<p>for engineering major, most of UCs require around 3.2 to be qualified or at least compete with people. If all of your math, engineering courses and physics GPA is not 3.2 average ( excluded all the GEs or whatever other classes are), there is not that many chances. On the other hand, if you have good GPA in your major area, and those GE courses pull your GPA down, you can still get into like UC Davis or something. State is not a bad system, if you graduate from state university with 3.5 and up average, companies still love you as much as they do to UC students.</p>