<p>Someone on another California school's thread (no names mentioned!) mentioned the "Berkeley Engineering Trap." Something about not being able to switch out of a particular major if your grades are not great (maybe b/c you hate it?). Anyone from Cal know what this refers to? Is it true?</p>
<p>Of course it's true. Berkeley does not want underperforming undergraduate engineers and will not admit them into the other colleges if they have low grades. Many of these students are put on academic probation when their GPA drops below a 2.0 and Berkeley expel them if they do not bring it up within a semester. However, this does not happen as often as you might think.</p>
<p>If you want to switch into the college of engineering, you need to have a certain GPA/good grades. If you're talking about transferring out of engineering, then it might depend on what major you want to switch to. They say that the major you apply for in your college application is only for "statistical purposes" (an admissions officer I knew told me otherwise) so then why do you need to jump through hoops to change your major? Especially into engineering, since my friend was thinking about it only to find out that you need to have a high GPA, write essays, etc.....</p>
<p>I was referring to switching majors within engineering or, if you end up hating engineering in general, out of engineering all together into something like math, physics or something else.</p>
<p>I understand why they'd put you on probation if your GPA is under 2.0. Hopefully it's actually hard to mess up that badly. But engineering is tough, so I can easily see getting overwelmed and struggling in the 2.0-3.0 range. Is there nowhere to go from there? You have to apply to another major and no one will take you? If so, yikes. What then?</p>
<p>Hmm, well my friends that applied under Engineering Undeclared had no problem transferring to EECS when the time came. I don't know if declaring is exactly the same process as transferring or changing majors, though. I don't think changing majors is a big deal, generally.</p>
<p>^ That's because Engineering Undeclared can choose any engineering discipline after 2 years.</p>
<p>i love to play wif computers? what should i major in berkley? CS or EE or EECS? 2nd question is: is there any difference among the threes? if so, what are they. many thanks in advance, cheers</p>
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you're talking about transferring out of engineering, then it might depend on what major you want to switch to. They say that the major you apply for in your college application is only for "statistical purposes" (an admissions officer I knew told me otherwise) so then why do you need to jump through hoops to change your major?
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<p>They don't say it's for statistical purposes in the CoE. They do say that for L and S. For L and S, for all but a few majors, there is no hoop jumping, just taking two to three classes and passing them, allowing you to declare a major. The handful of exceptionc include business, economics, computer science, psychology, and mass comm, but if you're applying to l and s, as far as I know and believe, they ask what you're interested for statistical purposes. Are you saying that they are not within L and S?</p>
<p>I was talking about switching into different colleges and the "capped" majors which you mentioned. But mainly just switching into colleges. For CoE, I do believe you have to have a certain GPA and even write an essay to gain admittance if you're from another college, but I'm not sure so don't quote me on it. In that case, I would consider that "jumping over hoops".</p>
<p>"For CoE, I do believe you have to have a certain GPA and even write an essay to gain admittance if you're from another college."</p>
<p>I think that's true at other UCs too. Does anyone know if you have to have a certain GPA to switch majors WITHIN CoE? Just for a few highly desireable ones? Sorry for such specific questions. Maybe I should contact UCB CoE.</p>
<p>Seems like the ability to switch around is important and in an ideal world if a college accepts you as a young frosh they should help you find the major you like best, even if you aren't a star student at college.</p>
<p>If by desirable you mean the impacted ones such as BioE and EECS, then yes you must do well and go beyond the minimum GPA requirement to be admitted. You will be competing against junior transfer students for the same slots.</p>
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Of course it's true. Berkeley does not want underperforming undergraduate engineers and will not admit them into the other colleges if they have low grades.
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<p>Yeah, but you have to really wonder why that is and whether that should be the case. For example, can anybody come up with a good why a Berkeley physics student who has a 2.1 can still switch to any other non-impacted major within L&S, whereas an mechanical engineering student with a 2.5 will probably not be able to switch into L&S, particularly when the physics and ME majors are largely the same (especially in the lower division)? </p>
<p>The reason is that the physics student is within L&S, whereas the engineering student has to transfer over to L&S. But that's just a function of the bureaucracy. I'm asking why SHOULD this be the case? I don't think that that engineering student was doing any worse than the physics student. So why should the physics student be allowed to switch but not the engineering student? </p>
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I understand why they'd put you on probation if your GPA is under 2.0. Hopefully it's actually hard to mess up that badly. But engineering is tough, so I can easily see getting overwelmed and struggling in the 2.0-3.0 range. Is there nowhere to go from there? You have to apply to another major and no one will take you? If so, yikes. What then?
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<p>Sadly, this is something that I have been writing posts about for quite a while. The fact is, it is indeed highly possible to end up with below a 3.0 in engineering. Trust me. There are a LOT of Berkeley engineering students with less than 3.0's (and in many cases, less than 2.0's). And they will have difficulty in switching over to L&S.</p>
<p>Heck, even if you have greater than a 3.0, you're still not assured of being able to switch over the L&S. The rule states that if you have above a 3.0, your switch is more likely to be approved. * But there is still no guarantee *. The upshot is that you may indeed find yourself stuck in engineering.</p>
<p>"Please note: Grade Point Average is also a significant consideration for admission to the College. Students who meet all other criteria and have a 3.0 or higher GPA are more likely to be approved."</p>
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Seems like the ability to switch around is important and in an ideal world if a college accepts you as a young frosh they should help you find the major you like best, even if you aren't a star student at college.
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<p>That would be nice, wouldn't it? Sadly, some students, particularly in engineering, get stuck in majors that they don't really want. This is particularly true in engineering, where not only do you have to declare your specific engineering major when you apply, but (except for Engineering Undeclared), you have only constrained opportunities to switch around later. For example, if you are admitted into Civil Engineering, and you find out later that you actually prefer EECS, you can't just automatically switch into EECS. You have to * apply * to switch majors, with no assurance of approval. You may not get it, and thus be stuck in CivE.</p>
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i love to play wif computers? what should i major in berkley? CS or EE or EECS? 2nd question is: is there any difference among the threes? if so, what are they. many thanks in advance, cheers
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<p>First off, there is no formal EE major. There is CS and EECS.</p>
<p>The major difference between CS and EECS is that EECS students are basically "pre-admitted" students. What I mean by that is that all they have to do is complete their requirements with passing grades (i.e. above a 2.0), and they will receive the EECS degree. </p>
<p>CS is not 'pre-admitted'. Rather, it's a heavily impacted major within L&S. Hence, to major in CS, you first have to complete the CS lower division pre-reqs. Then you can * apply * to the major, but with no assurance that you will get in. A large percentage of students who apply to the major do not get in. Hence, there is the significant chance that you will spend a lot of time completing the lower-division CS prereqs, and then find out that you can't get into the major. Even if you do fairly decently, you still may not get in. I know a guy who got a 3.3, which is pretty darn good for CS, and he didn't get into the major. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/admissionspolicy.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/admissionspolicy.html</a>
<a href="http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/admissionsstatistics.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Peer/lowerdivision/admissionsstatistics.html</a></p>
<p>Thank you very much, sakky, for the kind response.
By the way, your SN is very similar to the famous Japanese wine name ? :rolleyes:</p>