<p>My son is undecided on biology or computer science. His grades are not enough to qualify for Engineering (ACT 33, SAT 2170, un-weighted GPA 3.8, UC GPA ~ 4.0, Eagle Scout, Lot of volunteering etc.)</p>
<p>Which of the following options have the better chance of getting accepted?</p>
<p>L&S admits all frosh as undeclared, so it may only matter in terms of advising.</p>
<p>Or do you mean options such as L&S undeclared, Engineering undeclared, or Natural Resources undeclared? You can study CS in L&S or Engineering, and you can study biology in L&S or Natural Resources. So L&S makes the most sense for someone considering both (however, L&S CS is a capped major, requiring a 3.0 college GPA in the prerequisite courses to declare).</p>
<p>He is good in Biology ( SAT II 770, 5 in AP)and Computer Science; Only taken Introduction to C though Community College and now taking Introduction to JAVA, which he loves, this semester.<br>
As this point it is more of increasing chances of getting in… once he gets in he could make a decision based on his grades in college.<br>
Perhaps L&S undeclared biology may be better choice if L&S CS is a cap major.</p>
<p>This might come off as being a little bit mean, but you should be letting your son make his own decisions and do his own research. What does he want to do? Which major/program does he like? It should be his own decision which college/major he applies to.</p>
<p>L&S admits students as undeclared, btw. That means that, within L&S, his chances won’t be affected by whichever major he applies as. And as a general rule, he should apply as whichever one he actually intends to major in, though it sounds like he’s still figuring that out himself. :P</p>
<p>All L&S applicants are considered with the same standards for frosh admission purposes. So the choice of major within L&S does not matter, unless possibly he writes an essay detailing his interest in a subject inconsistent with the selected intended major.</p>
<p>The presence of the cap on enrollment to the L&S CS major matters only after enrollment, when he must meet a high enough college GPA to declare the L&S CS major.</p>
<p>Ijmom–I remember seeing a stat sheet that showed that CNR is less competitive than L&S, which is less competitive than COE. Sorry, I can’t find it right now, but maybe ucbalumnus knows where it is. Of course, most people will say that he needs to apply based on what major he wants since it’s not that easy to change colleges. However, if he gets very good grades, it’s possible to change!</p>
<p>It is true CNR is less competitive and has a number of really good majors in son’s OP field. Check it out on the UCB College of Natural Resources.</p>
<p>Thanks,
I looked up CNR and it does have good bio related majors. But it is missing any computer science related majors. Is it possible to take any classes in L&S being a CNR student?</p>
<p>I have a one more question (possibly someone may advice to ask this in chance thread).</p>
<p>My son has ACT 33; SAT 2170; un-weighted GPA 3.8; UC GPA ~ 4.0;3 APs done (all 5s); SAT II Bio: 770; SAT II Math 2:730.
Eagle Scout; Lot of volunteering (+300 hrs), School LEO Club president; ASB Historian</p>
<p>Is my prediction (below) correct?
UCLA, Cal: Reach
San Diego, Davis: Match
Santa Barbara : Safety
Should he apply for more safeties - Merced etc.?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call any UC other than Merced (due to the top 9% thing) as a 100% safety due to holistic review, although some (Riverside, Santa Cruz, and possibly Irvine, Santa Barbara, and Davis) may be 90+% low matches (so the chance of being rejected to all of them if he applies to all of them is very very small).</p>
<p>Thanks Ucbalumnus for the very useful information.
He is in top 9%. a letter came from UC system stating that while ago. I believe he is eligible for UC admission.</p>
<p>It is a good question. I didn’t see anywhere in the application a place for that. I thought they already have that information for each student ( may be link to the name and SSN to be provided with the application). Hope someone has an answer.</p>
<p>As an applicant from California, your application will be automatically screened for ELC eligibility when you apply. There’s no extra paperwork.</p>
<p>After submitting the application, you can return to the My UC Application page to see whether or not you’ve been designated as being in the top 9 percent of your class.</p>
<p>Please keep in mind that 90%+ of the other students applying to Cal will have either similar stats to your son’s marks or even better. The real deciding factor for admission will be the adequacy of his essays; has he thoroughly expressed AND shown evidence of a passion, goal, etc? Can he make a positive impact on the campus?</p>
<p>I only bring this up because time and time again, I see incredibly qualified applicants get rejected simply for not demonstrating an interest/overreaching goal in their essays. I’d be careful with selecting “the easiest major,” to get into…very, very often the admission council WILL know the game you’re playing, and your application will be toast.</p>
<p>from my observation, some very competitive high schools (with API better than 900) have around 10% of students admitted to UCB, while high schools with API below 800 may only have less than 2%. Do you think colleges evaluate GPA based on relative strength of the high school attended?</p>
Of course, most people will say that he needs to apply based on what major he wants since it’s not that easy to change colleges. However, if he gets very good grades, it’s possible to change!</p>