In order to be admitted into the Computer Science: Computer Game Design major, students must be listed as a proposed major within the School of Engineering. Please refer to https://undergrad.soe.ucsc.edu/major-qualification-requirements.

Transfers to the program should consult the Transfer Students section of the Baskin Engineering Undergraduate Affairs page.

In addition to being listed as a proposed School of Engineering major, admission to the Computer Science: Computer Game Design major is based on the following criteria:

Students with no prior programming will take CSE 20 before CSE 30 and CSE 12. Students with a prior programming course, Advanced Placement (AP) examination credit, or clearing the "Test-out" bar will start with CSE 30, and CSE 12.

Students have to complete all the foundation courses to qualify for the major

Students are required to take

And one of the following calculus courses

And a core programming sequence to include one of the following group of classes

A GPA of 2.8 must be obtained in the foundation courses attempted at UCSC.

Declaration of the major can happen no sooner than the student's second quarter, and no later than the campus deadline.

No more than 7 credits of C-, D+, D, D-, F, or NP coursework are permitted for foundation courses. 

Denials of admission to the major may be appealed by submitting a letter to the School of Engineering Undergraduate Advising office, addressed to the computational media undergraduate director within 15 days from the date the notification was mailed. The appeal letter must describe why the prior performance is not an accurate reflection of the student's potential. Within 15 days of receipt of the appeal, the Undergraduate Advising office will notify the student and their college of the decision.

Students should submit a petition to declare by completing the petition for major/minor declaration form as soon as they complete the major qualification courses or reach their declaration deadline quarter, whichever comes first.

Students petitioning when the campus declaration deadline is imminent (i.e., in their sixth quarter, for students admitted as frosh), will either be approved, denied, or provided with conditions (e.g., completion of some courses with certain grades) that will be resolved within at most one more enrolled quarter, even if they have not completed major qualification courses.

There are five steps to declaring a BSOE major. For a detailed guide to this process, please consult Baskin Engineering's Declare Your Major website.

The following courses or their equivalents are required prior to transfer, by the end of the spring term for students planning to enter in the fall:

and one of the following courses

A minimum GPA of 2.8 must be obtained in the courses listed above.

Transfer students entering UCSC in Fall 2021 or earlier may use MATH 19A and MATH 19B; and CSE 14, CSE 15, and CSE 16 as their qualification courses. A GPA of 2.8 must be obtained in these courses.

If transfer students are admitted for the winter quarter of their junior year, they must have completed ARTG 80G and ARTG 80H before coming to UCSC.

In addition, completing all but one of the following courses prior to transfer is recommended to ensure timely graduation:

Prospective students are also encouraged to complete the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) or to complete all UCSC general education requirements before matriculation. If time permits, they may take the equivalents of additional major required courses beyond the core programming, computer systems and mathematics courses, especially those that develop a foundation in building and understanding games and other forms of interactive media.

Transfer students may declare the major at any time after coming to UCSC by following the steps in "How to Declare a Major."

Please note that most major courses have a strong theoretical component to prepare the student for designing, as opposed to simply using, technical and game systems. Often, other institutions' courses that emphasize applications of current programming languages and authoring tools do not count toward the major at UCSC. For specifics on the BSOE's transfer student policies, please see Baskin Engineering's Transfer Students website.