<p>I'm not sure how applying to a specific college works. I know at Berkeley, the top school is engineering. If i apply to the engineering college, is it possible that i get rejected from the engineering college, but be placed into a different college--letters and science, for example?</p>
<p>Nope - apply for the one you want to get into and hope for the best. You’ll either get accepted or rejected.</p>
<p>Though, the major you apply for does make a huge difference in your chances. Transferring between colleges will be extremely tough, so apply to the one you want to get into.</p>
<p>When you fill out the application, all the UCs will allow you to choose a first- and second-choice major–except Berkeley. You get one shot, and one shot only.</p>
<p>You can apply to an easier college and then transfer. Transferring, contrary to popular belief, is not always really hard. COE is selective, of course, of whom it admits from L&S (and the other colleges), but if you do well in the pre-reqs, you shouldn’t have a problem.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Heh heh, that’s a pretty big ‘if’. Lots of people don’t do well in those pre-reqs. Those prereqs are often times weeders, and doing well in those classes ain’t no walk in the park. Those who are already in those majors just need to pass those weeders (and even that’s no picnic), whereas those who are trying to get in have to surmount a significantly higher threshold.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sure it isn’t. Berkeley is a tough school, and those majors are tough. Anyone who doesn’t go in knowing that shouldn’t be trying to major in those at Berkeley.</p>
<p>More importantly, I’d argue that Berkeley does admit some academically weaker students (no, we don’t need a full discussion of this point), and those are the ones that tend not to do well in those pre-reqs.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, unfortunately, that philosophy doesn’t jive with actual Berkeley policy. There are plenty of engineering students who get mediocre grades in those prereq classes. Physics 7B, for example, is a notorious engineer-killer. </p>
<p>The problem is that, because those engineering students had already been admitted to engineering, they don’t really need to do that well in those prereqs just to stay in the major. All they have to do is pass, even if that means passing with a mediocre grade. On the other hand, those who are trying to get into engineering actually have to perform well in those classes. In other words, the performance bar is lower for those who are already in the School of Engineering. </p>
<p>Look, I don’t want to have any impacted majors at all. But if you have them, I think they should be run fairly. Berkeley shouldn’t run high school admissions by major. Instead, they should admit everybody as “undeclared” and then have people compete for spots in the impacted majors, similar to what happens at Haas right now. Otherwise, you end up with what happens right now: some people who actually perform better in engineering prereqs than some of the actual engineering students yet are not allowed to major in engineering. Like I said, if you’re already an engineering student, all you need is a 2.0 GPA to complete your engineering degree. But if you’re not an engineering student, you clearly need far more than a 2.0 in order to become one. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sure, Berkeley admits such students. But we then have to ask why these weaker students are admitted into engineering, which is ostensibly supposed to comprise some of the most rigorous majors at Berkeley.</p>
<p>I don’t care much for how much the current engineering majors are working–the OP could possibly be a non-engineering student who wants to get into the COE and that’s what my comment was directed at.</p>
<p>I’m applying to Cal as a freshman next year. I’m applying to Cal, but i’m not quite sure yet what i want to do. I heard that the COE is the hardest to get into, and it’s easy to switch to another college if i decide to change my major. Thus, i wanted to apply to the COE to be safe that i can major whatever i want.
However, i did not want to apply to it knowing that if i didn’t get in, i can’t go to berkeley at all.</p>
<p>Apply Engineering Undeclared. It’s exactly what you are looking for. You are sure you want CoE, but you aren’t sure what you want in CoE.</p>
<p>Give it your best shot and cross your fingers. ;)</p>
<p>engineering undeclared is very hard to get into.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And that’s precisely whom my comment is directed towards. I am simply pointing out that it is far from trivial to get the types of grades necessary in engineering prereqs in order to be able to successfully switch into engineering. The CoE has the most selective admissions of any of Berkeley’s colleges, yet even many of those students end up earning mediocre grades in the prereqs. Hence, the OP will have to be even better than them, because he won’t be allowed to get mediocre grades if he wants to switch in.</p>
<p>Hence, it all comes back to your comment of “if you do well in the pre-reqs, you shouldn’t have a problem”. Well, yeah, of course that’s true, but I don’t know how operational that advice really is. That’s like telling somebody that all a guy has to do to find a girlfriend is to look like Denzel Washington; the problem obviously being what if you don’t look like Denzel Washington? </p>
<p>The bottom line is that you shouldn’t hold your breath assuming that you will do well enough in those prereqs to be able to switch into engineering. Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. You can work as hard as a dog, and still end up with mediocre grades in those courses, as I have seen happen.</p>
<p>
Just another proof of how PC Cal students are.</p>