Major How Does It Affect Our Applications?

<p>Is it harder for students to get in if their majors are chemical engineering?</p>

<p>or what about sociology?</p>

<p>Its harder if you apply to an impacted major. My friend and I had identical stats. He didn't get into Berkeley engineering but I got into L&S undecided. </p>

<p>Usually this applies to mostly engineering majors as they are probably the only majors that end up making above 40k a year after college.</p>

<p>Harder than majors in L&S? Yes. Harder than majors in CoE? No.</p>

<p>Chemical engineering is in the College of Chemistry. If you want an easier time with admissions, apply as L&S then transfer during your first semester. It's a guaranteed transfer. One of my suitemates just did it last week.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Its harder if you apply to an impacted major. My friend and I had identical stats. He didn't get into Berkeley engineering but I got into L&S undecided.

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</p>

<p>can you share your friends stats? give us a basic idea of how hard CoE is to get into.</p>

<p>and 40k? really? i thought berkeley degree is prestigious</p>

<p>major in L & S and play it safe, unless your stats are extremely good.</p>

<p>
[quote]
and 40k? really? i thought berkeley degree is prestigious

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</p>

<p>See for yourself. Here are the 2005 salary figures.</p>

<p><a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/CarDest/2005Majors.stm#salary%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/CarDest/2005Majors.stm#salary&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>To put that in perspective, here are the 2005 salary figures for Princeton.</p>

<p><a href="http://web.princeton.edu/sites/career/data/surveys/CareerSurveyReport2005.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.princeton.edu/sites/career/data/surveys/CareerSurveyReport2005.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
major in L & S and play it safe, unless your stats are extremely good.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Actually, I would say that if you really want to play it safe, you may want to apply to the College of Natural Resources, as I suspect it may actually be easier to get into the CNR than into L&S.</p>

<p>wow I thought bioEs make more than that</p>

<p>It's all about the money huh...</p>

<p>is interdisciplinary studies...probably the easiest major in letters and science, to transfer into?</p>

<p>i figure if everyone finds out interdisciplinary studies is easy..then wouldn't a bunch of cowards apply and switch later? which isn't fair, bc i'm truthfully interested in that major..</p>

<p>
[quote]
wow I thought bioEs make more than that

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</p>

<p>Yep, BioE's get screwed over. Which is why I think that people shouldn't be majoring in BioE. You should do it only if you really like it. After all, you can get a related engineering degree like ChemE, ME, or even EECS (as most medical devices have electrical components), while tailoring that criteria to include lots of BioE-related courses, as well as complete BioE internships and research. But by getting a traditional engineering degree, you open the possibility of getting yourself a traditional, high-paying engineering job. Even if you end up taking a bioengineering job anyway, you can still use the fact that you have a traditional engineering degree as leverage during your salary negotiations because you can say to your employer that if they don't pay you more, you will just find a traditional engineering job that will pay you more, and since you have a traditional engineering degree, that threat is actually credible. In contrast, if you have a bioengineering degree, then bioE employers know that there really is nowhere else you can go, so you have no bargaining leverage. </p>

<p>If some of you are wondering whether you can pursue a BioE career if you don't have a BioE degree, take a look at the Berkeley BioE faculty. As you can see, a lot of the BioE faculty are actually 'joint' faculty, meaning that their primary affiliation is with another department. For example, Jay Keasling, who is Discover Magazine's Scientist of the Year, is really a chemical engineer who also holds a joint appointment in the BioE department. But at the end of the day, he's really a chemical engineer. His PhD is in chemical engineering. He teaches ChemE courses. He was tenured through the ChemE department. So his whole background is really in ChemE. Yet I highly doubt that anybody would accuse Keasling of not being an authority on BioE. </p>

<p><a href="http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/faculty.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/faculty.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
is interdisciplinary studies...probably the easiest major in letters and science, to transfer into?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Except for the impacted majors, it doesn't matter which L&S major you choose for the purposes of trying to transferring in.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Except for the impacted majors, it doesn't matter which L&S major you choose for the purposes of trying to transferring in.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Wrong. Majors in L&S are divided into groups in terms of admissions. Arts & Humanities within L&S has a 45% admission rate. Social sciences within L&S has a 23% admission rate. Undergraduate and interdisciplinary studies has a 40% admission rate. </p>

<p><a href="http://students.berkeley.edu/files/Admissions/Transfer_07.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://students.berkeley.edu/files/Admissions/Transfer_07.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I encourage people in the future not to make affirmative statements unless they know what they are talking about.</p>

<p>g1a2b3e said:

[quote]
Quote:
Except for the impacted majors, it doesn't matter which L&S major you choose for the purposes of trying to transferring in. </p>

<p>Wrong. Majors in L&S are divided into groups in terms of admissions. Arts & Humanities within L&S has a 45% admission rate. Social sciences within L&S has a 23% admission rate. Undergraduate and interdisciplinary studies has a 40% admission rate. </p>

<p><a href="http://students.berkeley.edu/files/A...ransfer_07.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://students.berkeley.edu/files/A...ransfer_07.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I encourage people in the future not to make affirmative statements unless they know what they are talking about.

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</p>

<p>Note: That's only for transfer students, not for students applying in high school, just in case high school students read this.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Wrong. Majors in L&S are divided into groups in terms of admissions. Arts & Humanities within L&S has a 45% admission rate. Social sciences within L&S has a 23% admission rate. Undergraduate and interdisciplinary studies has a 40% admission rate. </p>

<p><a href="http://students.berkeley.edu/files/A...ransfer_07.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://students.berkeley.edu/files/A...ransfer_07.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I encourage people in the future not to make affirmative statements unless they know what they are talking about.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>What I meant was pertaining to people who are already in Berkeley (but not in L&S) and are trying to transfer colleges. </p>

<p>I encourage people in the future to try to clarify what people mean before going around slamming them. I am quite certain that my knowledge of Berkeley compares quite well to yours.</p>

<p>Ok, sorry for being a bit cold. It's good we made it clear so everyone can understand and not get confused.</p>

<p>haha you guys are funny</p>

<p>man i hope interdisciplinary studies isn't too hard to get into..good to know their department within L&S has a 40% admit rate lol</p>

<p>i hope i'm not underestimating this major's noncompetitiveness...</p>

<p>*shut up about that not being a word</p>

<p>crud, i already applied as chem e major
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh</p>

<p>so???</p>

<p>if thats your major waht are you crying about?</p>