Would my first choice and second choice preference affect my admission?

Applying to College
1

Hi everyone,

I have a question about admission based on majors.

I am currently applying to colleges, and I am looking at my major choices. I am hoping to apply to schools like UIUC, UW-Madison, UCSD etc.

Engineering is usually the more competitive major when being compared to chemistry. I am planning to put engineering as my first choice and chemistry as my second choice. If my scores are strong enough for chemistry but not for engineering, will i be admitted to chemistry immediately when i get cut off by the engineering admission? I am fully aware of the fact that there are students who put first choice chemistry. So i was wondering how that goes.

Thx for the help :slight_smile:

2

It depends.

Also be aware that if you enroll in your second choice major, it may be difficult to change into your first choice major later, if your first choice major was a more selective major.

Wisconsin is also unusual in that engineering majors have GPA requirements higher than 2.0 to stay in the major, even if you are directly admitted to the major as frosh:
https://www.engr.wisc.edu/academics/student-services/academic-advising/first-year-undergraduate-students/progression-requirements/

3

@ucbalumnus thx for ur reply!

If i wasn’t considering to transfer to my first major if i got admitted to my second major. My main question is whether chosing a major as my second choice makes me less competitive to get admitted to my second choice once my first choice had cut me off?

4

You have to check how each school considers first and second choice majors.

5

UCSD admits into the University first, then into your major. If you do not get into Engineering, then you will probably be placed into Chemistry. Since Engineering is a capped major (impacted), they recommend to pick a non-capped major as your alternate choice which makes Chemistry the best option. And No, selecting an alternate major will not make you less competitive.

Also an additional note, if you are an OOS applicant, the UC’s no longer offer financial aid, so you can expect to pay $55K+/year to attend. If this will be a hardship, you may want to reconsider keeping this school on the list.

Good Luck.