I’m looking for some opinions on what the reality actually is for colleges with impacted majors?
We are looking at CSU’s and UC’s and my daughter is considering English at Cal Poly for example, but according to CSU website, all majors at Cal Poly are impacted. We are California resident, but not local admission or service area.
I know her admission requirements will be slightly higher because she is out of area, but if she were to get in, how would the impaction of the major affect her? Would it slow down her chances of graduating in 4 years like people are telling me?
There are impacted majors at some of the UC’s as well (but they use different terminology) and I’m just looking to get an idea of what this actually means in reality.
Thanks!
Impacted or Capped majors at both the Cal States and UC’s means that there are more qualified applicants than spots available so the majors/campuses are more competitive and they limit the enrollment in these majors.
Impacted/capped majors will not decrease her chance of graduating in 4 years, but much depends upon how flexible a student will be in their course scheduling (ie. taking early morning classes), if they stick to the 4 year plan/flowchart and if they would consider taking summer courses to stay on track.
Also, if a major is impacted/capped, getting a direct admit into that major is important since changing into these majors later can sometimes be almost impossible. (ie. Engineering/Computer Science/Biological sciences). This is very dependent upon the campus’ change of major policies.
OK thanks.
So many people that we talk to seem to have a different idea of what an impacted major means and I’ve heard horror stories of it taking up to 6 years to graduate with a bachelor’s degree - students sat around doing nothing waiting to take a class that is full or taking classes that do not contribute to their overall major just to stay busy while they wait for a spot in a particular class!
My daughter is set on graduating in 4 years and coming out with as little debt as possible. Both she and I would prefer she attend a university that has spaces in classes she needs and can offer her an appropriate level of education with as minimal overcrowding situations as possible. (I’ve also heard that accomodation in some campuses is just as overcrowded with 4 students in rooms orginally meant for 3 etc) and that is not the sort of envrionment she will thrive in.
I’d rather she attend a university that can offer more space and tranquility in terms of classes, rooms etc if any of that is true.
Majors are impacted (i.e. limited in enrollment) in order to keep enrollment within the department’s instructional capacity.
Since CPSLO does not publish MCA scores by major, it is not obvious how competitive English is compared to other majors. Same with CPP eligibility index thresholds.
CPP has a four year pledge program described at https://www.cpp.edu/~studentsuccess/oss/graduation-pledge/4-year-ca-promise-info.shtml . CPSLO has a two year pledge for transfer students majoring in English described at https://academicprograms.calpoly.edu/california-promise-program-cal-poly . Many other CSUs have similar programs.
I can only relay my son’s experience at an impacted campus, majoring in an impacted major (CS) and he did graduate in 4 years, but he chose to take some of the courses in the summer session either due to a better professor or not being able to fit in the class during the regular school year due to an overlap other required courses. Just make sure she stays on top of the required courses to graduate, have her meet each quarter/semester with an academic advisor to make sure she is on track and again be flexible with class times and professors.
I would also add, that having any AP/IB or Dual enrollment credit coming in as a Freshman can help her graduate on time or sooner if she runs into full classes or scheduling issues.
Most students adapt to super large classes and less than idyllic dorms. If you think your daughter would struggle with either or both of these, then maybe community college to UC would be a better path. It would let her to start at the UC in the smaller, upper level classes and the money saved will pay for better housing options for the final two years.
if you are concerned about class and campus size, there are several CSUs with smaller student populations than SLO - depending on her stats, there are also honors programs that offer smaller GE classes and priority reg. For English, I’d look at Sonoma State
All good information, thank you everyone.
As for her stats, she’s doing pretty good - 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.4 weighted GPA. SAT 1450 (750 English and 700 Math), ACT 32 (35 English and 28 Math), AP World History 4 (Sophmore year), English Language 5, Psychology 5, US History 5 (Junior year).
She’s taking AP English Lit, AP Micro Economics, AP Macro Economics, AP Calculus AB this year (senior)
She’s a great student but suffers from anxiety in high pressure situations (hence the need for a bit of peace and tranquility!) which is why it’s important we pick the correct college/university in order for her to suceed overall (not just in terms of her grades but also whether or not the envrionment will suit her).
It looks like English is not an impacted, capped, or restricted major at any of the UCs. You can check the department web sites regarding declaring the major to be sure.
Thanks @ucbalumnus - she’s quite interested in UC Davis as well and it looks as though the English major is not capped at that campus.
I’ve also had many people tell me to not just be on the lookout for impacted or capped majors, but also how those majors are taught. English gurus (!) tend to lean more toward smaller classes and good access to professors as it’s the sort of major that doesn’t fit the traditional ‘cookie cutter’ approach to studying for a degree, which is another reason I’m wary of the larger universities.
Right now she’s holding out on getting too interested in a particular college as I think she doesn’t want to set her heart on a place in case she doesn’t get in.
Many schools have online class schedules that can show size of each class.
Have you considered smaller private schools like Willamette and Lewis and Clark in Oregon or University of Puget Sound and Whitman in WA? A lot of CA kids who prefer a smaller environment end up at those colleges and I think they all give decent merit aid (my daughter is at Willamette and we pay a little more than we’d pay for UC in state but not a lot more). Just a thought.
It sounds like she would be a strong candidate for any UC as an English major. Davis came to mind when you said she needed a more tranquil setting.
Back to Cal Poly SLO…while the setting is beautiful, the presence of so many STEM majors might give the campus a more intense vibe than your daughter would like.
Thanks for the suggestions. I do think a smaller college would suit her well (and you almost eliminate the issue of impacted majors!) the problem is that she doesn’t want to travel too far from home. SLO is about as far as I think she’s willing to go. There are some great liberal arts colleges in southern CA but she’s expressed that they are too far away from home.
I’m not aware of many in Northern CA?
I looked at the class sizes at UC Davis like @ucbalmnus suggested in #11, and they don’t seem too bad for a larger university.
In NorCal there’s St. Mary’s - Moraga… I don’t know much about them but I think they are in the CTCL consortium. There’s Mills in Oakland - all women. USF and University of Santa Clara… not a lot of options if you aren’t interested in Catholic, though.
Thanks - I just took a quick look at St. Mary’s and it actually looks quite nice, but my daughter isn’t religious at all so I think the Catholic approach would put her off. I guess there just isn’t the demand for the liberal arts colleges in Northern CA.
My older son went to UC Davis and it is less “intense” and more collaborative than some of the UC’s, but she will still be competing with top students from California, out of state and International so there is still some pressure when it comes to academics.
Upper division courses for any major will have much smaller class sizes and the larger GE and Pre-req courses may have a large student lecture but will be broken out into smaller discussion sessions with around 20-30 students.
University of the Pacific? Although I am not too fond of the Stockton area but a nice campus.
She’d probably get solid merit aid from Loyola Marymount and USD.
I’m not sure if this is still the case, but many students from impacted programs who chose to live at home during the summer used to take their lower-level GE courses at the community college. I’m seeing less of this now at my CC, but I don’t know if that’s because some universities have limited it or for other reasons. You might want to see if that’s acceptable in the majors/universities she’s considering. It might help her stay on track and give her an incentive to come home for the summer to recharge.