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Actually officially LOCKS people into majors? Gee. I had never heard about that... I wonder what the official justification is.
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<p>It's actually more subtle than that. The problem is twofold at Berkeley. First off, all of the engineering majors are all impacted, which means that anybody who wants to switch into an engineering major, even from another engineering major, has to get compete for a spot against everybody else who is trying to switch in. If you don't have decent grades, then you won't be allowed to switch in. </p>
<p>Secondly, all of the liberal arts majors are all housed within the College of Letters and Science. If you're an engineering student, you're housed within the College of Engineering, of College of Chemistry if you're ChemE. To switch from one college into another, the destination college has to take you, which they will do only if you have decent grades. It is very easy as an engineering student to end up with "indecent" grades because of the grade deflation and nasty weeders. </p>
<p>So it's not that the College of Engineering "locks you in". It's more that nobody else wants to take you. But that's effectively the same thing - you can only switch out of your major if somebody else wants to take you, and if nobody does, then you're effectively locked in. </p>
<p>It's really something worthy of a dystopian novel. If you get bad grades in a particular major, then you're probably better off majoring in something else, but those bad grades prevent you from switching majors. In other words, the very reason why you want to leave is the reason why you're being forced to stay. Joseph Heller, call your office.</p>