How much more difficult is it to get into an impacted major? (Mechanical Engineering) for UCSD

I would like to be an environmental engineer, but seeing as UCSD’s EnvEn program isn’t as great as the rest of its engineering programs, I was thinking about majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Environmental Studies. I’m gonna be a senior in hs next year and I meet or exceed most of the average admissions qualifications like GPA and SAT and such. However I’m not sure if I can get in for MechE since it’s impacted, so I was wondering how much more rigorous are the admissions for this. Thanks for your time.

UCSD accepts you into the University first and then into your major. If you are at or above the average in Stats, then you are a competitive applicant. Spend time on your essays this summer and make them great. Also make sure you select and alternate major that is non-impacted if you really want to attend UCSD. If you do not get into your first choice major, they will try to accept you into your alternate. I would also suggest you look into their Structural engineering major with a minor in Environmental studies. My younger son’s friend plans to pursue this route and although Structural engineering is impacted, it is not as competitive as ME.