I’m a high school junior, planning to major in BioMedical Engineering or Computer Science Engineering… I’m getting worried about choosing a major that is competitive and would lower my chances of getting in. Unfortunately, my choices are capped or at least obviously competitive. For reference, I’m mostly looking at UC’s, USC, and Claremont McKenna colleges. My grades are strong in STEM except I got a B in math next semester (yikes, I know), and my extracurriculars include robotics, jcl, girls who code, & track. so like 50% stem… But nothing is too strong… Would anyone advise me to apply with a more unpopular major just to get in and change it once I’m there, or should I just go straight into it? Can you be accepted to the college but rejected from your major? If so, then can you apply for that same major again? If not, then it should be advised to get in with a less popular major, right? For those colleges, does anyone know if it’s easier to change within similar disciplines (i.e. change Engineering major but not from Journalism to STEM), or if the issue of capped majors aren’t so evident? I’m planning to call the counselour or something from those colleges, but I haven’t yet…
You have to be careful with chaining majors once accepted, but it can be a good plan if used correctly. Make sure the major you want to change to is in the same academic college as the one you get in as. This varies by school so do some digging.
For example: Say you apply to XYZ University as an English major, but you want to change to Chemistry. Both are in the College of Arts/Sciences, you just fill out a form and that’s it. Major changed. However, if you were to switch from English to Engineering, you would be going from the College of Arts and Sciences to the College of Engineering which might mean you have to basically apply again.
Bottom line is it’s tricky and varies a lot by school.