Hi, I am an instate applicant (male) and I wanted to get a generalization of how competitive I am; I also have a question about majors and their relation to the school acceptance rate.
UC GPA: 3.97
SAT I: 1530/1600
SAT II: Physics - 720; Math II - 770
Class rank - 22/390
Pr
ECs: pretty average… obiviously not banking on these, just usual community service hours and office position in two clubs
The question I have about majors —> is the acceptance rate different based on what you want to major in, or does the college try to make sure it stays roughly equal for the most popular majors?
You are accepted into the University first and then into the major. For capped/impacted majors, the competition is tough so there is a chance unless you specify an alternate (non-capped major), you can get accepted as Undeclared. If accepted as Undeclared and you want to transfer into a competitive major, it can be difficult to sometimes impossible unless you have stellar grades 3.8+ in the pre-req classes.
If you apply for engineering to the UCs, some of them don’t consider an alternate major. You’re either in the major or rejected. San Diego will accept some engineering applicants as undeclared at the school. UCSB will consider an alternate major, but it should be in L&S. The acceptance rates for engineering are less than the overall acceptance rate and sometimes half the overall rate. If you apply to an L&S major (e.g., Bio, Math, English, etc), you’re usually accepted as undeclared or pre-.
Some UCs may admit you to the campus, but not to your desired major (may admit you to alternate major or undeclared), while other UCs may either admit you to your major (or division) or reject you.
Note that some majors at some UCs are extremely competitive to get into if you enroll without being directly admitted to the major. UCSD CSE recently had GPA thresholds of 4.0 and 3.9: http://cse.ucsd.edu/CappedMajor .