Hi, I am applying to many CA schools, mainly UC’s and CSU’s, and decided to do electrical engineering as my primary major. However I am not sure for a good backup major - I am honestly interested in any engineering (did a science project on materials science and it was really awesome), physics, or CS (but have limited CS knowledge and CS is a very hard major to apply as.
Also for UC Berkeley, EE is offered as EECS, which is very difficult for admission. I am interested in EE but I would really like to get into Berkeley, it is one of my top schools (Stanford is also, but more unrealistic). I know Berkeley is a top public school in engineering, but I still want to get in. And applying to L&S will make it harder to switch into engineering. Should I apply as a different engineering major and which one? Undeclared-engineering is also very hard to get into.
With the UC’s, if you want to pursue Engineering you really need to apply as a direct admit. Switching majors especially into Engineering later can be problematic and no guarantee.
Basically, you need to decide which is more important, the school you attend or the major you will pursue. You can get a great education any of the UC’s and CSU’s. Make sure all programs have ABET accreditation for their EE program.
Apparently Berkeley EECS doesn’t have ABET, but I don’t think it’s too important, especially from a top school.
I think getting the major is more important but I still want to go to a top school. Honestly I am flexible with majors, because I am not fully sure about committing to a certain major, for now EE seems to be a good choice. I did see that Berkeley has joint majors, which seems pretty coo
I finished my apps except for my major, which I put Electrical Engineering and Physics or Materials Engineering as a backup. Not sure about Berkeley since they don’t accept alternate majors.
bump
For Berkeley, if you wind up in L&S as say a CS major and you wanted to take a bunch of Engineering courses like an EECS major, you certainly could. The only difference at the end will be a BA versus a BS degree which no one will care about.
You do have slightly better odds of getting in via L&S versus CoE. You can switch from L&S to CoE (not for EECS though) but it’s a difficult process.
Shoot I already applied as an engineering major, since i discovered the EECS/MS&E joint major, and materials seem pretty cool. Should i try to switch it L&S CS? The thing is, I am more interested in the electrical side than side.