Alternative Majors

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

Hi! I’m filling out a transfer application but came across a section where we can choose alternative majors.

I’m a business student and hope to major in accounting, business administration, business economics, or economics. Initially, I was going to apply for my #1 choice then apply for a similar major as an alternative major. It appears that a few campuses discuss how we can apply for alternative majors, but say that we need to choose something completely different from our main major:

Example: **UCLA/b [url=<a href=“http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_tr/ADM_CCO/tap_alt_mjr.htm%5Dlink%5B/url”>http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_tr/ADM_CCO/tap_alt_mjr.htm]link[/url] Your alternate major must be within the College of Letters and Science, and cannot be one of the following highly selective majors: Pre-Business Economics…, Pre-Economics…
= I wanted to apply for Pre-Business Economics, and put Pre-Economics as an alternative major.

Example 2: UCSB [url=<a href=“http://admissions.sa.ucsb.edu/apply/transfer/selective-majors%5Dlink%5B/url”>http://admissions.sa.ucsb.edu/apply/transfer/selective-majors]link[/url]
All economic majors must…When completing an application for admission, applicants intending to major in economics should select an economics major as their first choice major. Applicants who would consider studying in an alternate field and who want the greatest opportunity for selection at UCSB, should consider selecting an alternate major outside of the Department of Economics. Students who are not admitted to economics may be admitted to an alternate major, but should expect to complete their degree in the major to which they were admitted.
= Originally, I wanted to apply for Pre-Economics & Accounting major and select Pre-Economics as an alternative major. This is against their recommendation.

[br]

This confuses me. I fulfilled transfer requirements for business majors as they were roughly similar throughout a few UC campuses. If the UC wants us to apply for majors outside of our desired major, we would likely need to complete additional coursework.

Questions:
Is it better to leave alternative major choice blank? Would it be ill-advised to go against their recommendation (of choosing a completely different major)? For what reason is this alternative major option available?

2

UCB does not accept alternate majors. UCLA does only if you’re in the TAP program and the alternate must be in L&S.

3

If I select Pre-Business Economics for UCLA with TAP certification, would I be prohibited from selecting Pre-Economics as an alternative major?

I’m confused because it seems they give us this advantage of applying for an alternative major, but as transfer students, we most likely fulfilled requirements towards a specific major.

4

Yes, you can select Pre-Econ as an alternative major, but you probably won’t be considered for it since it’s impacted. Whether you want to complete additional coursework to be considered for an non-impacted alternate major is totally up to you. Math/Econ at UCLA for example has some overlap.

I saw your other thread too and was pretty surprised how fast time flew by. I was in your shoes last year and applied to the exact same schools (UCR,UCSB,UCI, UCLA) under the same major because I wanted to do accounting. I wish you the best of luck and if you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them.

5

No you cannot select Econ as an alternate:
http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_tr/ADM_CCO/tap_alt_mjr.htm

6

@Gary101 Thanks! May I ask why you chose to tag UCR? Were there determining factors? I’ve been contemplating between UCSB’s Economics & Accounting major and UCR’s Business Administration (with accounting concentration). Both schools are not AACSB accredited for accounting, but I heard many firms recruit on both campuses. There’s the added benefit that UCR admits transfers directly into the major whereas UCSB admits as pre-majors. What do you think about these two? What school did you ultimately decide on?
@Ohm888 I see, thank you. I will have to see if I fulfilled requirements for other majors or leave it blank. Thanks for your help! :slight_smile:

7

If you’re not in the Honors Transfer Program/Scholars Program and your alternate major is in the College of Letters and Science it will not be considered thus your admissions would be all or nothing based on your main major?