<p>Okay, my grades/SAT scores/ECs are fairly decent and I'm trying to stay realistic here (no Ivy League). My dream college would be UCB, and my dream is to become an engineer. The thing is, the engineering programs in UCB are extremely competitive and I doubt I can get in. I may choose Pre-business as an alternative, but if possible, I really want to stick to engineering. College applications are going to be available online soon and I am stressing over this dilemma more and more! Should I change my major just because I don't think I'll get into that particular university?</p>
<p>For engineering more than anything, it doesn’t much matter where you go to college. If you really want to be an engineer, it would be foolish to go to a school where you’re precluded from studying engineering.</p>
<p>^Agree, going to a non-dream college will have an insignificant impact on your life in the long term, but majoring in a different field than you’re interested in could delay you by many years or cause you to lose opportunities.</p>
<p>p.s. There is never 1 dream college, but rather a set of colleges that you would enjoy and thrive at.</p>
<p>If you really, truly want to be an engineer, it seems rather silly to take the risk of spending 4 years studying something else (that you’re not interested in) just to get into UCB – particularly since there is no guarantee that you would be admitted even with another major! Remember that if you’re admitted to UCB as some other major besides engineering, you would have to petition the College of Engineering to transfer in to study engineering at some point anyway . </p>
<p>If you want UCB and you want engineering, then go ahead and apply that way. Trying to game the system will just add to your stress and is not recommended.</p>
<p>I vaguely remember from our tour of UC Berkeley that there are specific engineering and biology majors that fall under the College of Letters and Science. Our guide explained that she switched from one kind of biology major to a different kind within the College of Letters and Science so that her out-of-major requirements were more interesting to her.</p>
<p>I just looked it up. There are biology options within Letters and Science, but not an engineering option. I’m sorry I was wrong!</p>
<p>If you honestly you think you’d be almost as interested in business, then sure, do that. I’m applying to Berkeley as a math major for the same reason.</p>
<p>But you definitely shouldn’t pick a major you don’t want just to increase your chances of getting into your dream school. It’s easy to warm up to a college you didn’t really want to go to, and not nearly as easy to warm up to a major you didn’t really want to have.</p>
<p>A lot of nice advice here. Definitely stick with what you want to do.</p>
<p>I took your question a different way. Are you asking if it would be a good idea to apply with a business major instead of engineering to get accepted and than maybe changing your major to engineering after your 1st year?</p>
<p>Well yes, obviously he would intend to do that. The problem is, engineering majors are usually declared before freshman year. So it wouldn’t be just a matter of saying to your advisor “no I want to be an engineer”; you have to actually do all the paperwork for a transfer application to the major you want. And unless you are a perfect student, there is a chance that your transfer will not be accepted.</p>