UC Berkeley L&S Non-Impacted Majors

[Mr.Monkey]

For UC Berkeley L&S, I applied as a non-impacted major, Statistics, so I was wondering if my acceptance into the college would be the same chance as applying for some non-stem major? From what I have heard, if you are applying to L&S at Berkeley with a non-impacted major, since you are admitted as undeclared, they don’t consider major. But I was wondering if they still care that my grades in my major specific classes, for example for statistics majors, would they focus on my grade in AP Statistics and AP Calc? Also, if you had to guess, what UW and W UC GPA would I need to be considered an academically strong applicant for UC Berkeley. Obviously there are ECs and everythign, but I just want to know for academics. Thanks

[worriedmomucb]

@Mr.Monkey

I applied as a non-impacted major, Statistics, so I was wondering if my acceptance into the college would be the same chance as applying for some non-stem major?

Likely yes, although I don’t think they give a breakdown by major for non-impacted majors, so hard to say for sure. @Gumbymom might know more.

@Mr.Monkey

But I was wondering if they still care that my grades in my major specific classes, for example for statistics majors, would they focus on my grade in AP Statistics and AP Calc?

They care about your grades in all of your A - G classes, so yes, they are expecting to see high grades in these classes, too.

@Mr.Monkey

Also, if you had to guess, what UW and W UC GPA would I need to be considered an academically strong applicant for UC Berkeley.

You need to calculate all of your UC GPAs, but if I had to guess, you would likely need a 3.8+ UW GPA and above a 4.0 W GPA to be competitive. That’s not to say that it’s impossible for people with lower GPAs to get accepted, but your chances decrease from there.

@Gumbymom can give you the relevant stats about this.

[Gumbymom]

For Last year Fall 2023, Statistics was a High demand major which is now removed from the High Demand major list for Fall 2024.

I do not have any specific admit data for Statistics but since it was part of the College of L&S and now part of the New College of College of Computing, Data Science and Society, the admit rate may change along with how UCB will admit into that specific college (CDSS). Since the College houses 2 of 3 High Demand majors (CS and DS), they might admit by major. The admit rate for L&S last year was 12.9% so it might be comparable.

UC Berkeley considers all grades in all courses and will calculate your 3 UC GPA’s based on your 10-11th grade A-G courses with extra Honors points for UC approved Honors (CA HS students only), AP/IB or UC transferable DE courses.

Here is the calculator: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

They emphasize the UC unweighted and Fully weighted GPA’s. Here is the Freshman profile GPA data with the Middle 50%.

UC Unweighted GPA: 3.89-4.00

UC Weighted GPA: 4.28-4.62

Good luck.

[Mr.Monkey]

Thank you for this insight! I wanted to clarify - when you say that they care about all my grade in all A-G classes, would that mean that a-g courses whether related or not to my major will all be weighted the same? If I get a B in math which is related to my major would it impact the decision more than if I had gotten a B in lit which is not related to my major?

[Mr.Monkey]

Thanks for the info! I am just hearing about the new college, and thats pretty interesting but also somewhat shivering. Do you know if UC Berkeley CDSS will be harder to get into than the college of L&S if I am applying for statistics? Also, if I were to apply into the college of L&S and were to get in, would I be able to transfer to stats in CDSS with ease since it is not an impacted major?

[Gumbymom]

@Mr.Monkey

Do you know if UC Berkeley CDSS will be harder to get into than the college of L&S if I am applying for statistics?

I cannot say but since it is no longer a High demand major, admission could be similar to the L&S admit rate I posted.

Changing majors involves meeting the course and GPA requirements to declare. If admitted to another major in L&S, then you would have to work with your advisor about switching. My advice is always select the major you want to pursue.

Sample%20STATISTICS%20Program%20Plans%20-%204-YR%20Sample%20Plans%205-19-23.pdf

[worriedmomucb]

@Mr.Monkey

I wanted to clarify - when you say that they care about all my grade in all A-G classes, would that mean that a-g courses whether related or not to my major will all be weighted the same?

They are weighted the same when calculating your three UC GPAs (AP and honors are weighted more, but the weighting is the same across subjects). They will of course look at your individual grades - just as they look at your freshman year grades, even though they are not used in UC GPA calculation. Will a B in math hurt you? Unlikely any more than Bs in general may bring down your overall GPA slightly. I wouldn’t worry terribly about it. One B will not make or break your application.