I’m fairly new to College Confidential so forgive me if this question has been asked and answered before. As you surely know if you’re on this forum, the first UC essay asks for a response regarding your intended major: why you’re interested, what you’ve done, etc. My question arises because the same UC application, and thus essay, is sent to all of the campuses that the transfer student applies to: what would be a good way to answer the question when your intended major is different for different campuses? The main reason this problem arises for me is that my top choice major is fairly unique and only offered as a program at one campus, but I’m planning on applying to other campuses as well under different majors. I’d like to know if anyone has experienced/heard of this dilemma, and what advice you all may have as to approach it.
Riverside, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and Davis do not read the PS when reviewing transfer applications, so don’t worry about them.
What I always suggest is if the majors are the same but differently named talk more about the career and generalize the major. For instance with Communications Studies (UCLA) and Media Studies (Berkeley) talk about your desire to do PR or journalism etc. That’s what my daughter did. She never mentioned either major directly by name. It was not a problem.
(If it’s Haas, don’t do that, though.)
If the majors are a variation of the same word (a major with the word economics or math, for instance) just say economics or math.
If they are diametrically opposed, not sure what to say exactly. I guess you could bring them both in obliquely. For instance talk about love of history (History) and toss in how literature opens the window to the past (English). I mean, they do know you are applying to more than one UC.