As colleges confront a swelling number of students crowding into majors that promise lucrative career opportunities, they are forced to impose limits on the number of students allowed to choose those majors.  This article discusses selective majors within the context of the University of California and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), in particular.  UCSD has added a hurdle to admission to selective majors which furthers the trend of the UC system in discouraging out-of-state students from attending.

First, some definitions.  “Selective majors” refers to majors in such high demand from students that a college creates special rules restricting entry.  These majors typically include computer science, engineering, business, and majors that require auditions (e.g., music, art, dance, film).  Some colleges have much longer lists.  See, e.g., Here’s the list of high-demand UC majors and how to get into them.  There are various terms used for this purpose, including “capped,” “impacted,” and “restricted.”

Generally, there are two routes for admission into selective majors.  Students may be eligible to apply for entry into the major as part of their college admission application.  This is referred to as “direct admissions” or “direct admit.”  At some colleges, this is the only route to the major – you either gain entry to the major when you are admitted to the college, or you must select another major. 

However, most colleges allow students to transfer into a selective major in their first or second years.  I refer to this as an internal transfer, although colleges have many different names for this route.  Some students also refer to this route with a verb – to “back door” a selective major is to select a less popular major when applying and, after admission, seek an internal transfer to the selective major.

The difficulty of obtaining an internal transfer varies from college to college and from major to major.  At some colleges, completing the prerequisite courses for the major with passing grades is sufficient; at other colleges, internal transfer routes are highly competitive.  See The Data Is Out There – But You Need To Look For It (not much has changed in this area in the last ten years)

At the most selective University of California campuses, internal transfers to selective majors can be very difficult.  Consider UC Berkeley’s warning:  “[t]he opportunities for being admitted to a high-demand major after enrollment are extremely limited.”  New High Demand Majors Policy from the College of Letters & Science – Office of Undergraduate Admissions.  (Pro tip:  when a college uses the phrase “extremely limited,” it means “virtually impossible.”) 

The odds of admission to the most popular selective majors at many of the UC campuses are also daunting.  For example, at UC Davis, admission to all selective majors depends on completing prerequisite courses with a minimum GPA.  However, for the Data Science major, students who satisfy this requirement are then entered into a lottery for admission.   

The criteria for admission to select majors are typically focused on academic performance in prerequisite courses.  However, the situation is different at UC Berkeley, where applicants for internal transfers are evaluated in a “comprehensive review.” This review appears to be quite similar to the “holistic review” almost every university uses for undergraduate admissions.  The criteria listed by UC Berkeley are so vague and numerous as to allow the college unlimited discretion and zero transparency in choosing whom to admit.  See Prospective freshman FAQs – Berkeley Engineering.  This means that students have no clue whether they will gain entry to the major.

And then there is UCSD, which, starting in the summer of 2025, will blaze a new trail.  The college has a relatively small set of selective majors:

Data Science

Public Health

Jacobs School of Engineering – all majors in these departments:

• Bioengineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Where UC Berkeley is vague about its criteria, UCSD is crystal clear:

This policy is even more removed from academic excellence than the “comprehensive review” process used at UC Berkeley.  Leaving aside complicated and controversial questions of fairness and utility, one consequence appears certain: all but a few out-of-state students (“OOS”) will lose this competition before it begins.     

They will lose one point because they are not California residents. 

They will lose another point because very few will be eligible for Pell Grants. Even those who are will be unable to afford to attend because Pell Grants are limited to approximately $8,000 per year; UC does not offer OOS any other need-based aid to cover the over $80,000 in tuition, housing, and other expenses.  See Who can get financial aid | UC Admissions; Tuition & cost of attendance | UC Admissions. 

Thus, many California residents will earn at least two points for grades and residency, while OOS who are not also first-generation students will only earn one.  Further, many OOS who are first-generation will come from families that cannot afford the non-resident tuition.

Students who do not receive direct admission to a selective major at a UC campus must decide whether to gamble their career prospects on prevailing in a competition which they almost certainly will not win.  I recently advised one of my students who applied to UCSD for direct admission to the engineering major but was admitted only as “undeclared” to choose a different college.  This was an easy call – if he did not obtain an internal transfer, he would have no opportunity to become an engineer. 

I am not a fan of the “direct admissions” system or other processes that impose hurdles to entry into, or continuation in, a major.  (I do not include majors where merely a minimum performance is required to continue.)  Such systems expose students and their parents to too much risk and stress.  After proving their worthiness in high school, students are plunged into another competition with serious consequences for their career choices. 

College should be about more than a career and relentless competition.  It should be an opportunity for personal and intellectual growth, as well as a bit of fun.  (Parents:  what are your fondest college memories?)  Direct admissions systems are a detriment to the college experience.  Why pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for so much anxiety?

Unfortunately, so many colleges have adopted such systems that striking them from your application list could eliminate many otherwise worthy choices.  Nonetheless, students who are denied direct admission into a selective major at a college should seriously consider attending another institution unless choosing another major would still serve their post-graduate goals.  This is undoubtedly the case for UCSD and perhaps other selective UC campuses.