Transferring from Another Institution & CS Sample Programs
Welcome to Computer Science at Berkeley, New Transfer Students! Whether you are just beginning your transfer journey at community college or are in your first semester at UC Berkeley, we are here to help. Find resources and information below.
CS Course transferability and equivalency
How do I know which classes I should take to prepare for CS?
Use assist.org and choose the computer science major for a list of math and computer science classes available at your school. You should plan to take all the articulated classes that are offered at your school. Some transfer students choose to attend multiple community colleges in order to fulfill more requirements since it’s common for schools to not offer all our courses.
View this list of CA community colleges that usually offer classes equivalent to CS 61ABC.
I want to transfer from a non-CA community college. How do I know if my classes will transfer?
1. It is very rare that we accept any course offered elsewhere as a substitute for CS 61A or 61C. We do not accept transfer credit for CS 70. Please read our detailed syllabi before asking for a course to be reviewed to satisfy these requirements. Here are some of the highlights:
- 61A: higher order functions, implement (not just use) objects with inheritance, declarative programming, write an interpreter for a programming language
- 61C: map-reduce project, optimizing memory-intensive parallel code, logic design of a MIPS processor
If you believe you have taken a course equivalent to UC Berkeley’s CS 61A or 61C, please contact cs-advising@cs.berkeley.edu. You should send the syllabus and any additional information about the course. The advisors will coordinate with the faculty to review the course materials for equivalency. They may deem the course fully or partially equivalent.
2. On the other hand, courses equivalent to CS 61B are more likely to be offered at other institutions; if your course was called something like “Data Structures,” we might accept it. Courses named after programming languages are rarely adequate. Here are some of the questions we’ll ask about your course:
- Did you implement (not just use from a library) a hash table?
- Did you implement (not just use from a library) a balanced binary tree (e.g., red-black tree)?
- Did you write a significant (several thousand line) programming project from scratch?
If you feel that you’ve taken a course equivalent to CS 61B, please send the course syllabus and any other course materials to cs-advising@cs.berkeley.edu.
ASSIST says that the course I took only partially satisfies one of Berkeley’s requirements. Do I still have to take the class here?
Yes. If you see the text, “Articulation subject to the completion of a university course,” this means your class is not fully transferable; this is especially common for CS 61B articulations. Please contact us at cs-advising@cs.berkeley.edu so we can discuss whether a bridge course or taking the full course at UCB is best for you after you transfer.
I took the AP Computer Science exam. Does an acceptable AP Score qualify for CS 61B transfer credit?
We no longer offer any credit for the AP Computer Science exam. If you took this exam, you’re prepared for our 61A course.
I’m interested in fulfilling upper-division requirements for the CS Major or Minor at another university. How are they reviewed?
Please see the upper division requirements page for instructions.
Scheduling & sample plans
How long will it take to graduate?
Transfers are guaranteed five semesters (2.5 years) in CDSS. Students may take 4-5 semesters to graduate. See sample plans for examples.
Which classes should I take during my first semester or two after transferring?
Assume that your first semester will be spent completing technical requirements that you could not take at your community college. Most students start in CS61A. See sample plans for more examples.
How many classes should I take during my first semester?
Since admissions decisions for this major will be based on the technical prerequisites taken at Berkeley, you must maximize your potential for doing well. We recommend that you take only 2 technical courses per semester.