Welcome prospective Tritons. It’s that time of year again as the UC application has now opened and submission starts October 1 through December 1. I am @Gumbymom one of the two UC Forum Champions/Moderators. My Co-Forum Champion is @lkg4answers and we are knowledgeable on the increasingly complicated UC admissions process and hopefully we can help any prospective UC applicants with their questions.
UC San Diego like all the UC’s are test blind and will use 13 areas of criteria to review Freshman applicants. Each campus will weight the various areas of criteria differently so one size does not fit all. The UC application website has plenty of information that can help determine if UC San Diego is a good option when applying.
The campus does not admit students on the basis of their choice of UC San Diego undergraduate college or major but Intended major is taken into consideration in the admission process . Alternate majors are considered and capped/selective majors are highly competitive. Also note: Capped/Selective majors require additional pre-req courses and specific GPA to be able to qualify if changing majors. CS/CSE require a direct admit as a Freshman.
If applying to a Capped/Selective major, it is recommended to select a non-selective major as an alternate.
Selective majors include- Jacobs School of Engineering – all majors in these departments:
When applying to UCSD, you need to rank the Residential colleges as part of the UC application. Below are some links to aid in your rankings:
Residential Colleges: http://compare.ucsd.edu
Thank you for posting the links to help with the college selection. This has been stressing my DS out. He read someplace that choosing the “wrong” college (i.e. relative to your major and depending on how many GEs you can knock out) can add up to a year extra. That seems unreasonable. Is that true?
UCSD starting this admission cycle lets you opt out of ranking the colleges or you only need to rank 4 of the 8 colleges. The main focus on the ranking the colleges should be on the GE requirements especially if the student has AP/IB or DE credit so maximizing that credit.
I am not aware that getting into a non-preferred college will add another year to the students time required for a degree but I recommend to all students that they need to flexible in their class schedules.
UCSD does state that there are no specific colleges for specific majors although location can play a part in the students selection to be near their major classes.
If you list your son’s Intended major and AP/IB or DE credits, hopefully current students/experienced parents can offer him some suggestions for the rankings.
When my S23 was ranking the colleges, he made a spreadsheet and entered the colleges’ distribution requirements and then referred to the AP credit chart that @Gumbymom linked above to determine which distribution requirements he would actually need to take.
I think it is best for the student to do this themselves instead of relying on other people saying “which college is best for X major,” because each student will have their own preferences about which distribution requirements they either don’t mind taking, or would like to avoid.
I do not think any college is likely to add a year to a student’s degree. That sounds like an exaggeration to me.
“First-year applicants completing California Community College course work, please note: Neither IGETC or Cal-GETC certification nor partial IGETC or Cal-GETC completion may apply toward fulfillment of UC San Diego college general-education requirements for incoming first-year students.”
Does anyone know what this is about….Does it mean students cannot get credit by for the college specific GEs by completing equivalent courses at a community college i.e. they would have to be completed by taking these courses at UCSD only?
Students taking CC courses will get some credit for the UCSD GE courses but not all so some lower division GE’s will still need to be completed at UCSD even if the student has full IGETC or CAL-GETC certification.
IGETC/CAL-GETC certification is aimed at transfer applicants.
Another question for anyone that may be able to help. DS was trying to pick B.S. in Econ as alt major. This is listed on the website under undergrad majors but the UC application does not show this as an option …only shows a B.A in Econ. Any idea why?
UC Counselor conference information and updates are listed below.
UCSD 2025 Freshman waitlist data:
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list:
21000
Number accepting a place on the waitlist
N/A
Number of waitlisted students admitted
4000
Biological Sciences is no longer listed as a Selective major.
Applicants can now just rank their top 4 Residential colleges on the application.
New Majors for 2025 are Media Industries and Communications, Artificial Intelligence, Chicanx & Latinx Studies, Environmental Anthropology and Physics major is offered as a BA and a BS.
