School of Engineering Admission Policy

Information for Prospective and Entering Students

Admission to UCSC does not guarantee admission to engineering majors. The Baskin School of Engineering has a separate admissions process.

 

Information for First-year Freshmen

First-Year students are admitted to the SoE in three categories: directly admitted, proposed major, and in an advising cluster.

Direct Admission: Some students are admitted directly into an SoE major based on their high school record, scores on standardized tests, and/or the personal statement. If students wish to accept this direct admission, they must meet with an engineering undergraduate advisor in their first quarter on campus to explore what courses they must take and to complete the formal Declaration of Major process. If they do not (because they are undecided, become interested in another major, or for any other reason), their status becomes similar to that of a proposed engineering major.

Proposed major or advising cluster: Most students who apply to an SoE major are admitted as a proposed major. Many students are not sure which major the wish to pursue in the SoE and are instead admitted into an advising cluster. Students in these two categories can be admitted to an SoE major after they come to UCSC. Students apply to the SoE major the quarter after completing the Foundation courses for that major. For BINF, CS, EE & ISM the decision is based upon grades in those foundation courses. For CE the decision is based upon grades in any 5 lower division courses required for the major.

Students admitted to UCSC as either proposed majors or as a member of a cluster (or as a former direct admit) must first complete the Foundation Courses for their major:

In the first week of any subsequent quarter (but before the end of their sophomore year), these students submit a Request to Declare form to the SoE department of their choice.

 

Information for Transfer Students

Because School of Engineering (SoE) majors are course-intensive and students are limited in the time they have to complete their degrees, transfer students can only be admitted at the time they apply to UCSC. Therefore, unless an SoE major was on their application, students may not thereafter ask to declare engineering majors.

Acceptance is based solely on the college academic record. Only students who have completed most or all of the Foundation Courses will be considered.

In addition, it must be clear that the applicant is capable of completing the major in a 'reasonable period of time.' Therefore, students are encouraged to complete as many as possible of the lower-division courses in the major before applying for admission to UCSC. (IGETC is not recommended for any SOE majors.)

We strongly recommend that students have completed a year of calculus (accepted as equivalent to Math 19A and 19B), linear algebra, differential equations (not for ISM majors), two programming courses accepted as equivalent to Computer Science 12A and 12B (only 12A for EE majors), a year of calculus-based physics (for CE and EE majors only), and macro- and microeconomics (for ISM majors).

Note: If the student is coming from a community college or a four-year college that does not have an articulation agreement with UCSC, coursework will have to be evaluated for equivalency to the Foundation Courses. This will require submission of course descriptions and syllabi for each course to be considered. Students are then admitted, conditionally admitted, or denied admission.

Admitted: Students who have completed the Foundation Courses with an acceptable GPA will be admitted directly. As directly admitted transfers, students must declare their major during their first quarter at UCSC. Transfer courses must be reviewed for equivalency - if the reviewer indicates there are remaining Foundation Courses to take, the student must take the courses during his or her first quarter at UCSC and declare the major the following quarter.

Conditionally Admitted: Applicants who have completed a portion of the Foundation Courses with an acceptable GPA will be conditionally admitted. They must complete the remaining Foundation Courses during their first quarter at UCSC and declare the major the following quarter.

Denied: Students who have not completed sufficient Foundation Courses or have not achieved an acceptable GPA will be denied admission. This decision may be appealed, but only prior to enrolling as a student at UCSC. Thereafter, these students must select a non-SoE major.

 

Appeals of Denials or Requests to Change Majors
If students feel their denial was in error, or if there were any extenuating circumstances which impacted their performance, students have the right to appeal their denial to the major. To do this, they must submit a letter of appeal to the Undergraduate Admissions Committee as soon as possible. This letter should describe any new information that was not included in the original application. For example, students should explain any factors which led to substandard grades. Students may send a grade report from the current term if it indicates an improved grade point average; or if the information confirms completion of additional Foundation Courses for the major.

