UCSD getting into bioengineering froma different major in sophmore year

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
1

<p>My son got in UCSD but in his alternate major, not in his first choice bioengineering. He was accepted also in a pretty good school on the East coast in their bioengineering dept. We are trying to make a decision so here is the question.</p>

<p>It looks like the bioengineering department at UCSD is allowing a limited number of students to get in after the freshman year if they complete the required course load (3 math, 2 physic, 2 chemistry, bio if I remember correctly) and finish with good GPA.</p>

<p>I have some questions and i would really appreciate some opinions:
- do they always made spots available and will that continue?
- is he guaranteed to get a spot in the required freshman classes on the bionegineering curriculum if he is in the social science dept (cog sci)
- how difficult is to get max GPA? Does it depend only on the student or is it next to impossible (are the teachers the type that just don't give As etc...)
- is the GPA the only consideration or are there other more subjective criteria?
- my son can get credit for his AP classes math and bioat least but he will not get any gpa for them. Is it a good idea? Should he count on that?
Thanks!</p>

2

<p>1) yes and yes
2) those classes don’t fill up. MAE 9 is taken by several engineering majors, not just BE.
3) like a 4.0? this isn’t high school anymore. it’s extremely, extremely rare. but as an engineer, there’s less of an emphasis on grades. practical experience will make him stand out from the crowd when he’s looking for post-grad positions.
4) see above
5) that is true, you’ll get AP credit but these credits (regardless of score) won’t count toward your UC-GPA. it’s not really an issue of good idea/bad idea, but pretty much an automatic process that most people go through. once you have classes X/Y/Z cleared, you can focus on the more important things.</p>

3

<p>Thank you very much astrina!</p>

<p>I was asking 3, 4 and 5 in the context of his future application to the bioengineering department at the beginning of his sophomore year.</p>

4

<p>out of curiosity, what’s this right-coast school? is it SEAS?</p>