<p>Hellow CCers,</p>
<p>I was wondering would it be possible to apply as a non-impacted major and switching to something like computer science if they are both in the letters of science? From a CA Community College</p>
<p>You can do it but you need to complete CS 61ABC and CS 70 with a 3.0 to get in, which is definitely no walk in the park. If you don’t, you are back at square one.</p>
<p>You should take a step back and look at yourself/your app before you do this. If you’re a CS major, and if you intend to succeed as a CS major at Cal, you need to really love CS. If that’s the path you’ve chosen, chances are your coursework, ECs, clubs, pet projects, etc all relate to CS. And when you go to write your personal statement, and write about why you chose your major, that’s going to be a LOT stronger if you actually intend to major in the thing you write about. You’re also going to need to relevant background. I assume you have back-up schools which you’ll apply to as CS, so you’ll need all the usual maths and CS classes for that. Btw, for Cal, you should take all the CS classes (and discrete math) you can, transferable or not. If you’re applying as another major, you’ll need to have all those pre-reqs done as well, and be good at them… and then throw that coursework away because it’s not for your major. Overall, your app will be more competitive if you’re committed and passionate about your major. If you’re only applying as a major because it’s easy and you want to switch out… well, your app won’t be nearly as strong.</p>
<p>(Yes, I kept saying CS because that was what you put in the original post. But if you were just using it as an example, all that stuff applies to other majors too. Love your major, make sure you’ve got the ECs/coursework/passion to back it up.)</p>
<p>Back to the original question… sure, you’d enter L&S as undeclared so you could do it if you wanted to. But you’d need to survive the 61 series and 70 with a 3.0+, and that can be tricky/stressful. I know a 3.0 doesn’t sound hard if you’re aiming for Cal… but remember that students here are just as smart as you, classes are curved, and that only ~25% of the class gets an A in lower div EECS classes. It’s a much different world than CC.</p>
<p>For anyone else googling this question in a more general sense: Switching majors after you transfer is really only do-able in L&S. Trying to do something like L&S -> CoE/EECS is basically impossible, and it’s easier to get in directly than it is to switch in later.</p>