Berkeley admits by major, which also has an influence. For example, in the Pac 10 football stats I mentioned earlier Berkeley football players averaged a 2.93 HS GPA and 984 SAT. Administration might be more open to admitting such athlete applicants to less selective majors than admitting them to highly selective majors, like CS or engineering.
Stanford does not admit by major and shows a very different pattern, as summarized below from a 2013 survey. Athletes appeared to have a similar or higher rate of engineering majors to non-athletes, but seem far less likely to major in CS.
Most Common Majors Among Stanford Athletes
- Human Biology
- Science, Technology, and Society
- Engineering
- Management Science & Engineering
- Psychology
Most Common Majors Among All Stanford Students
- Computer Science
- Human Biology
- Science, Technology, and Society
- Engineering
- Biology