Hi
my S25 just submitted his UC apps this weekend with a 1st choice major being biochem. To increase his chances, I thought it might beneficial to select Econ as an alternate major. Here’s the issue, his application was really built around him being a science major and in one of his essays he referenced his love of biochemistry as his intended field of study so it dawned on me that this might appear as an inconsistency.
So my question is once the application is submitted, is it possible to change the alternate major?
Depending on which UCs, it may not matter, if the particular campus admits by division (rather than major, at least for those particular majors) and both majors are in the same division.
Some campuses may not consider alternate major at all.
Most UC’s will allow a change of major after application submission. Some campuses do not consider alternate major in the original admission decisions or at all. Email the UC campuses and see if they allow.
Most have deadlines in January for a change of major on the application.
thanks for the reply. I guess the next question would be is it more advantageous to list biochem as the first choice and Econ as second choice or stick to biochem and bio or chem as an alternate.
What is the student’s top choice major? If it is Biochemistry, then he should stick with it.
UC Berkeley only considers the alternate major during the waitlist and appeals process.
UCLA does not consider an alternate major at all.
UC Davis occasionally considers alternate majors and usually outside the College of the primary major.
UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz and UC San Diego do consider alternate majors.
UCSB only considers alternate majors for the College of Engineering and the alternate major needs to be in the College of Letters and Sciences.
If your son has a 2nd choice preference, then he can list Econ if he has an interest or even Undeclared but it will not have a major impact on his admission decisions.
It’s really an emotional time for the students. They are stressed about their applications. They’re comparing themselves to their classmates. Later, they will compare their results with their classmates about where they did or didn’t get in.
You really don’t want to be in the middle of the line of fire other than to provide well wishes and emotional support.
The students get really upset when their parents are over-involved in the application process. When decisions come out in March, and if they don’t like where they’ve been accepted or they’ve been rejected, guess who’s going to get the brunt of the blame?
Let your son get through these next couple of months without the added stress or pressure, as he completes his senior year.
He’s going to college by himself and he will figure these things out while he’s a student on campus.
Putting an alternate major may backfire at you. Waitlisting is pretty common in UC applications. We don’t know how AO determine a kid for waitlisting first major or acceptance for alternate major. For example, if your son is on the border of getting accepted by UCI, instead of waitlisting him for Biochem, they may just accept him for alternate major Econ. But is it really what your son wants?
Thousands came off different UC waitlist last year, including my S24 for Aerospace Engineering in UCD. I am very sure he would not be happy to study Econ as alternate major there. Good Luck.