So for example, computer science is a competitive major. If I apply to UC Berkeley’s Computer Science Major and I’m not admitted, can I still go to Berkeley? I don’t understand how this works.
I’m an automatically-admitted student at UT Austin, but their CS major is competitive. If I am declined from my major, can I still go to UT and switch majors later? I just don’t really understand the concept of not being capped
UCB does not consider alternate majors. If you apply to EECS in the College of Engineering and are not admitted directly into the major then you will be rejected or possibly waitlisted. If you apply to CS in the College if Letters and Sciences and are accepted, then you must meet the pre-req and GPA requirements to declare the CS major in that College. Different colleges will admit applicants differently.
If you attend UT Austin as a non-CS major and want to change into the CS major, you need to go through another competitive admission process: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/undergraduate-program/admissions/internal-transfers .