HS Class of 2027.
I’m a huge overthinker but I want to decide which subject I want to focus on by sophomore year. I’ve always wanted to go to UCSD but I’m curious if they have limits on certain majors. I know I want to do something in engineering or CS. My dad works in EE and I think that could be cool.
Kind of off topic but my school offers a conservatory (similar to pre-pro/most advanced level available) program for grades 10-12 in humanities and arts and I’m thinking of applying for dance. Would that benefit my application? Again my goal is to get into UCSD.
Are you local to SD?
Asking because SD local area community colleges now allow enrollments from 9th grade on. If you are interested in CS, you can sign up for one of the programming classes to see if you actually like it. My son took three and decided he didn’t want to do software. Better him find out in HS than going to college and decide there. California CC offers a variety of “real” classes and I think you should look there and see what you like. Take a few classes from different areas to see what you like and what you are good at. Best of all, it’s free.
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Selective Majors lists the more selective (or capped or capacity-limited) majors at UCSD. It is possible that the list may change from time to time.
If your interests are toward any of the selective majors (at the time you apply to UCSD), you will have to decide which to apply for when you apply to UCSD. But if the majors you are interested in are not selective majors, then you can defer the decision until after you are in college (though you will need to choose your first year courses to work toward all of your majors of interest to avoid falling behind any of them). Changing into a selective major after enrolling typically involves another competitive admission process.
Other colleges may have different sets of selective majors, or may require applying to a specific division (e.g. Letters and Science, Engineering, Business, etc.).
My kid did the same thing. He had dabbled in coding for years and enjoyed it. Then he took CS at a community college and did a CS project at a summer engineering camp. He decided he didn’t like it enough to major in it, so it was easy for him to eliminate the computer-y majors. He still went into college undecided within engineering but settled on a major very quickly.
Take some classes, mess around with hobbies etc. It’s usually easier to transfer OUT of engineering/CS than INTO engineering/CS. So if you think you might like engineering/CS, it’s good to know that by the time you apply. You can probably transfer out of engineering/CS later if you change your mind (follow the above advice from ucbalumnus).
There are two issues here:
- Prerequisite sequencing. Engineering majors and CS typically have sequences of prerequisites that must be started from the first semester or quarter of college. So a student who decides later to become interested in such a major is more likely to be behind than a student who decides later to become interested in some other majors with fewer prerequisites.
- Capacity limitations. This is more common at more selective larger colleges (like UCSD and most other UCs), where the number of students willing and capable of handling the rigor and workload of an engineering major or CS is more than the departments’ capacities to teach. Note that engineering and CS departments, unlike many other departments, are capacity constrained by both instructors (they have to compete with industry) and equipment / labs (more so for engineering departments). At less selective colleges (like most CSUs), the rigor and workload usually scares off enough students so that these majors are not capacity limited.
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All great advice here, just a note to say that if you do choose to take some CC courses you should know that those grades (if taken in 10th/11th grade) will factor into your UC GPA - so take them seriously with the intent to do as well as possible grade-wise, in addition to learning more about what you may (or may not) enjoy.
Yes I’m local to SD. My high school caps the number of community college high school credits earned to 3 courses which sucks.
Thanks everyone for the advice!
Other than taking CC classes, are there other ECs available that are related to engineering or CS? I’ve been participating in Science Olympiad for the past 4 years, and I received 1st place at SoCal state competition last year in 8th grade. I also volunteer to run the program at my previous MS. Other than that I don’t do any other ECs right now.
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