My son is planning to apply to mostly CA schools next year. He has a very good record (a few honors classes/one AP 3.91 Ave unweighted and 1530 SATs and will probably take them again). He does well in just about all of his subjects, but doesn’t have any great interest in any one thing. He really has no idea what he wants to do in life. He doesn’t know if he wants to do something in computers, or business, or languages, or music etc.
Is there some sort of General major at the UC schools that is flexible enough for different fields?
Each UC admits differently into either the College or the major.
Undecided/Undeclared is an option but you would need to check out the requirements needed to declare a major later on and for some competitive majors, this can be problematic.
UCLA does offer General Engineering which is highly competitive and you are not required to declare a specific Engineering speciality till later.
If he is interested in a competitive/selective/capped major such as Engineering, CS, Biological Sciences etc… it is best to try and get the direct admit and switch out later if that major does not suit him.
Applying to private schools might be a better option since most do not admit by major and you usually have until Sophomore year to declare a major.
Below is how the UC’s admit by campus:
UC admission by major:
UCB:
Division (L&S, CNR, CoC, CED, CoE) matters for admission selectivity.
Within CoE (but not the other divisions), major matters for admission selectivity. Changing majors within the CoE after enrolling is not guaranteed, unless one is CoE undeclared.
Note that L&S admits students as undeclared; admission to capped majors (e.g. CS, economics, psychology, ORMS, statistics, art practice, and a few others) is by college GPA in prerequisite courses (and portfolio for art practice) after attending for a few semesters.
The business major is in a separate division and admits students in a competitive holistic process. Frosh intending business majors begin in another division (usually L&S), take the business major prerequisites, and apply (usually in their second years). They also need to take prerequisites for a backup major in case they are not admitted to the business major.
All students who apply to UC Berkeley and select a major within the College of Natural Resources are evaluated based on their application, not on the particular major they select.
Alternate majors not considered.
UCD:
Admission decisions are made based upon the qualifications of the applicant pool and the number of available spaces within each academic area:
• College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences admits by college
• College of Biological Sciences admits by college
• College of Letters and Science admits by division within the college
• (Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Mathematics and Physical Sciences; Social Sciences)
• College of Engineering admits by academic department
Students applying as “undeclared” or “undeclared/exploratory” are considered within the college/division to which they applied.
Applicants are encouraged to list an alternate major, but not in the same area as the primary major (e.g., Computer Science Engineering with alternate Computer Science in the College of L&S). Occasionally, we admit to the alternate major.
UCI:
- Freshman Selection:
UCI admits into the University first and then into the major. In the case that UCI is unable to accommodate all qualified applicants in their first-choice major, those students who indicate a valid alternate major may be offered admission in that major or Undeclared.
UCLA:
For the College of Letters and Science, the applicant’s major is not considered during the review process.
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science admits students by declared major, with more emphasis on science and math programs.
The School of Nursing also places more emphasis on science and math programs and requires the submission of an additional supplemental application.
The School of the Arts and Architecture; Herb Alpert School of Music; and the School of Theater, Film and Television admit students by declared major (within the school), and put more emphasis on special talents through a review of portfolios and/or auditions, which are the most significant admission factors for these schools.
UCLA only guarantees review of an applicant’s first-choice major.
We typically do not admit to the alternate major
UCSD:
The campus does not admit students on the basis of academic major or choice of UC San Diego undergraduate college. Alternate majors are considered and capped majors are highly competitive. Also note: Capped majors require additional pre-req courses and specific GPA to be able to qualify if changing majors. Also if applying to a capped major, select an non-capped major as an alternate.
UCSB:
College of Letters and Sciences: Choice of major is not considered in selection to the College of Letters and Science. The exceptions to this rule are dance and music performance majors. Both majors require applicants to complete an audition in late January or early February.
College of Engineering: Students are selected by major for all engineering and computer science majors. Only applicants with a solid background in advanced high school mathematics will be considered for admission to engineering. This includes high grades in all math courses through grade 11 and enrollment in pre-calculus or higher in grade 12. A student not selected for their first choice major will be reviewed for admission to an alternate major outside of the College of Engineering if one was selected.
College of Creative Studies:
Applicants to the College of Creative Studies submit a supplementary application in addition to the general UC Application, which is reviewed by Creative Studies faculty. Students are selected within Creative Studies majors only. Applicants not selected for Creative Studies will automatically be considered for admission to the College of Letters and Science.
UCSC:
Important Note for Prospective Engineering Students: Choice of major does not influence the selection of first-year students, except for those applicants interested in a major offered by the Jack Baskin School of Engineering (BSOE). Freshmen who are interested in a BSOE program should be sure to indicate a BSOE proposed major. Students who do not indicate a BSOE program or who apply as undeclared might not be able to pursue a BSOE program.
UCR:
Admission by major but alternate/2nd choice major will be considered if applicant does not need their first choice admission standards.
For Business: Freshmen students must apply to Pre-Business under the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS). The College breadth requirements and the prerequisites for a Business major are completed during the freshman and sophomore years. An application is submitted at the end of the sophomore year. Upon acceptance, students become Business majors and are then advised in the Business Department. Students from any academic major may also complete a Business minor.
Has your son looked at the list of majors offered at the different schools? He might look at an interdisciplinary major to give him a taste of different subject areas. Examples include: cognitive science, science & technology studies (STS), environmental chemistry/policy/management, computational & systems biology, etc.
Private schools need to be checked individually, since many do have some restricted majors (even Harvard has a restricted major (VES), while CMU’s CS major is extremely difficult to get into whether for frosh admission or changing into later).
UCI conveniently lists change of major requirements in one place: https://changeofmajor.uci.edu/
For other UCs, entering a major requirements usually means looking up the web page of the intended destination major. There are some situations where changing to a major in another division at UCR depends on whether the division you are leaving (as opposed to the division of the new major) will allow you to change.
@college12347 . . . the UCs don’t offer a General Studies degree. However, there are some that offer a design-one’s-own major. And I’m sure he’d have to have some elevated scholarly standing for this.
But then too per what @lkg4answers stated, he could go into an multi-interdisciplinary major like Cognitive Science. Cog Science is a good choice because it has elements of CS, psych, and other disciplines. Math and Economics might be a good major added to minors and specializations in programming/data science.
I don’t know if on all this one could attach a music minor, but he could explore various courses in music at the outset as breadth, or include them in his designed major.
I think it’s doable at UC, but more restrictive if he wanted pure CS because of this major’s heavy load.
I’d just apply broadly (lots of campuses) undeclared and have him select a major after a semester or 2.
I wouldn’t bother taking the SAT again - he’s already got a really solid score. With a 3.91 GPA. most of the UCs are going to be a reach. He’s got a sold shot at UCR and UCM. The others are going to be tough,
I"d encourage him to also apply to SDSU, CSULB and/or Chico and Sonoma if he’s looking for a smaller school experience. Apply broadly
Good luck
I believe the 3.91 GPA is unweighted, which means the UC GPA is probably higher with the honors and AP courses.
Also, of the 3 UC’s (UCB, UCI and UCR) that offer undergraduate business majors, only UCI (Merage School of Business) accepts freshman applicants. For UCB Haas and UCR business school, as state above, you would apply to another division, i.e., L&S, and subsiquently apply in your sophomore year as a junior in the business school.
Thanks for all the responses! Btw, my son is a junior and he will probably take APs next year, but seems like UCs only count 10 and 11th grades. He didn’t study for the SATs at all which is why I thought he should take them again. (But he might risk doing worse in math where he already got an 800). I think his worst attribute is that he only has a few honors or AP classes, and no great passion.