My son is also considering UCLA Engineering so I looked this up. Usually kids at UC engineering colleges don’t have the latitude to just look around at various majors – the details below which I pulled from the UCLA website confirm this. What is your major going in (ie, on your acceptance papers)? You only get to make one change and that is if it is approved.
This is not like other engineering programs where you get to look around and then settle in and do as you please. Both Michigan and Cornell, two others my son is considering, don’t limit you as early on as UC does. I have a daughter at Berkeley, not in engineering, but I can assure you that UC does whatever it sees fit when it comes to majors. They cap majors. They put strings around majors. From an administrative standpoint, it is generally an uphill four year battle. If it doesn’t go your way then you can be SOL. Of course, it is easy to get out of engineering and move to L&S, at least at UCLA (read this on the site too). But you should Google this topic before you commit and have a through understanding of this. Be sure you understand what they are saying below. You will be “considered.” You are petitioning. If anyone has anecdotal feedback, would love to hear it.
@Greymeer, where do those rankings come from?
I’ll tell you this: it was incredibly hard to break into this engineering school. There are thousands upon thousands of kids who would love to have you spot in the “nr” engineering majors at UCLA. Pretty sure you can find a job coming out of there so I would not get too worked up on the rankings.
I am very interested in the “fun factor” for my son and am wondering about that, school-to-school. There is a Facebook Live event this afternoon at 3:30 to answer questions for incoming UCLA students (not just engineering). You should find it and listen. We are flying down for the engineering open house on the 15th (HSSEAS Open House). I would be happy to share what I observe.
From UCLA Engineering Office Of Academic and Student Affairs:
Students within HSSEAS who are in good academic standing AND show that they can succeed in the preparatory and major-specific courses for the major they are applying to will be considered for a change of major.
Students will NOT be approved more than one change of major to a HSSEAS major. Students are encouraged to research the various engineering disciplines thoroughly before filing for change of major.