I chose Biological Sciences as my major. I know it is a capped major at UC Davis. Do I have a chance to get in as undeclared and then switch to a different major that is not capped? Also, is it possible to switch majors at this point on the UC Davis portal website?
Did you list an alternate major besides Biological Sciences?
This is UC Davis stance on alternate majors:
There is a chance they may consider you for your alternate major.
You would need to call admissions to see if you can change majors after your application submission.
@kyzumi what major are you considering changing into from Biology?
Sadly I put Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, B.S. as my alternate major which seems to be a slightly less impacted major but it seems to be about the same. I was looking to browse the offered majors again and perhaps pick a less slightly selective major than both of them that allows me to still take the pre req for premed. Is there a major you would recommend if I am able to change it?
The College of Biological Sciences admits by college so if you want them to consider an alternate major, it should be in another college. You could change to Undeclared Life Sciences but you need to contact admissions to see if this is possible.
Here are the majors in the College of Biological Sciences:
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Major)
Biological Sciences (Major)
Cell Biology (Major)
Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity (Major)
Genetics and Genomics (Major)
Marine and Coastal Science—Marine Ecology and Organismal Biology (Major)
Microbiology (Major)
Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior (Major)
Plant Biology (Major)
Undeclared—Life Sciences
Okay, this does make more sense to me now. However, I’m still unsure about the difficulty of getting into one major than another one in the same college. Do you know how much harder it is to get into Biological Sciences than Undeclared - Life Sciences based on recent years at UC Davis? It is probably too late to change it, and if I won’t be able to get into UC Davis, I’m probably going to my cc for two years and then apply as a transfer to a UC again. Thank you again for the help.
There is no data available by major for UC Davis to determine the difficulty since they admit to the College and not the major. You should assume all majors are competitive for the College of Biological sciences. If you are admitted you will be placed in your first choice major, but you can change majors fairly easily within the College after your acceptance.
It is worth a try to see if you can change your major but you are still competing with all the majors listed for the same College. The majority of undergrads are Biological Sciences majors, followed by Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior then Biochem/Molecular Biology.
Wait until all your decisions are in before making plans to attend a CC. Decisions will be out in March which will give you plenty of time to figure out the next steps.
In the meantime, enjoy HS, the Holidays and hope for the best.
@kyzumi most STEM majors start with a year each of biology (BIS 2ABC), chemistry (2ABC), math (17ABC) and physics (PHY 7ABC). Those courses are not restricted and anyone in any major can enroll in them. You can look at cognitive science in L&S as an alternate major but make sure you take all of the upper div pre-med requirements that are not required for cog sci. This website has a lot of helpful information https://hpa.ucdavis.edu/medicine