<p>Does picking a certain major improve chances of getting into Berkeley? For example, if I applied for Political Science, would it help me gain admittance to Berkeley more than another major, like Mechanical Engineering?</p>
<p>In a word, yes. If you want to go to Berkeley and don’t think you have the stats to be admitted to a competitive major (ie. Engineering), then applying for a less competitive major would be a good idea. However, you are going to need good stats no matter what as Berkeley is tough to get into regardless of the major you choose.</p>
<p>You’re applying to a college first and then, once you are admitted, you apply for the major. You would be applying to the College of Letters & Sciences if you select Poli Sci. About 80% of all Cal undergrads are in L&S. It’s much easier to get into than the College of Engineering.</p>
<p>Exactly… That’s what I meant! Good job CalBear2009!</p>
<p>What about College of Chemistry?</p>
<p>Read this link… From what I understand, it looks like you would be applying to the College of Chemistry. I believe that is harder to gain admission to than L & S. It’s not as hard as the College of Engineering, but it is still hard. </p>
<p>[College</a> of Chemistry - University of California at Berkeley - Freshman Admissions](<a href=“http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/prospective_undergrad/admission/freshmen.php]College”>http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/prospective_undergrad/admission/freshmen.php)</p>
<p>would it still be possible to get into the College of Chemistry if I have high grades, high SAT scores, high AP scores in general, but not so high scores in AP Chem, AP Calc, or AP Physics?</p>
<p>College of Chem has a 30-some% admittance rate, though the catch is, you can’t leave the College until your sophomore year, so you’ll have to endure the Chem 4 series.</p>
<p>anon5524485: I read in the link above that you only have to stay in the College of Chemistry for 1 semester.</p>
<p>You know, there aren’t any guarantees. There are no short cuts. If you want to get into the COC or COE, you have to have high grades and test scores among other things. Also, if you didn’t do well in AP Chem, AP Calc and AP Physcis, perhaps this isn’t the area for you??? My son is an Engineering Undeclared major for next year. He is seriously thinking about Chemical Engineering. You really should be very, very strong in math and science to consider either field.</p>
<p>No, I don’t think so at least. Everyone told me not to put the major I did because it was considered as a really difficult major (at any school). But I got in and I definitely did not have the typical stats. That being said, I also got a supplement which helped.</p>
<p>Well I wasn’t really talking about getting in… That’s the easy part. I was thinking more along the lines of staying in and enjoying what your are studying. Just food for thought…</p>
<p>I think you’re over analyzing this…There are four colleges at Berkeley: Engineering, Chemistry, Natural Resources, and Letters and Sciences (L&S). Each of these four colleges admit students independently with different admittance rates. All colleges except L&S (not sure about Natural Resources) require that you declare a major when applying to Berkeley and specifically to that college. Within that college, each major has its own admittance rate so in a given college some majors are easier to get into than others when applying directly to that college. For example, in the College of Engineering, the two hardest majors to get into are Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering. For L&S, all admitted applicants are undeclared so your choice of major makes no difference. If you are admitted to L&S, which I believe is the easiest college to get into, you can switch colleges and majors later on when you have fulfilled certain prereqs with a “sufficiently high” GPA (This varies with depending on the major you’re trying to switch into.).</p>
<p>momfirst3: Sorry if I’m being redundant, but does your son know that he needs to switch to the COC if he wants to be a ChemE?</p>
<p>Yes, he does. Like I said he is Engineering Undeclared. He is considering all the engineering majors right now. I’d have to say he seems most interested in Chemical Engineering, EECS and a couple of the joint majors. He knows what he needs to do. Thanks for making sure though. 
Actually we are headed up to Berkeley tomorrow for Calso.</p>
<p>Oh, just so you know, at the presentation we went to on Cal Day for Engineering Undeclared, the dean spoke. He said the most difficult engineering major to get into was Undeclared… He said everyone says its bioengineering and electrical engineering but that undeclared engineering was the most difficult because they get to go into whatever engineering major they want, even the joint majors. The only exclusion to this was Chemical Engineering. This was news to us. I just thought I would pass it along…</p>
<p>Well, to be honest, undeclared engineering is not a major (you cannot graduate with an “undeclared engineering” degree) so really when you apply undeclared for engineering, the admissions people just consider you a potential BioE or EE, because those are the most popular choices. Well, I hope you and your son have a great time at CalSO! I heard the weather up in Berkeley was beautiful so CalSO ought to be fun. :)</p>
<p>True… I’m assuming he will figure something out before graduation. hahaha… I know it’s not a “major” but that’s what he applied for and that’s what they are calling him right now. I don’t really know what to call him. Everyone always asks me, what is he majoring in? I say engineering. They say which one which leads to the whole undeclared business. Why can’t he be like all the other 17 year olds and know what he wants to do with his life!? haha Yes, I saw the weather was going to be awesome. I can’t wait for some alone time with my husband while my son is beginning his college career.</p>
<p>ROFL No 17 year old really knows he/she wants with his/her life from what I’ve experienced, at least not in this day and age. My neighbor last semester who was also an undeclared engineering major sometimes came to me three times a day with a new idea about his major and future plans. He’s still not sure if he should do CivilE or IEOR with an English minor or CivilE and IEOR double. Don’t worry, mom, as I’m sure you’ll know, the COE makes all engineers take a course called E10 where they get to explore 2 engineering majors of their choice (excluding ChemE and BioE) by doing 2 modules with a group project at the end. If your son wishes to get a taste of ChemE or BioE, there are ChemE and BioE freshman seminars for exploring those topics.</p>
<p>Oh, that’s good to know. I’m not worried. I’m excited for him. I actually think it was good that he recognized he didn’t know what he wanted to do. I will pass along the information about the ChemE freshman seminar (he’s not interested in BioE). I know he is aware of E10 but I don’t know if he knows about the seminar. Thanks for the heads up!</p>