People reached out to me wanting to learn about my experience with CS + Advertising at UIUC and how that is a different major than just Vanilla CS - it’s not THAT much different as I still have to take the CS Foundational classes like CS225 (DS&A), CS374 (Algos), CS421 (Programming Languages), with 2 400 CS level electives of my choice on top of advertising core classes requirements
Bro, is CS at Illinois THAT competitive?
- Bro, we are Top 5 CS program for a reason
- Very famous and established professors - heck I called Erickson for an hour to get grad school advice
- Research Park - do not sleep on this
- Flexible courses and can graduate in a timely manner
CS Advisors are very knowledgeable and want to see YOU succeed - willing to give you course recommendations and advice on anything
Can you still get a job with a CS + X degree?
- Doesn’t matter what flavor of CS you are in, you can still get SWE jobs at big girl and boy companies at the end of the day - heck I wanted to do product management and ended up at Derivatives Trading
- Fake people do CS+X since it’s notoriously hard to get into Vanilla CS and do not care about the X - you’re looking at a 20% admit rate for CS + X v 5% for Vanilla CS
- ONLY apply to CS+X if you have a GENUINE interest in the +X part of your major or you will have a hard time
If you go to UIUC, I suggest you looking into Research Park and attending the events they have. For more information, look at https://three-offer-082.notion.site/Guide-to-Research-Park-v1-0-e6c44cbf18da49f6b47c48f54414d31f
What CS electives did you take during your time in undergrad?
- CS465 - love all things UI design and complemented my interest in product management. Professor Bailey is an AMAZING professor and always has interesting takes 🙂
- CS416 - Coursera class and did it during the summer because I transferred to CS+ADV from another college earlier on. Data visualizations kinda cool
Did you take any advertising electives?
- Nope! Really liked the classes that were offered in my major.
- Top 3 Advertising Classes
- CS468 - Tech & Ad Campaigns
- ADV461 - Computation Advertising
- ADV284 - Branding Strategy
You Mentioned you transferred to CS, how did you do that?
- Made a plan with ADV and CS advisors
- At the end of the day, the people who have a say in your application are the folks in both CS advising and folks in the +X program
- Leverage the writer's workshop and get essays proofread by multiple people
- Take a look at my application here:
Advice for essays
- You have X words to express your passion for the major
- Illustrate your knowledge of the field - use terminology from your courses
- Share relevant and contemporary experiences related to the major
- Don't waste words on what courses you’ve taken or restate the obvious
- Tell us who you are beyond the numbers; why do we want you in CS+X
- Creativity is encouraged…capture our attention in the first few sentences!
- Make sure to have your essay proofread at least once
Can you review my CS admission apps?
- Let’s schedule a Costco chat and we can dive into specifics on how you can optimize your application of getting into UIUC CS