Most top public colleges don’t give much grant/scholarship to OOS students. My D got $3000 Purple and Gold scholarship from UW. However, that is still $20,000 more than in-state UCs COA.
My D also applied to Utah. Received $14,000 WUE tuition discount. I heard some 4.0UW GPA students received full ride scholarship. Still, she will probably go to UCs, unless she get lucky with the Ivies! We will see on 4/06.
Hello, My daughter is accepted to UCSD for Fall 2021 as undeclared. She was accepted into engineering at UCI, Cal Poly, Virginia Tech and Penn State, among others. UCSD is still her first choice, and she is optimistic that she can get into either structural or aero engineering through hard work and determination. I appreciate her optimism, but I wonder how realistic that expectation is. With all the people that applied and were accepted as undeclared, how much more competition will there be for those spots next year when the opportunities to switch over open up? I know she is smart enough, but will it be essentially a lottery or will it simply be best GPA wins?
I would have her contact each major department and ask how many students are successful in switching majors. Better to get the odds before SIRing. CS is the only lottery system for changing majors.
Thank you. It certainly looks like the decision is GPA based on the required pre req classes, but I wonder if any other things factor in. Will try to get a sense from both the MAE and SE departments.
YES!!! There are so many benefits to having regents that make UCSD the better choice. It comes with priority enrollment and basically a free research position (which is really hard to get as a freshman). Also, UCSD is much more affordable with the scholarship and has more bioengineering opportunities. I am a bioengineering major at UCSD and I know too many people who choose UCLA for the “name brand” when they had a much better offer from UCSD.
My son is in the same position. UCSD was his dream school since middle school and was accepted into aerospace or mechanical engineering at many other great schools. He wrote to UCSD just to make sure there is no way to guarantee admission and he received the following message. He has decided it’s not worth the risk. Good luck to your daughter as she makes this difficult decision!
Since we are a capped major, there is an application process to apply to our major. Incoming Freshmen at UCSD have two chances to apply to our major. First opportunity is summer after their first year at UCSD. To be eligible to apply, they will need to have completed the following 6 courses: MATH 20A, MATH 20B, MATH 20C, PHYS 2A, PHYS 2B and CHEM 6A. The application will recognize if they have completed some of these courses through AP or IB credit. Applicants are judged by the grades they receive in the screening courses. Please note, because we are a capped major, there is no guarantee that applicants will be admitted, even if they received all As in the screening courses.
Students may apply again in summer after their second year at UCSD, if not granted admission the first time. There will be no more chances to apply after this second application period. To be eligible to apply this second time, they will need to have completed the following 11 courses: MATH 18, MATH 20A, 20B, 20C 20D and 20E; PHYS 2A, 2B and 2C; CHEM 6A; and MAE 8 (or SE 9 or CENG/NANO 15). For more information about applying to MAE, please review the information on our Admissions page on our website, under “Applying to a Capped Major as a Continuing UCSD Student.”
Each engineering department has a different set of continuing student application requirements. To learn more, please review the JSOE Capped Majors FAQ
Transfer students have one chance to apply, and that is after their first year at UCSD, and the 11 screening courses would need to be completed before applying.
Admission to the MAE major as a continuing student is very competitive. There is no guarantee that applicants will be admitted even if they received all As in the screening courses. Because of this uncertainty, we recommend that students select a second-choice/backup major and follow that major’s course plan in their first year at UCSD. Ideally this backup major would require math and physics courses as well, so the student can take courses that will satisfy their declared major as well as the screening courses needed to apply Aerospace Engineering.
To give you statistics from last year, for the Mechanical Engineering major, 73 applied, 27 were admitted, and the average GPA of the screening courses was 3.95. For Aerospace, 35 applied, 7 were admitted and the average GPA of screening courses was 3.87.
We would strongly recommend that you consider whether attending UCSD, or the Aerospace Engineering major is the most important thing. If the major is most important, then we would strongly recommend considering other institutions that may have admitted you directly to the major.
My son just committed! #FutureTriton in the house! 
Thank you for sharing. As disappointing as it is, I’m glad that they were upfront and honest with you.
@Seabass927 Congrats!!! Closure. I love closure
Congrats! My son too.
What college?
Earl Warren. What college is your son going to?
Same 
If possible can you please share these numbers for transferring to BME?
After the Ivies day, a lot of students will commit UCSD.
Anyone has suggestion for a place to stay while visiting UCSD, preferably walking distance? Is San Diego Marriott La Jolla hotel walkable to UCSD?
I believe Estancia La Jolla is walking distance - it can be pricey, but they often are on sites like Hotel Tonight with deals.
My son too! Except did not commit yet. But he’s 90%.
If you are OK to go a little outside the La Jolla area, you can find the reasonable price too. How about Embassy Suites in La Jolla where UTC mall is nearby? UTC mall is near UCSD and students hang out there too.
Thanks, I’ll look into it