how much of an impact does your selected major have on your chances?

Applying to College
1

<p>well, for the ucs mainly. here are the uc's that i applied to and the majors that i selected.</p>

<p>berkeley - neurobiology
davis - biological sciences (atmospheric sciences as an alternate)
irvine - biological sciences (physics as an alternate)
la - biology (biophysics as an alternate)
sd - physics/biophysics (biochemistry/chemistry as an alternate)
santa barbara - biological sciences (physics as an alternate) </p>

<p>do any of these majors affect my chances at getting into those schools? i already submitted my app but i can still change. i know about ucsd and the impacted majors and the majors that i selected were not impacted at all...</p>

2

<p>bump…</p>

3

<p>come on guys… do my chances really go down if i apply with these majors. i know i can switch so i wanna be sure that my chances go up by switching majors…</p>

4

<p>I think you have a mistaken impression of how major selection works. There are cases in which you can just switch majors at will. But in those cases, you will be admitted undeclared, so the major you put on your application means nothing. With impacted majors, it’s going to be HARDER to transfer in than it would be to get in as a freshman.</p>

5

<p>of course it does!</p>

6

<p>Depends on the school. Some admit all students using one standard, others use direct admits to programs with different standards.</p>

7

<p>* of course it does! *</p>

<p>Actually, in general, it doesn’t (except typically for Engineering colleges). I’m not sure why there is constant confusion about this:</p>

<p><a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp?id=56&navid=N[/url]”>http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp?id=56&navid=N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For applications to the College of Letters and Science, Natural Resources and Environmental Design, no consideration is given to the indicated major in the review process.</p>

<p>[UC</a> San Diego Comprehensive Review Admission Process: Freshman Selection, Fall 2010](<a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/prospective-students/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/freshmen/process.html]UC”>http://www.ucsd.edu/prospective-students/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/freshmen/process.html)</p>

<p>The campus does not select students on the basis of academic major or choice of UCSD undergraduate college.</p>

<p>[Freshman</a> Selection - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/frsel.htm]Freshman”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/frsel.htm)</p>

<p>*For the College of Letters and Science, the applicant’s major is not considered during the review process. *</p>

8

<p>thank you rc251 for clearing this up for me! i wasnt sure whether or not i should declare biology related majors since its really popular among UCs. i was confused initially because i was thinking about the impacted majors at ucsd and i think some tour lady from over there told us how much harder itll be for us to get into ucsd if we applied to impacted majors. with that said, i thought the same would happen among the other ucs…</p>