<p>So all the college reps from the UCs that visited my high school this year said that UC's don't admit by major but instead by college (ex: Engineering, L&S) and that any major within the department has no impact on admission. As everyone starts getting back their admission decisions this year I can't help but wonder that their information is a stretch from the truth. I was told biology was extremely difficult to get into for UCLA and so I applied undeclared and was rejected yet I was very confident I would get into UCSD so I applied as a biology major anyway and sure enough easily got in. Some less qualified applicants I know of also got into UCLA for random/rare L&S majors which makes me wonder if I should have simply put one of the underrepresented majors down instead. So far I have only been rejected from UC's that I have put down undeclared L&S for out of peer rumors and simple assumptions. I did so because the UC reps that visited my high school emphasized major did not matter so I thought undeclared would not hurt my chances. Now I am wondering if applying as undeclared really does lower your chances because they hold you to a higher standard since if you gain admission you can choose your major. Anyone want to chime in on this? Does major within the department matter for admission purposes? I know the "official word" from the colleges is that it doesn't, but what is the reality? Not everything is as simple as it seems. I applied to Cal undeclared so it is worrying me slightly. Thanks in advance CC.</p>
<p>Note: This is not for transfer applicants, I understand that for transfer applicants the major is extremely important, but this thread applies to freshman applicants only.</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters which major you declare within the college (and unless they’ve changed something, you can’t apply to individual majors within colleges at Berkeley anyway). Some colleges are, of course, more difficult to get into than others.</p>
<p>Applying undeclared doesn’t hurt your chances. You can switch majors just like that once you get into the College of Letters & Sciences. You can apply as a philosophy major and then switch to computer science the first day you are there without having to ask anyone!</p>
<p>i don’t think that’s true. i applied to UCLA as undeclared-social sciences and undeclared-engineering and applied science as my alternative, and I got in as undeclared-social sciences. and I think I was on the edge of acceptance… SATs: 2110 SATIIs: Chem-760 Lit-740 GPA: 4.55 weighted, but i have very few extracurriculars and awards. So, I don’t think I was a for sure acceptance, but undeclared didn’t hurt my chances</p>
<p>It is likely specific to each campus and college / school at each campus.</p>
<p>For example, at Berkeley, all admits to the College of Letters and Science enter as Undeclared, and do not declare a major until generally sophomore or junior year after completing prerequisites for the intended major. With some majors (“capped” majors), one has to apply to declare the major. The same is true if an L&S Undeclared student wants to declare or switch to a major in some other college or school (e.g. College of Engineering or School of Business Administration).</p>
<p>However, applicants to Berkeley’s College of Engineering apply to a major, or Engineering Undeclared. Selectivity varies depending on which major one applies to.</p>
<p>Applying undeclared does NOT hurt your chances within L&S. I can assure you this is completely true - Berkeley is not lying to you. Different colleges have different acceptance rates (e.g. College of Engineering and College of Natural Resources are more competitive than L&S), but different majors do not.</p>
<p>You got rejected from UCLA and accepted to lower UC’s. It sucks, but it happens to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. Don’t try to rationalize it with this made up theory.</p>
<p>phew! I feel so much more relieved after hearing this! I applied to UCLA and UCSD as a biology major and have been accepted to both. But I applied to Berkeley as undeclared/L&S, so I was worried that my chances would be ruined. thanks for all of the clarification!</p>
<p>Wait, so are you guys saying that the major does not matter? I’m really scared right now because I applied under an engineering major but not to the college of engineering. Or maybe I did because I simply indicated that my major was Bioengineering next to UCB. I am so confused because if it is based on major I am screwed. My stats are too low.</p>
<p>Major does NOT matter for admissions to the College of Letters and Science (everyone comes in undeclared).</p>
<p>Major DOES matter for admissions to the College of Engineering, College of Chemistry, probably others as well (you are automatically declared when you come in).</p>
<p>So if they are fairly equally difficult to get into, why would the major you picked have any impact on your decision? Just wondering because I applied to CoC…</p>
<p>Well, they probably have a limited number of slots for each of the three majors. So, for example, if by chance the ChemE applicants are slightly stronger than the ChemBio applicants, a ChemBio applicant might get in ahead of a ChemE applicant that is actually stronger. This is different from the College of Letters and Science, where they do not account for major in their decision.</p>
<p>When you apply to Berkeley, you apply to a specific college. Admissions are - to a certain extent - affected by the college you are applying to.</p>
<p>In L&S, everyone comes in undeclared, even if you picked a major you are interested in on the application. Therefore, it does not matter what major you pick on the UC app if it is within L&S. Berkeley officials have repeatedly stated this fact - it is completely verifiable - so don’t panic. There is no strategy to picking a major when it comes to L&S.</p>
<p>In the other undergraduate colleges (CNR, CED, Engineering, Chemistry), it does matter what your major is, as you do NOT come in undeclared. That being said, you can apply undeclared to the College of Engineering last time I checked. Applying undeclared to the College of Engineering tends to be very competitive.</p>
<p>Despite all this, it is not worth worrying about. The majors within these colleges (non-L&S) don’t tend to differ significantly in popularity, and as others have mentioned, you do have to transfer between majors (and colleges), so “strategically” picking your major usually winds up being more trouble than it’s worth, if that makes any sense.</p>
<p>tl;dr: Admissions are based on the college you are applying to. If the major you listed on your app is in L&S, don’t worry. If it’s in any of the other 4 undergrad colleges, still don’t worry, but realize that the competition may differ. Last year, L&S’s acceptance rate was a bit over 26%. College of Engineering and CNR’s rates were about 18%.</p>
<p>It’s part of Haas, the business school. You apply during your sophomore year at Berkeley. Haas isn’t normally included as part of the list of undergraduate colleges, because it is - at its core - a graduate school. It just happens to offer an undergraduate degree. Other graduate schools do similar things - for example, the graduate school of education offers an undergraduate minor in education.</p>
<p>The Colleges of Environmental Design and Natural Resources also have greatly different numbers of students in the various majors.</p>
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<p>Seems odd that L&S CS is no longer a capped major, given the popularity of EECS and the apparent emphasis on CS among many EECS majors. Someone whose high school stats would make Berkeley EECS a reach may find that applying to L&S gives a better chance of admission[li], without too many impediments to eventually majoring in L&S CS.</p>[/li]
<p>[*] Though there is a possibility that this may not be true, if the College of Engineering applicant pool has significantly lower stats than the L&S applicant pool, even though it may have more applicants per admissions spot than L&S.</p>
I applied to UCLA and UCSD as a biology major and have been accepted to both. But I applied to Berkeley as undeclared/L&S, so I was worried that my chances would be ruined. thanks for all of the clarification!</p>