Undeclared Major for Acceptance and then Switching to a Competitive Major?

<p>hey everyone,</p>

<p>I’ve seen people put their 1st choice major down for davis and “undeclared” for their alternate major. their logic seems to be that if they get rejected from their 1st choice, they’ll get in as “undeclared” (less competition), do well their freshman year, and switch back into their 1st choice major. does this plan really work? i want to apply to engineering and my gpa is a 3.52 Weighted (10-12, A-G courses), SATs=2070 (680,680,710) so i’m skeptical about whether i’ll get in. if i place my alternate major as “undeclared”, will it boost my chances of getting in? also, will i be able to switch into engineering later on (assuming that i do well my first year at davis)?</p>

<p>thanks for your help! :)</p>

<p>[Advising</a> Questions and Answers - UC Davis Engineering](<a href=“http://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/advising/answers.html]Advising”>http://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/advising/answers.html)</p>

<ol>
<li>How do I change majors in the College of Engineering?</li>
</ol>

<p>Submit a completed Change of Major petition (PDF) to the Undergraduate Advising Office (1050 Kemper Hall).</p>

<p>Change of major petitions submitted within the first ten days of the quarter will most likely be processed prior to Pass 1 registration for the next quarter.</p>

<p>In order to change your major or to double major with a major in the College, you must satisfy requirements that have been established by the College of Engineering for all students:</p>

<p>You must:</p>

<p>Be a registered student and have completed at least one quarter (minimum of 12 units) at UC Davis
Have completed not more than 135 cumulative units (excluding AP units); students who have completed more than 135 units will be considered on an appeal basis only;
Be in good academic standing and meet minimum progress requirements;
Have received a letter grade for all courses that satisfy Engineering degree requirements
Have completed MAT 21A, B, C: PHY 9A and CHE 2A each with a grade of C- or better and a GPA in these five courses of 2.0 or better
Have no grade lower than a C- in any completed engineering course taken at UC Davis
Have a UC engineering GPA of 2.00 or better</p>

<p>that’s all i could find and it’s also assuming you’re undeclared in the college of engineering</p>

<p>lol sorry, i should’ve made my question clearer: i don’t want to switch majors WITHIN engineering. i want to know if it’s possible to switch INTO engineering from a DIFFERENT major. thanks again for your help. :)</p>

<p>I was spectical about this before as well, but i have seen non science majors switch to science after they get in because like engineering biology is very competitive at UCD. Your firstyear you can even take enginerring courses you just wont get priority, but either way you will get in with a non competitve major!</p>

<p>i don’t exactly understand what you mean by “you won’t get priority”. could you please elaborate on that statement? do you mean that I won’t get priority on receiving the courses that required for engineering? thanks again! :D</p>

<p>Priority as in You might have to wait until your pass2 in order to get into that course because during pass 1 the registration prioprity will be the current enginerring majors and will only be open to them. But that will only be the case for you during your first quarter since i beleive you will switch to engineering after right ?</p>

<p>Ohh I see. What worries me now is that if ALL the engineering classes are full during Pass1, I won’t be able to get those classes, correct? Seems pretty risky. Do you have any idea on how competitive class assignments are in general for any major? Do people in Pass2 generally get their requested classes? And yes, I’ll be switching to engineering ASAP (preferably after first quarter).</p>

<p>I have gotten into a lot of classes thru pass two but you have plenty of time even after the first quarter including summer school to fullfill your grad requirements.</p>

<p>alrite cool, that’s very reassuring. </p>

<p>do you have any idea how competitive electronic materials engineering is at UC davis? or do you know which engineering major is the “least” competitive? i’m planning to put electronic materials engineering down as my 1st choice major. i’m already taking AP calculus AB so if i get a 3 or higher on the AP test, would that count towards my prerequisite courses for transfering into engineering? thanks again for all your help! :)</p>