Thank you @ucbalumnus, I have a D that applied to psych (L&S) but it also interested in Linguistics which seems like an open major. Your post was truly helpful, to confirm I understood their site correctly. Also, the UCB Guide to majors is incredibly well done.
Interesting question you pose, because we have a D engineer that didn’t go to UW having been admitted as pre-science rather than direct admit. The AD (real one I spoke to) said it was very competitive to get into later and 3.8 gpa was typical of applicants. Not wanting her to deal with the gladiatorial stress fest (plagiarizing that term) fighting to get in major, or graduate with a degree she really didn’t want, she chose not to attend. I think certainty of major is important to many, personally I would take the major guarantee at entry even with higher standards.