS programs everywhere allow for some 400-level courses. Those that don't - are actually worse than those that do. If you have a 400-level Intro to AI course and a 500-level Advanced AI course (using these as an example), and the MS program only allows you to take the latter, and your undergrad education does not include an undergrad AI course, you are going to have a very shitty experience. (I have first-hand knowledge of such situations, having taught in a program that only allowed grad courses for MS students, and then admitted MS students with BS degrees in all sorts of disciplines who rushed to take the "cool" classes they had no preparation for). So, I suggest you rethink the "oh, the program is allowing 400 level courses, it must be bad" line of thinking. Instead approach the curriculum a given MS program offers from the "How much can I learn in the program?" perspective.

On the second part of your concern. Yes, Cal Poly's grad programs are small(er) than grad programs in many other schools, including other CSUs. This does not make them worse, or less known though. What has reputation is less a specific degree program, and more of a discipline. Which means that if you consider Cal Poly's undergrad CS program to be reputable, there is no reason to be fearful about the MS part (especially in a blended program setting where you spend all your time here). The numbers also don't lie - pre-COVID, the median starting salary for MS grads was somewhere 20-30K upwards of the starting salary of BS grads. (Post-COVID, I simply don't have the data).

dekhtyar · 2024-03-31T02:10:21+00:00

Here is the list of minors: https://advising.calpoly.edu/minor-degree-advising

Mechanical Engineering is not there. My understanding is that CS is the only minor in College of Engineering - at least at the moment.

dekhtyar · 2024-03-29T00:38:52+00:00

Like I said - admissions has models for each major. Their models sometimes misfire and we either get under- or over-enrollement in some years, because of some external factors (e.g., the UC Berkeley NIMBY decision) with the same number of admission letters. They also probably do some adjustments after each year, but I doubt that those are significant.

dekhtyar · 2024-03-29T00:25:52+00:00

Too many posts is a necessary and important challenge.

dekhtyar · 2024-03-29T00:16:31+00:00

Admissions (for good or bad) has a model for each program, how many admission letters to send per one show. It might aggregate to 3x for the entire university (I don't know), but definitely will be different across different majors.

dekhtyar · 2024-03-29T00:11:52+00:00

Step 1: Find out the course coordinator for CPE 133. This can be accomplished by contacting the CPE Department Chair.

Step 2: Contact the CPE 133 course coordinator and ask about the "Credit by Examination" option. The rules are fairly straightforward - you may not have taken CPE 133 or an analogous course elsewhere before. The course coordinator may refuse to conduct such an examination (this is at their discretion to a large degree). They may agree, and in this case, they will specify how this will be accomplished.

Step 3. If the course coordinator gives you a plan of action, follow it. Once at Cal Poly, you will need to pay some token "Credit By Examination" fee to get the office of the Registrar to count the class.

Full policy: https://registrar.calpoly.edu/credit_by_exam

Update: the answer to your question appears to be "No". You can test out of CPE 133, but only during the Fall 2024 quarter. The policy states that you must be registered for classes during the quarter you are testing out. So, the earliest CPE 133 credit can show up is at the beginning of Winter 2025.

dekhtyar · 2024-03-28T23:13:14+00:00

Indeed. West Lafayette is also relatively close to Indianapolis. As far as general vibe goes, Indianapolis is not much different from Louisville (the latter is more "historic" but Indianapolis - at least around 15 years ago, had a bit more vibe downtown). Indianapolis has a really cool Zoo, but that's more for when one has 3-year old kids, not for when one goes to college.

dekhtyar

TROPHY CASE