Does the major you select for any UC affect your admission status (admit/reject)?
most competitive majors:
biochemistry
all engineering
etc
<p>Yeah. All the people who applied for UCLA engineering at my school got rejected (except for one). But 10+ non-engineering majors got in.</p>
<p>the odd thing is that I don't think UCLA's engineering is ranked that high, at least not like Cal's</p>
<p>yea i got rejected for ucla engineering. boo</p>
<p>who applied for bio at UCLA? i put bio eng as my alternate the best thing to do was put undeclared sciences</p>
<p>the major you select under "college of letters and sciences" does not have an effect on admissions. anything else, like engineering, do.</p>
<p>I got accepted to UCLA as a bio major...my brother got accepted there last year as an engineer major...its crazy at the engineering department and everyones trying to kill each other....bio major is hard to get into, but honestly isnt as bad</p>
<p>i got into as bioengineering. is that under the engineering department or letters and science?</p>
<p>coolman--same situation at my school..by the way, i got rejected for engineering at UCLA</p>
<p>i don't think your major affects your admission for UCSD. you can be accepted into the school and be rejected in the major you applied for</p>
<p>what were your stats guys?</p>
<p>lol, in that case, if i get into UCSD, i'll be rejected from Computer Engineering because it's impacted...</p>
<p>Great... why did I put Electrical Engineering as an alternate major (it's impacted too!)</p>
<p>Great, why did I choose Revelle, with the hardest graduation requirements?</p>
<p>lol....</p>
<p>Uh... For all of the UCs I applied to, I entered as a Biochemistry major and psychology as my alternate major. My SAT score? 1160. ACT? 1260. I got accepted into Irvine, Santa Cruz, Merced (yeah, yeah, quit laughing... :P I regret not taking the jump-off by not applying to LA).</p>
<p>My numbers are comparatively weaksauce with the numbers I've seen across the forums I've visited, but I'm more convinced that this year is not the year of the numbers for the UCs. Did you guys know that the number of applicants this year reached 100,000+? That's an effing huge number; the essays had to have played a huuuuge role this year to determine admissions statuses.</p>
<p>I'm looking forward to terrorizing Muir college @ UCSD. If only they would post crap soon. I think all of us have had enough with hanging in the middle and I prefer rejection than not knowing. *sigh, this is depressing.</p>
<p>If you put any L&S major down, it has no bearing whatsoever on your admission decision (they do not consider your major when they make decisions, whether its bio, biochem, asian studies, etc). The only time they do consider your major is if you put down engineering, theater, film, or music, which are the specialized majors. This goes the same for all the UC's- special admission consideration are only given for specialized majors, all others are not looked at because they KNOW their students will most likely switch majors and also, a number of acceptees are undeclared anyways.</p>
<p>Putting an L&S major down is usually safe no matter what you choose, but it is not true that they totally disregard their choice in making decisions.</p>
<p>Each school has a list of impacted majors (for all undergrad -- counts for frosh as well as transfers) which receive so many applications that, in order to keep the balance within the school, they look at your chosen major and your performance is probably examined a little more closely.</p>
<p>They do know that people switch majors, but people generally don't make dramatic switches (ie, as I did, from science to literature). So if you're applying for an impacted science major within L&S, they're going to think that you're likely going to stick within that cluster and admit accordingly (or not admit).</p>
<p>So be careful when you're putting down intended major. It probably won't matter, but it might.</p>
<p>I also got rejected from ucla :( (major : engineering - comp sc.)</p>
<p>Undecided: That is not true. Anyone can switch from a science to literature major any time. And its easily done, especially during the first year.</p>
<p>I am aware that anyone can switch whenever they want. My point was that it is somewhat less likely (less likely, not 'won't ever happen') for a proposed Biology major to become a Literature major, and so your choice of science major on your application may lead the adcom to look at your application in light of it, especially if it's an impacted major.</p>
<p>I'll note that this is purely anecdotal and obviously most people are going to think it's untrue, but the choice of your major, even within L&S, DOES matter, if not nearly as much as the choice of school (Engineering vs. L&S).</p>
<p>"I got accepted to UCLA as a bio major...my brother got accepted there last year as an engineer major...its crazy at the engineering department and everyones trying to kill each other....bio major is hard to get into, but honestly isnt as bad"</p>
<p>whoa cool i got accepted this year as a bio major and my twin brother got accepted as an engineering major</p>
<p>It is not an unlikely scenario, especially after first years have taken a few science courses. In fact, the more common scenario among my classmates were those who switched out from a science major to asian studies. </p>
<p>Yes, your post is purely anecdotal. Your choice of major within L&S has very little bearing, if any at all, on your admission decisions for UCLA, unless you choose the specialized engineering, etc. During my summer orientation session, about a third of the students who attended were admitted as undeclared students, and an admission speaker during the event said that declaring a major would help you plan out your first few classes, but has no other real advantage, because on average, a student will have switched majors at least twice before they graduate. If you think that putting down so podunk major that you believe is "unpopular" will in some way (any way) boost your chances of admissions, you're wrong...</p>
<p>I applied to all the UC schools under Engineering majors, with a 3.8 GPA and
1320 SAT I
760 Math
560 Verbal</p>
<p>Sat II
780 Math IIC (98%)
540 Writing (50%)
600 Chem (89%)</p>
<p>I got in at
<em>UC Davis in Chemical Engineering</em>
UCSC in Mechanical Engineering
UCR in Chemical Engineering
UCSB - Rejected in Mech E
UCLA - Rejected in Mech E
UCB - Rejected in Mech E
UCSD - Rejected in Mech E
UCI - Rejected in Mech E</p>
<p>Currently im going to UCD under chemical engineering, and i now realize why they only accept the best when it comes to engineering. Luckily for me though UCD was my first choice.</p>
<p>Comparing what happeend to me to my friends, i had ALOT of friends apply with undeclared to UCI UCSB UCLA and UCSD with worse standings than me that were accepted, and i was baffeled as to why i was rejected.
Bottom Line Major Counts Big Time! Especially when under any form of engineering.</p>