Trying to decide a major

Applying to College
1

Computer science is the main major I have been looking at before I apply to college. I think I would find it super interesting and wouldn’t mind the more tedious aspects. However, I’m not sure about applying to every college under that major since it is very difficult to get in. I don’t have a really have a certain subject that I love or hate, and I’m pretty decent at everything. I’ve always earned good grades in math but haven’t been at the very top of my class. I’m haven’t taken Calc A/B until this year but have taken a lot of science classes: AP Chem, AP Bio, Physics. My Subject Test scores sucked and my math wasn’t good on the ACT. I’m really stuck on what major to declare and I’m afraid of going undeclared because I feel that it could limit my options in the future (especially in engineering majors). Do you guys have any other ideas for majors.

Applying to:
UCLA
UC Berkeley
UC San Diego
UC Davis
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Cornell (possibly)
Two or three more privates and a couple safety schools.

-California resident
-Race: Black (i know this doesn’t matter for uc’s)

  • ACT: Composite - 33, English - 35, Math - 27, Reading - 34, Science - 34 (I retook the ACT and hope to improve my math score by a fair amount)
    -SAT Subject Tests: Chemistry - 640, Math II - 580 (I was really disappointed with these and probably not gonna submit them but, oh well)
    -Unweighted UC GPA: 3.97
    -Weighted UC GPA: 4.17
    Class Rank: 4/395

Freshman:
English Language Arts 9 Honors
World Geography/Healthy Living
Geometry
Biology
French 1

Sophomore:
English Language Arts 10 Honors
AP European History (3)
Algebra 2/Trig Honors
Chem Honors
French 2

Junior:
AP Language/Comp (4)
AP US History (4)
AP Art History
Pre-Calc
AP Chemistry (4)
French 3 Honors

Senior:
AP Biology
AP Psychology
AP Literature/Comp
AP Government
AP Calc AB
Physics
Economics

2

If CS is your most likely major, then apply as a CS major, since if you enroll as some other major or as undeclared, it may be difficult to switch into the CS major (this is especially true at UCLA and UCSD).

For UCB, CS is available in the College of Letters and Science, where all frosh enter undeclared, but the L&S CS major requires a 3.3 college GPA in the prerequisites to declare. UCB also offers the EECS major in the College of Engineering; this is more competitive, but those admitted are already in the major.

Because CS is generally more competitive, you may want to increase the list of UCs to include some of the less competitive ones like UCSC, UCR, and UCM as low match / almost-safety options. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1903428-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa.html has information on past UC admission rates by HS GPA, but you should assume that admission rates for CS will be lower.

3

Thanks. What are the main differences between the L&S and EECS major? Will it be detrimental to get a BA in computer science as opposed to a BS?