You are correct. If you are a non-EECS COE you should be able to take any of the EECS classes without much difficulty including upper div courses. My S22 is a non-EECS COE major but comfortably got into EECS 16A, CS 61A in the fall and will also be taking CS 61B in the spring. CS 70 has about 30-40 seats reserved for non-EECS COE students.
Generally speaking, non-COE majors who are interested in EECS would either switch to EECS relatively early [and end up not counting towards the non-EECS bucket] (or) dual or minor in EECS depending on interest. S22 will likely minor in EECS, mainly because he does not want to give up on his priority for the IEOR courses.
You won’t even be guaranted to get into the courses allowed for your major if you are in L&S and are not admitted to CS unless there is a specific carve out for the major. (DS students have some reserved seating for select CS UD courses).
Guessing here, but I’d say that UCB cares about ELC status in that it is recognized as an academic achievement on your list of “achievements and awards”, but nothing beyond that. That being said, the number of Cal students who were ELC status in California high school is probably upwards of over 90%
Here’s a link to my post on the 2026 thread which adds some color about the impact of ELC on admit rates. All else being equal, ELC is necessary but not sufficient to get into the top majors at the UCs.
Although it becomes like one of those logic problems: if most accepted students are 9% ELC, are most 9% ELC students accepted? I’m sure the answer is no. But I do want to believe that it helps a bit?
However, it looks like IEOR has 120 units of required courses (although CS 61A can fulfill one of the requirements). So any extra CS courses would need to be taken in space freed by AP credit or space gained by overloading.
So, while this may look like a loophole to take CS courses by non-CS majors, it is not that big a loophole, and it requires doing a non-EECS CoE major and all of its course work.
Correct. Unless you go in with a ton of credits, its incredibly hard to pull this off as an IEOR major because the required curriculum is way more intense than other majors. But if you had a bunch of AP credits, then its very much doable.
In general, a non-COE major is a poor alternative if someone is ONLY interested in EECS but a great alternative if you have a ton of AP credits and/or the other major is EECS adjacent. Within COE, IEOR is the only major that is EECS-adjacent given the heavy focus on data and optimization.
Yikes, so only about 30 - 40% get accepted. Although the other side of the coin is that is way higher than the overall acceptance rate of around 14%. However, I also doubt that ELC status is directly related to admissions decisions (although I wish it were!), but rather ELC status is a function of all the other things they’re looking for like GPA and courses.
For an IEOR major, AP credits can replace up to 2 H/SS courses, Math 1A and 1B, Physics 7A, and Chemistry 1A/1AL, which is in theory 6 courses. However, the unit credit for AP calculus and physics C mechanics is less than 8 and 4 units respectively, so the student may have to make up about 4 units of math or (non-CS) science to meet the unit requirements for an ABET-accredited major (1/4 of total degree credit in math and natural science). So at most 5 CS courses using this loophole – and at least one will be CS 61B as a prerequisite to upper division CS courses (and some also require CS 61C or 70).
In our case, S22’s Multi Variable Calc teacher also had a letter from UCB Math department showing that his high school class meets the requirements for Math 53. So my son skipped Math 53 and is now taking Math 54 in the spring. Like you mentioned, this is a tough trick to pull off but if the stars align then its a terrific option. I however concur with you in cautioning anyone from using this as an application strategy.
edit: I would also add that PHYS 7A is hard to waive because it requires a 5 in the AP test unlike other courses. On the other hand, IEOR courses are 3-units and its very much possible to load up on the course schedule since they take 25% less space on your schedule.
I am guessing that your D displayed her sincere interest in EE in her PIQs (and perhaps also in her activities and high school course choices). My son was told by someone at Cal that it’s important for a COE applicant to show sincere interest and preparation for the specific major in their application. So they may see that she wants to do EE and it might be helpful… we can hope!
I wouldn’t worry about that. So long as she has academics (e.g. Physics AP in E&M), PIQs, and ECs explicitly backing that intent, she may stand out from other CS oriented applicants. Also, you can see in the table that majors often see wild fluctuations in admit rate and you shouldn’t judge this year’s admit rates based on last cycle’s data.
I took AP Computer Science during my junior year. That’s the only computer science-related AP at my high school owing to the lack of AP classes at my HS.
I hope so! She does have AP Physics C, as well as circuit design, and she’s TAing that class this year, plus Linear Algebra etc, plus a good summer program building devices, top 9% and an uncapped at 4.64.
But that 4% acceptance rate is very sobering and she has zero expectations. Which is good I suppose! She’ll fully understand if/when it doesn’t work out for her and Cal. I’m pretty sure we know kids with similar who haven’t gotten in, although they might have been more of the CS than the EE.
Just double checking - we aren’t supposed to submit any semester grades, are we? D’s fall semester transcripts just became available and, given that decisions are still a few months away, I wasn’t sure if they wanted to see those grades/evidence of progress?
Linear Algebra is great since it is very heavily used in EE. She has as good a shot as anyone. I hope you also applied to EE at UCLA. It’s an excellent program and has better odds than Cal.
ALso, remember that the admit rate for GPA bucket 4.6+ would be well north of that 4% number
