I am a rising senior that is applying to UCB the coming fall. I want to major in Chemistry, and I’m looking at the College of Chemistry (CoC). I have a fully weighted UC GPA of 4.14 but I have some personal circumstances to explain why it is not as high as an ideal applicant’s. I do have awards in Chem and my AP Chem teacher will write me a glowing rec. Does anyone know what the approximate acceptance rate for CoC? Should I try for Letters and Sciences instead?
When my DS entered Cal as a chem major three years ago, we were told that the CoC had about a 16% acceptance rate. A bit lower for OOS students.
@LVKris thanks! I’m a CA resident.
I would apply to L&S, I think it should be slightly easier to get into.
From what I’ve heard, it’s not that hard to transfer into it if you end up deciding that you do want to pursue a major in CoC afer all. The classes that the CoC requires you to take are very difficult, so a ton of people end up transferring out, leaving room for people that want in.
It does not look like L&S chemistry is a capped-enrollment major that requires a high GPA to declare, though you may want to ask the chemistry department to be sure. The L&S chemistry major has slightly fewer chemistry requirements than the CoC chemistry major, though you can take additional chemistry courses to make the chemistry content the same.
If you may be interested in chemical engineering instead, you may want to find out from the CoC the relative difficulty of changing to the chemical engineering major if one is a CoC chemistry major versus an L&S undeclared major.
Bumping this because I have a question. Is my UC GPA (3.59 UW/3.95 capped/4.14 full weight) too low for this school? I feel horrible about myself basically everyday for looking at these numbers because of my depression sophomore year. It just came at the wrong time, and I’m not sure how to rectify it.
I think you have a solid chance for UCB because your test scores are really high, and you have really good extra-curriculars. Your interest in chemistry is also evident due to your extracurriculars. Even though your GPA is low for UCB, you have a good reason for your low GPA, and you have an upward trend in your grades. UCB looks holistically, so your chances should be good if you apply for L&S.