UCSB Engineering
Undergraduates

Changing Majors

Students planning to enter an engineering major or to change from one engineering major to another will be expected to complete at least 30 units at UCSB before petitioning for a change of major. Students normally must satisfy the prerequisites of the prospective major.

Students who have completed more than 105 units will not be considered for a change of major/change of college in engineering or computer science unless they can demonstrate that they will be able to complete all the degree requirements for the proposed program without exceeding 200 total units.




Chemical Engineering

Before petitioning for a change of major to chemical engineering, the following courses or their equivalents must be completed: Mathematics 3A-B; Chemistry 1A-AL, 1B-BL; Engineering 3; Physics 1. Students may petition to enter the Chemical Engineering major at the time the requirements are met. Only a limited number of petitions will be approved, and selection for entry into the major will be based on UC grade point averages and applicable courses completed.

Computer Engineering

Students may petition to enter the Computer Engineering pre-major at any time Option 1 below has been met, or they may petition to enter the full major when the requirements in Option 2 have been met.

OPTION 1:

  1. An overall UCSB grade point average of at least 3.0; AND
  2. Satisfactory completion at UCSB of at least four core classes required as preparation for the Computer Engineering major with a grade point average of at least 3.0 in all core classes completed. The core classes are Mathematics 3A, 3B, 3C, 5A; Computer Science 10, 20, 40, 60; Electrical and Computer Engineering 2A, 2B, 2C, 15A, 15B. Once approved for the Computer Engineering pre-major, the student must meet the requirements for advancing to the full major.

OPTION 2:

  1. An overall UCSB grade point average of at least 3.0; AND
  2. Satisfactory completion at UCSB of at least six of the core classes with a grade point average of at least 3.0. If the student has not attained the minimum 3.0 grade point average with the first six core classes completed, all core classes subsequently completed will be included in the grade point average computation; OR
  3. Satisfactory completion of all thirteen core classes with a University of California grade point average of at least 2.75.

Computer Science

Students planning to enter the pre-computer science program must complete at least 16 units of pre-major coursework at UCSB, including 8 units in computer science, with at least a 3.0 grade point average for all pre-major courses completed with the University of California. Students who have completed the entire computer science pre-major with at least a 2.75 University of California grade point average will be admitted to full major standing upon petition whether or not they have been officially declared pre-majors. Petitions for changing to the pre-computer science or computer science majors may be filed any time upon meeting the above requirements.

Electrical Engineering

Students may petition to enter the Electrical Engineering major at any time both of the following requirements are met:

  1. An overall UCSB grade point average of at least 3.0.
  2. Satisfactory completion at UCSB, with a grade point average of 3.0 or better, of at least five classes, including at least two mathematics classes, from the following: Mathematics 5A-B-C, ECE 2A-B-C, ECE 15A. The calculation of the minimum GPA will be based on all classes completedfrom this list at the time of petitioning.

Mechanical Engineering

Before petitioning for a change of major to mechanical engineering, six (6) of the following core courses or their equivalents must be completed: Math 3A-B-C; Math 5A-B-C; Physics 1-2; ME 14-15 (at least one of the six courses must include ME 14 or 15). Only a limited number of petitions will be approved, and selection for entry in the major will be based on UC grade point averages and applicable courses completed.