I’m starting the UC application and had questions regarding applying for an alternate major. What exactly is this? Is this for if you change your mind last minute or will you be sending an application to both majors even if theyre in different schools(like school of engineering or school of science ). I have this questions because I do have somewhat of an interest in other majors but they’re in engineering and I realive that it’s harder to get into schools of engineering. Should I apply to schools of engineering as an alternate major? Will it hurt my chances?
Some UC’s will use the alternate major and it is to your advantage since you may not be accepted into first choice so you can have a backup. You also can be accepted into the University first (like UCSD), then into your major; however if it is a capped major (impacted), they will always ask you to select a non-capped major as an alternate. If you do not select an alternate major, you can be accepted as undecided or undeclared and then would have to try and switch majors later. If you have an interest in an alternate major, go ahead to select it for the application.
As far as I know, it’s a waste to put an engineering major as an alternate major, even if your primary major is an engineering major. For the schools that recognize an alternate major, if you put an impacted major (essentially all engineering majors) as your first choice, put something that isn’t impacted (i.e. non-engineering major) as your alternate choice.