I was wondering if you can apply to different majors for the UC colleges. I currently a high school junior (class of 2021). My end of my junior year GPA is expected to be 3.89 (unweighted) and 4.165 (weighted). I want to major in civil engineering but realized that my GPA is lower than the average. The recent news of the coronavirus spreading and UC’s temporarily suspending the SAT, makes my chances of getting accepted lower. My idea was to apply as a sociology major for UC Davis (my dream school), apply as civil engineering for Berkeley, Irvine, and UCLA (also structural engineering for UCSD). I also plan to write my college essays about my passion for engineering (and maybe relate to scology). I would like to know if I can apply different majors when applying to the UC’s. If so, what is the best way to do so?
Yes, but it is likely that most do it with similar majors that are not exactly the same at each campus (e.g. EECS versus EE).
If you get into UCD as a sociology major, changing into civil engineering after enrolling has some requirements:
https://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/advising-q-a/#a1
https://ce.gatech.edu/academics/undergraduate/change-major
Will the UC’s see that I applied to Davis as sociology and the rest as civil engineering (or structural engineering)?
I am also wondering what is the easiest major to get into UC Davis? I heard from my friend that changing into an engineering major is easy at UC Davis.
The UC’s do not care which major you select for each campus so picking Sociology at one vs. Engineering will make no difference but your application shows cohesiveness.
UCD admits by the following and “easier” major is really dependent upon your interests and what are your career goals.
Admission decisions are made based upon the qualifications of the applicant pool and the number of available spaces within each academic area:
• College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences admits by college
• College of Biological Sciences admits by college
• College of Letters and Science admits by division within the college
• (Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Mathematics and Physical Sciences; Social Sciences)
• College of Engineering admits by academic department
Students applying as “undeclared” or “undeclared/exploratory” are considered within the college/division to which they applied.
My advice is if you want a specific major, apply for that major. Switching into Engineering may be easier at UCD than other UC’s, but you still need to meet the pre-req requirements and maintain a specific GPA before you are allowed to change majors.
https://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/declaring-or-changing-to-a-major-in-engineering/
You’re 100% able to apply to different majors!! I applied to 2/4 UCs as Data Science and the other 2 as Musical Theatre/Drama. Don’t worry too much about your GPA, I had a 4.03 UC weighted and I got in to 3/4 schools!! Make sure to focus on your essays, as I’m assuming that they will hold even more weight this coming application season. I wrote my essays keeping in mind both majors, and tried not to appeal to one over the other. Good luck!!
In addition to focusing on your essays, look at last year’s application and how you are asked to describe your extracurricular activities, awards, jobs, etc. That section took quite a bit of time to complete and the way you describe things is another way to sell yourself. That is definitely a section of the application that you can start working on now.