<p>I just got into Berkeley, but I am in the College of Letters and Science. When I had applied, I did not know what I wanted to do, but now I'm sure that I want to major in Operations Research and Management. So here are my questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>How hard is transferring into Engineering into an impacted major?</li>
<li>How hard is it to maintain a GPA of a 3.6+ in Engineering?</li>
<li>I know that L&S actually also has an ORM major as well, is this the same as the one in Engineering? Or do they lead to different outcomes and such?</li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>ORMS is in the College of Letters and Science, but it is a capped major that you have to apply to declare. It is the L&S version of the IEOR major in the College of Engineering.</p>
<p>[Undergrad</a> Academic Programs](<a href=“http://www.ieor.berkeley.edu/AcademicPrograms/Ugrad/index.htm]Undergrad”>http://www.ieor.berkeley.edu/AcademicPrograms/Ugrad/index.htm)</p>
<p>If you want to change into the College of Engineering, see here:</p>
<p>[Change</a> of College (into COE) ? UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/change-of-college]Change”>Change of college - Berkeley Engineering)</p>
<p>If you are unable to get into either IEOR or ORMS, then you can probably major in applied math (which is not a capped major and does not have particularly heavy requirements, allowing for plenty of electives) and take the desired IEOR and other courses of interest as electives.</p>
<p>Hi, I am a transfer myself spending my first year in L&S then moving to CoE the following summer. I’ll try to answer your 3 questions briefly, but feel free to message me if you want very detailed explanations.</p>
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<li><p>Sounds like you want to transfer to IEOR. The first thing is to make sure if you are sure about IEOR instead of other branches in engineering or other majors. As for IEOR vs. ORMS, it is as silly as this whole EECS vs. CS debate because it’s the same later when you go to career fairs and applying for jobs. It is more like would you study OR at College of Engineering or Letters and Science? To successfully transfer into CoE, it comes down to 1. if you are on track; can you graduate within 4 years like the rest of IEOR majors?, 2. how good is your GPA (minimum 3.0, 3.5 is even better), 3. a good essay why do you want to switch. </p></li>
<li><p>It takes a lot of work to maintain 3.6+. In fact, I have to “cheat” a little and always take extra humanities course or two every semester out of interest and grade booster just to get above 3.5. The magic number for the GPA you want to have is 3.5 for jobs and grad school applications. Anything above that is nice, but it is optional. If you really want to stand out, it should be 3.9 and higher.</p></li>
<li><p>Partially answered in #1, and I will repeat that IEOR vs. ORMS do not result in different outcomes regarding career opportunities and grad school. ORMS is also an impacted (capped) major and I believe there are only around 25 students for each class year. But at the same time, most students don’t even know what ORMS is so I assume the competition is not as cut-throat as one would assume.</p></li>
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