Applying as Undeclared Destroys Your Chances

<p>yes EECS is extremely popular. I was more referring to the different majors in the other colleges, like Chem and CED. My post still holds true - major doesn’t impact admissions decisions within L&S - it could in the other undergrad colleges, but only to a certain extent.</p>

<p>As for why L&S CS is no longer capped…As the CS61A syllabus jokingly says, students who simply wanted to make money all ran over to Business Administration. ;)</p>

<p>In all honesty, though…I think in some people’s mind, there’s a bit more prestige in EECS than in a B.A. in CS (this is an entirely different topic, and I’m not trying to make an argument here, one way or the other).</p>

<p>Transferring from L&S to the College of Engineering is hard, so perhaps a lot of students who are interested in CS figure they may as well try for EECS? They can always transfer out if they don’t like it.</p>

<p>Also, the competition of the College of Engineering vs. L&S isn’t all that widely publicized. I guess it sort of is, but a lot of applicants probably figure they’re all applying to the same university and their chances are the same as everyone else’s, which is sort of true to a certain extent.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Interesting… when the career survey indicates that [L&S</a> CS](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm]L&S”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm) graduates have the highest average pay of any major for 2010, considerably higher than [Business</a> Administration](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/BusAd.stm]Business”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/BusAd.stm) graduates.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>That was a significantly stronger argument back when L&S CS was capped and one had to apply with a reasonably high GPA to be able to declare that major. Getting into EECS as a freshman meant that you did not have to apply again to declare the major, as one would have had to do to declare L&S CS after getting admitted as L&S Undeclared.</p>

<p>Of course, a student who wanted to emphasize EE would prefer to do the EECS major, since L&S CS requires at least 6 upper division CS courses that someone who wanted to emphasize EE may not want to take.</p>

<p>Like I said, I’m not trying to argue one way or the other…just giving you what I think could be possible factors. You seem to be taking this whole discussion a lot more seriously than I am. :P</p>

<p>And as for CS vs. Business Administration, I meant that as a joke. That is what one CS61A professor jokingly proposed as a reason for CS not being capped any longer.</p>

<p>The EECS vs. L&S CS situation does present what appears to be an admissions arbitrage opportunity for those interested in studying CS.</p>

<p>transferring from L&S CS to EECS (or any other Engg major) is not as easy as other people think. it was discussed (on Parents’ Welcome Forum) when i attended the ROHP 3 weeks ago and my mom said one parent raised that question about that transfers or changing the declared major from L&S CS to EECS bec his son, also a regents finalist, made a mistake on declaring major, not realizing the difference. the engg host said while it is possible, it is difficult to very difficult.</p>

<p>While transferring from L&S to EECS is difficult, it only makes a significant difference (as opposed to declaring L&S CS) if the student wants to emphasize EE and does not want to take at least 6 upper division CS courses as required by the L&S CS major. A student majoring in L&S CS could still take courses like Physics 7A-7B, EE 40 (instead of EE 42), and EE 20N, and upper division EE courses, in addition to L&S CS required courses.</p>

<p>I have to say, the title “Applying as Undeclared Destroys Your Chances” is simply a croak of bull***** unless you’re referring to Undeclared College of Engineering.</p>

<p>And about the EECS vs. CS argument, both of you will end up in the basement of Soda Hall coding all day/all night long; why are you even arguing which one’s superior?</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>hahaha. Every thursday night, the room next to the hw boxes is filled with CS70 ppl trying to crack the problem sets at 2 in the morning</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Actually, no one is arguing that. What is interesting, though, is a possible admissions arbitrage opportunity for someone intending to study CS, if getting admitted to L&S is easier than getting admitted to EECS, even though the end result is being able to take essentially the same selection of courses.</p>

<p>It is possible that there are some disappointed EECS applicants who would have gained admission if they had chosen L&S instead, later to be able to declare the now-uncapped L&S CS major while studying the same thing that they would have studied as EECS majors.</p>