Hello,
I saw a thread last year on info on which majors are selective/capped for freshman at all of the UC campuses but I can’t find anything about the current status. I’m taking this window of time to fine-tune my application and I remembered that some things are capped. I want to make sure I’m not inadvertently choosing something capped, when I could easily choose something uncapped.
Thank you
My advice is select the major you would like to pursue regardless if it is capped or not since there is no guarantee you can switch majors later.
In general, Engineering, CS, Biological Sciences, Business Admin, Economics, Psychology, Nursing and other STEM related majors are selective/capped. You can search each UC campus for their selective majors. Here is UCSD’s:
https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/capped-majors.html
in the abstract. apply where you want and for the major you want to study. Just be sure to include a school and program you know you will get into. Most programs at most of the UCs are really selective so, apply broadly. Without your stats its tough to give you better advice.
good luck
Thanks, Gumbymom. I was able to find the UCSD info, like you showed. But the problem is that I can’t find anything similar for the other UCs and I got the impression, based on the thread I read last year, that that info was available on the UCs websites.
Here’s the link to the post from last year, with the majors for each campus.
The reason I’m interested is because I want to apply to mechanical engineering, which is already a capped major at all the campuses (and one that, like everyone on the planet, I’m in no way confident I’ll get into).
I was going to choose physics as my second choice, but, like on the UCSD website, it is also capped. So choosing 2 capped majors would guarantee I’d be rejected and so I’d rather choose an uncapped second major, like chemistry, or even undeclared, so there’s a better chance I’ll get in. I like physics, but there are other choices I would be happy studying, too.
So that’s why I was hoping to find an updated version of the other list.
Thanks
This is last years list with a few updates:
Berkeley
Art Practice; Biological Sciences; Cognitive Science; Computer Science;Economics; Environmental Economics and Policy; Media Studies; Operations Research and Management Systems; Political Economy; Psychology; Public Health; Social Welfare; Statistics, Engineering
UCLA
Biochemistry; Biology; Business Econ; Communication Studies; Ecology, Behavior and Evolution; Economics; English; Global Studies; Human Biology and Society; International Development Studies; Marine Biology; Micro-Biology, Immunology, Molecular Genetics; Neuroscience; Nursing; Political Science; Psychobiology; Psychology; Sociology
San Diego
Biological Sciences; Data Science; Economics; Math; Physics; Public Health; Engineering
Davis
Biological Sciences; Engineering; Biotechnology; Viticulture and Enology; Managerial Econ; Computer Science; Psychology; Applied Physics; Math; Pharmaceutical Chemistry; Physics; Economics; Mathematical Analytics & Operations Research, Mathematics & Sci Computation- 2022
Irvine
Business; Nursing
Santa Barbara
Chemistry; Chemical Engineering; Computer Science; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Communications; Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology; Economics; English; Environmental Studies; Global Studies; History; Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology; Political Science; Psychology; Sociology
Santa Cruz
Biological Sciences; Chemistry and Biochemistry; Economics; Environmental Studies; Physics; Psychology; Sociology
Riverside
Global Studies; History and related; Media and Cultural Studies; Neuroscience; Biological/Biomedical sciences ; Psychology, Psychology/Law and Society; Public Policy; Sociology and related; Business Administration; Engineering
Thank you!!
And, Gumbymom, I if you don’t mind, 'm just curious how you were able to find this because I spent hours trying.
Thanks
Note, however, that at UCB, all of the above which are in L&S do not affect frosh admission selectivity, since all admitted L&S students enter undeclared. But those which are capped (capacity limited) have a secondary admission process based on college GPA in prerequisite courses (e.g. for L&S CS, you need a 3.3 GPA in CS 61A, 61B, 70), although art practice also requires a portfolio.
For non-L&S majors, the College of Engineering direct admits by major. Changing major within CoE is possible but not assured. Changing major from a different division to a CoE major is probably very difficult (and not allowed for EECS or its joint majors). The business major is mostly by competitive admission in second day after students start in another division (usually L&S), although there are a small number of direct frosh admits in highly competitive special programs.
The large biology majors at UCB (integrative biology and molecular & cell biology) are not capped or impacted; L&S students who pass their prerequisites and have 2.0 major and overall GPA may declare those majors. Cognitive science also does not appear to be a capped or impacted major.
A list of UCB L&S capped or impacted majors can be found at
https://lsadvising.berkeley.edu/majors-minors/declare-or-change-major
Thank you.
The list I posted, I found last year but not exactly sure where. I believe it was on a UC Counselor conference link another poster had linked it in a discussion
UCSD and UCD update their selective majors each year on their website (which include selective majors for transfers also). For the rest of the UC’s, I could not find any updates for this year.
Also I noticed UC Santa Cruz should also have Engineering on their list. Some how was left off.
At UCI, you can get some idea of how “full” (impacted, capped, competitive) each major is by looking at the criteria to change into each major. Majors which require higher grades or GPA suggest that they are more competitive for frosh admission. UCI provides a handy web site:
https://changeofmajor.uci.edu/
Thanks, ucbalumnus, that’s a clever way to find out at each campus.