he's fortunate he finished poly in sg. with advanced placement in his favor he stood a better chance of being fast-tracked into comp science or engineering. those majors are so much in demand that the line waiting to get in is thousands long per university. and among those waiting to get pass the 1st hurdle, which is typically ee99 which is a pre-req course in ee circuit basics, these students are some of the best and brightest out of u.s. high schools and international cohorts. with poly education in tech and engineering, your friend basically jumped through that hoop and landed right in the core years of a very tough, competitive and rigorous engineering program in uc irvine. to get in is like striking lottery for many u.s. students here.
He was a good student & back then the Spore poly had a good reputation. It was the place to go if you wanted to do technical courses.
The 70's was a good time to be in the US especially if you were into computers. As it was the beginning of the computer age.
Years later when I was looking for a university I did look at U of C but they had a very long queue. It was easier & cheaper to go to Canada