Transfer students who want to pursue the computer science major, must have applied and been admitted to UC Santa Cruz as a proposed computer science major.
The following Transfer Screening policy takes effect in fall 2024 and will be mandatory for all transfer students entering UC Santa Cruz fall 2026 and later. Transfer students entering UCSC prior to fall 2026 are encouraged to complete these requirements, but will still be considered for admission if they fulfill the 2023-2024 admissions screening requirements.
Prior to admission, transfer students must have completed the following five courses or their articulated equivalents with a combined minimum GPA of 2.8.
Lecture/lab combinations count as one course.
All of the following*
CSE 12 | Computer Systems and Assembly Language and Lab | 7 |
CSE 16 | Applied Discrete Mathematics | 5 |
CSE 30 | Programming Abstractions: Python | 7 |
* Text corrected 9/18/24
Plus one of the following
MATH 19A | Calculus for Science, Engineering, and Mathematics | 5 |
MATH 20A | Honors Calculus | 5 |
Plus one of the following
MATH 19B | Calculus for Science, Engineering, and Mathematics | 5 |
MATH 20B | Honors Calculus | 5 |
Minimum GPA
The combined GPA in the five courses above must be at least of 2.8.
Furthermore, transfer students entering in the fall must have completed at least three of these courses by the end of the fall term of the previous academic year and have a minimum 2.80 GPA over all completed CS major qualification courses at that time.
Most courses in the computer science program at UC Santa Cruz have a strong theoretical component to prepare the student for designing, as opposed to simply using, computer systems. Often, courses taken at other institutions which emphasize applications of current languages and computers do not count toward the computer science major at UCSC.
At UCSC, computer science students are first introduced to programming using the programming language Python. The core programming sequence—courses CSE 30 and CSE 13S —exposes students to both Python and C. Many upper-division courses that involve programming use the C and C++ programming languages.
Transfer students who are not familiar with both Python may need to take a remedial course. Students familiar with C++ and Unix should find the transition to Python and C relatively simple.