if a student doesn’t get into engineering, would the UC consider them for a second choice major?
UCB now does consider alternate majors.
UCLA only considers 1st choice major so it is all or nothing.
UCSD will consider an alternate major and recommends if the 1st choice major is Capped, to select an uncapped major as an alternate. They will also admit as Undeclared if the alternate major is at capacity.
UCSB will only consider an alternate major outside the College of Engineering.
UCI does consider an alternate major but may also accept an applicant as Undeclared if the alternate major has reached capacity.
UCD may consider an alternate major and usually not within the College of Engineering.
UCSC may consider an alternate major. They do not specify if it can be another Engineering major.
UCR does consider an alternate major along with UCM.
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What your student needs to decide is whether being an engineer or going to a UC is more important to them. If it’s the former, they should find a CSU or two that have high admission rates that they’d be happy with.
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I agree that it’s good to add some CSUs… but I also think it’s a reasonable idea to hedge one’s bets with a 2nd choice major that is an easier admit than engineering. It’s still many months before the 2023 batch of kids will need to decide where they are going. Some kids might decide in April that they aren’t really set on engineering, and being undeclared at a UC might sound good at that point.
It may also depend on what kind of engineering in terms of what non-engineering majors may be of interest. Someone aiming for industrial engineering may find statistics or applied math (operations research focus) to be worth a look. But someone looking for civil engineering (with its likely-needed ABET accreditation for PE licensing) may not find non-engineering options to be as attractive.
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Or, a 17 year old kid might be aiming for civil engineering when submitting the UC app in November, and then decide in April that they would rather study something different, like public policy or environmental science or… ?
My kid thought he was aiming for economics a few months ago. He feels pretty sure about industrial engineering now, but he might change his mind again by springtime, so I hope he has a variety of options 
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Perhaps more important for an undecided student is to check whether all of the possible majors of interest are relatively easy to declare or change into after enrolling.
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