To what extent is Chemistry an impacted major at Cal?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

Hello,

I am an international student who have applied to Cal and other UCs for Fall 2017. I have applied to UCs with chemistry as my major. For Berkeley, I applied to College of Chemistry, not to College of Letters and Science.

I have looked through the CC forums, and although many say that Engineering definitely is very, very competitive, there was little to no mention about chemistry. I tried to find the Common Data Set exclusive to CoC, but I couldn’t find anything related. I also recognise that Cal is renowned for its outstanding Chemistry programs. (one of the reasons why I applied to Cal :slight_smile: )

So the question is: In terms of admissions, is chemistry in College of Chemistry more competitive relative to other majors in L&S and/or engineering in CoE? If it is, to what extent? Is it comparable to Berkeley’s engineering majors?

Thank you!

2

I can’t find the numbers of applicants applied vs. admitted for CoC either, but I expect the admission percentage isn’t much different from CoE. In fact, I find CoC to be more difficult than COE during college. It’s that CoC is smaller than COE so it is not talked about as often.
I think it is more difficult because you have set courses for each semester and there is very little flexibility to hold back a class or take another class early. Combined with the overall smaller student body, it is entirely possible to see the same people in every class for all 4 years, and a somewhat depressing effect the same people typically getting A’s for all 4 years and the another group of same people typically getting C’s for all 4 years.