With the increase in students that many of the UCs were required to take on the past few years (mandated by the state) coupled with the over-enrollment issues being seen at many of the campuses (Irvine and Cal Poly, for instance), I have wondered how this has impacted the quality of education at those campuses. My D17 wanted a smaller LAC environment so ended up not applying to any of the UCs as the ones we visited all felt way too big for her. My S2O, however, is not opposed to a larger school and is a big sports fan so would prefer a school where students do care enough to attend games to cheer on the teams (so not the case at D’s LAC). And as a CA tax-payer, I certainly would not be opposed to paying in-state tuition at one of our fine public institutions. So while I was very happy to hear that the UCs were opening up more spots for instate students, however, it would be naive to think these changes do not have any adverse impact on the quality of education the students are getting. Forced triples or quads are one thing (annoying since its not like you are getting any discount in your room fees, but not a deal-breaker), but I would love to hear feedback from any upperclassmen or their parents on their academic experiences and any impacts they may be feeling due to the recent increase in students. If you haven’t noticed any adverse impacts, I would love to hear that as well. Thanks!
Most of the UCs have been over-crowded for a while and it’s not like they are taking in 20% more students in a single year and most have been adding facilities a little at a time (making many of them perennial construction zones - which isn’t fun for students). For a transfer student, things like dorm stacking and huge freshman GE lectures won’t be an issue. Most of the UCs are HUGE and pretty impersonal - which is great for some and not for others. Housing around all the UCs except Merced is scarce, and therefore, expensive.
Campus tours when classes are in session will give him a feel for what they are like on a day to day basis.
What are your son’s stats and intended major?
The stories I’ve heard are along these lines:
- At competitive UCs, if you're not in the major, you might have trouble getting into certain classes (e.g. intro CS classes)
- At Cal Poly, there are rumors that it can be hard to get needed classes, requiring summer session for some (summer quarter is a full-scale quarter at Cal Poly, fortunately)
- I've heard people from SF State say that they can't get the classes they need
My belief is that if you plan carefully, and are willing to make compromises (e.g. wake up for an 8 AM discussion session or lecture), and don’t try to pull off low-probability stunts (e.g. switch from undeclared major in Letters and Science to Mechanical Engineering or Computer Science in the College of Engineering), then you will not be overly bothered academically by overcrowding.
(sorry for the run-on sentence)
Cal Poly is adding 1400+ beds next Fall when they open their new dorms. According to the housing tour we took over the Summer, the goal is to have all Freshmen and as many Sophomores/upperclassmen as possible live on campus.
Thanks for the feedback. He is only a sophomore, but has no idea what he wants to study but definitely NOT engineering or CS. How difficult is it to switch majors outside of the School of Engineering?
This depends on the major being switched to and the campus.
For example, biology, math, and physics are capacity-limited majors at UCSD, but not at UCB. So undeclared UCSD students may need to meet a high GPA or go through a competitive admission process to enter one of these majors, but undeclared UCB students just need to pass the prerequisites with C or higher grades to enter one of these majors. On the other hand, other majors like psychology and art practice are capacity-limited at UCB but not UCSD. Some majors like economics and computer science are capacity-limited at both UCSD and UCB.
Majors are capacity-limited to ensure that there is enough space in upper division courses for students in the major. Hence, taking upper division courses in those subjects as a non-major is unlikely.
@Lemonlee, at Cal Poly they just refer back to your academic statistics from your original application to see if you would have been accepted in that major in the first place. So basically, students should just apply to the major they really want and see if they can get in. If students are truly undecided, then they should apply to the most selective major they might want because it is much easier to move down the selectivity scale than up.
@AMCdad and @ucbalumnus - thanks, that is extremely helpful. It sounds like the CA public schools would be a great option for a kid who has a pretty clear idea of what he is interested in studying, but not so much for the kid who has no idea. I guess we will have to wait it out to see where he falls, but tbh, it’s hard for me to see the average 17 year really knowing that given the limited subjects/potential fields of study that they’ve been exposed to.
Based on various tours and orientation events at UCs over the past year, I think it’s extremely common for students to change majors. The problems come when you spent freshman year taking humanities classes and then decide you want to be a bio major. But switching from philosophy to global studies, to English–these kinds of changes are pretty easy to pull off.
It is asking a lot for a 17 year old to know what he or she wants to do. But on the other hand, it can be a waste of time and money to go to college without at least some idea of where you want to end up. This is part of the process-committing when you have to, but making strategic choices to keep open the most attractive options that you can identify…
@Lemonlee, I don’t think all of the CA publics are the same when it comes to switching majors. Cal Poly is probably one of the more restrictive schools. They require all applicants to declare a specific major when applying and then follow a set protocol for changing majors. Other schools allow students to come in undeclared and have fairly simple major-switching guidelines. You really have to take it school by school.
It is worth noting that most majors at UCs are not capacity limited.
UCB’s list of capacity limited majors in the College of Letters and Science is here: https://ls.berkeley.edu/advising/planning/schedule-planning/choosing-major/high-demand-majors . Note that other divisions, like the College of Engineering, have their own criteria for changing into the majors.
UCSD’s list of capacity limited majors is here: https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/capped-majors.html
UCI’s change of major criteria are here: http://changeofmajor.uci.edu/ . You can check whether any given major requires a high college GPA to enter, indicating it is up against a capacity limitation.
For any given major at any given campus, you can look up the department’s requirements to declare or change into the major.