Is it wise to apply for different majors for different UCs?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

First off, I would like to apologize for now and for the future. Until March, I may be blowing up the UC discussion on CC.

I have a wide interest in biology, but obviously there are many sectors to such a broad subject. Tentatively for my first choice majors, I have chosen Human Biology (UCSD, UCSC), Neurobiology (UCD), Molecular/Cell Developmental Biology (UCLA), and Biological Sciences (UCI, UCSB). Is this a better approach then just picking Biological Sciences at every campus I apply to? And does it even matter what major I choose if it’s biology related?

2

There is nothing wrong in applying to different majors at each UC campus as long as you have interest in the subject. There is no bad or good approach when it comes to selecting majors as long as you know there may be limitations if you end up switching majors at some of the campuses. Also some UC campuses consider alternate majors, so I would select an 2nd choice preference on the application.

3

@Gumbymom thank you, but what sorts of limitations would I be facing in the case that I want to switch majors in the same college (i.e College of Letters and Sciences)?

4

I did not specifically refer to switching majors in the College of L&S. I was making a blanket statement stating that if you start off in L&S and decide to switch to an Engineering major, then there are some hurdles and limitations that need to be overcome. Also Biology is not always in the College of L&S. At UCD and UCI, they have a College of Biological Sciences that houses the Biology majors.

5

@Gumbymom sorry I meant College of L&S as an example. But I get the idea. Thank you.

6

If those are the majors you genuinely want and don’t plan on switching out of right away then yes.

7

In terms of changing majors, whether it is difficult depends on whether the new major you want to change to is filled to departmental capacity.

8

Each UC campus evaluates your application separately so the majors can be completely different and you should just pick the one you want to do if you went to a particular campus. For example D18 applied for ballet at UCSB and UCI, but for environmental science at UCB and UCLA (they don’t have good ballet programs so were academic backups). She got into all four, with Regents at UCSB and UCI.

9

@Twoin18 do you know anywhere that I can find information for the best programs for majors at each UC? Thank you for the information and congratulations to your daughter.

10

@Aneem00 I’m not sure how you would define “best” and I think that is a very individual decision. Look at the website to find out which courses appeal, or better yet, contact the department and set up a visit to the campus and try to sit in on a class. And look at what the pre-requisites are that you would need in order to declare a particular major.

But some (most?) campuses don’t discriminate in admissions by major between any applicants within a particular college (e.g. L&S) so then it wouldn’t make a difference to your chance of admission (unlike my D18 where she wouldn’t have easily been able to change between ballet and env sci, and where the academic competition for a place was probably a bit less intense for ballet, but you had to pass a dance audition).

My S18 was like this, he applied for PoliSci at UCLA, but his first year will be all gen ed and pre-requisites and so he has plenty of time to think about how he might specialize or what he might add as a double major.

11

You can start looking at rankings for what other’s consider “best” at each UC campus, but rankings do not tell you the whole story. I agree with @Twoin18, that best is up to the student. You need to find the program that fits your criteria.

Academic World Rankings are below for the UC’s.

UC rankings in broad academic areas:

Natural sciences and mathematics

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UCLA
  3. UC Santa Barbara
  4. UC San Diego
  5. UC Irvine 51-75. UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz 76-100. UC Riverside

Engineering-technology and computer sciences

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UC Santa Barbara
  3. UC San Diego
  4. UCLA 50-75. UC Davis, UC Irvine

Life and agricultural sciences

  1. UC San Francisco
  2. UC Berkeley
  3. UC San Diego
  4. UCLA
  5. UC Davis 51-75. UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz 101-150. UC Riverside

Clinical medicine and pharmacy

  1. UC San Francisco
  2. UCLA
  3. UC San Diego
  4. UC Berkeley 51-75. UC Davis 101-150. UC Irvine

Social science

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UCLA
  3. UC San Diego
  4. UC Irvine 51-75. UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara 151-200. UC San Francisco, UC Santa Cruz

UC subject rankings:

Mathematics

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UCLA
  3. UC San Diego 51-75. UC Davis 76-100. UC Irvine 101-150. UC Santa Barbara

Physics

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UC Santa Barbara
  3. UCLA
  4. UC Santa Cruz
  5. UC Irvine 51-75. UC San Diego 101-150. UC Davis 151-200. UC Riverside

Chemistry

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UCLA
  3. UC Santa Barbara
  4. UC San Diego
  5. UC Irvine
  6. UC Riverside 51-75. UC Davis

Computer science

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UCLA
  3. UC San Diego
  4. UC Davis
  5. UC Irvine 51-75. UC Santa Barbara

Economics

  1. UC Berkeley
  2. UCLA
  3. UC San Diego
  4. UC Irvine 51-75. UC Santa Barbara 76-100. UC Davis
12

Regarding changing majors within the same college, go to each school’s website and figure out exactly what college your biology major will be in. For instance at UCSB you will be in the College of L&S. At UCD you would be in the College of Biological Sciences. Each college at each school will have different requirements to change majors.

Generally, it is pretty easy to change majors within the same college but it is more difficult to change into a major in a different college, especially if the other major is capped (ex.Public Health at UCSD). At most schools, it is difficult to change majors into the College of Engineering (ex. Biomedical Engineering).