Need help deciding on a major!

Dunboyne
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 11:42:51 +0000

Yes, both Berkeley’s Econ and English are outstanding. UCSB and UCI are very similar quality wise overall, and for Econ and English. Economics, English, Comm, French are usually pretty solid at top 50ish universities at an undergrad level. It’s when you get into the more obscure majors that the weaknesses start to appear.

You might want to check again whether Econ is impacted at UCSD. I believe it’s only impacted at UCB and UCLA.

As for whether you have a higher chance of being accepted if you list a non-impacted first-choice major…who knows? I doubt it very much. If the school wants you, it wants you because you’re a capable student. It’s not going to reject you because you want to study something that’s in high demand. They would be losing a student that they would otherwise want. UCB and UCLA are reach schools anyway, so if you would be rejected, it would very likely be for other reasons. But if you’re given the option of putting an alternative major on your app when your 1st choice is impacted, it would be wise to put the alternative.

If you’re going to apply to only one of UCB/UCLA, here are some things to consider:
–In addition to Econ: UCLA has a Business Econ major (impacted), while UCB has an Environmental Econ major (impacted). Business Econ is more appealing for broad journalism.
–UCLA has a Communications major. UCB has a Media Studies major (impacted).
–These points might be important to you if you got into the university but didn’t get into the Econ major. In other words, at UCB you might have to opt for the English major. At UCLA, there’s probably a better shot at the Comm major, plus you have the Business Econ which is good for journalism.
–Decide whether UCB and UCLA are reaches or high reaches. If UCLA is a reach and UCB a high reach, this could make the difference.

I’m pretty sure all of the UCs would have an Econ major, and English/French major/minor. No problem there. It’s the Econ minor, the Comm major, and the Comm minor that won’t be offered everywhere, so you’ll want to check that and maybe start a spreadsheet. I’ll have a quick look…

Economics Minor: not offered at UCB, UCLA, UCSB.
Communications Major: not offered at UCI, UCR.
Communications Minor: not offered at UCB, UCLA, UCSB, UCI, UCR.

You’ll want to cross-check all of that.