Fall 2008 Applicants who were denied admission because they did not return a Supplemental Application form: If you wish to be considered through the appeal process please complete the form below and forward to the School of Engineering no later than May 1, 2008 to be considered for Fall 2008 quarter. Your completed Supplemental Application must also include a letter of appeal addressed to the Associate Dean.

The Supplemental Application form and instructions can be found at:
http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/advising/undergraduate/prospective/supp_app.pdf
or
http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/advising/undergraduate/prospective/supp_app.doc

The committee will consider appeals upon receipt and students will receive a response within two weeks. This process must be completed prior to the start of the student's first quarter on campus, otherwise the right to appeal is forfeited.

Students who wish to change majors within the School of Engineering should review the requirements for transfer admission into the new School of Engineering major to determine their preparation.

Appeals or requests to change majors should be mailed to:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Baskin School of Engineering
Attn: Undergraduate Admissions Committee
1156 High St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Appeals or requests to change majors may also be emailed to .

If you have further questions concerning the appeal process, please contact the Undergraduate Advising office at 831.459.5840 or email .

 

Applying to the major after starting at UCSC

Current UCSC students who are proposed, affiliated with a cluster, declined direct admission or declared in another major can apply to get into an SoE major after completing the Foundation Courses.

Note: Transfer students who did not list an engineering major on their UCSC application or who were denied admission to an engineering major at that time cannot subsequently apply to the School of Engineering.

Acceptance is based upon the Declaration GPA in the Foundation Courses, which is based on all attempts at these courses (including D, F and W grades). Grades in other courses taken for the major are considered as well. Currently, a Declaration GPA of 2.8 or better will guarantee admission. For this calculation:

1. Grades earned on Foundation Courses taken during UCSC Summer Session, UC Extension, or elsewhere (at a community college or during summer sessions at other four-year colleges and universities) will be counted toward the Declaration GPA.
2. A grade of P (Pass) will be treated as a C and grades of NP (No Pass) or W (late withdrawal) will be treated as an F.

Note: Students must apply for the major before completing 90 units of credit (usually spring quarter of your sophomore year).

Applications will be accepted each quarter during the first seven class days of the quarter. They must be submitted electronically by filling out a Request to Declare form.

The departmental decision will be emailed to the student in the following week, and can be picked up at the Undergraduate Advising Office during that time as well. Approval of the Request to Declare form signifies that the student is cleared for declaration of the major. The full procedure for declaration can be found at the Steps to Declare page.

 

Foundation Courses for BINF, CS, EE & ISM Majors

BINF	CMPS	EE	ISM
CMPS 12A	CMPE 16	AMS 27/L	CMPE 16
CMPS 12B	CMPS 12A	MATH 19A	CMPS 12A
CHEM 1B/M	CMPS 12B	MATH 19B	MATH 19A
CHEM 1C/N	MATH 19A	PHYS 5A/L	MATH 19B
MATH 19A	MATH 19B	PHYS 5B/M	ISM 50 (or ECON 1 & 2 for transfer students)
MATH 19B		PHYS 5C/N

Applying to CE

Transfer students must apply to Computer Engineering when they apply to UCSC. Admission is based on performance in all transferable science, math and engineering courses which fulfill Computer Engineering required courses. At least five courses required for the major must transfer for a student to be eligible for admission. These courses include AMS 27, CE 12, CE 16, CE 80E, CS 12A, CS 12B, EE 70, Math 19A, Math 19B, Math 23A, Physics 5A, Physics 5C.

Continuining students are admitted based upon grades in any five lower division courses required for the major. These courses include AMS 27, CE 12, CE 16, CE 80E, CS 12A, CS 12B, EE 70, Math 19A, Math 19B, Math 23A, Physics 5A, Physics 5C.

 

Course Titles

AMS 27/L, Mathematical Methods for Engineers and Lab
CHEM 1B/M & 1C/N, General Chemistry and Labs
CMPE 12/L, Comp. Systems & Assembly Lang. and Lab
CMPE 16, Applied Discrete Mathematics
CMPS 12A, Introduction to Programming
CMPS 12B, Introduction to Data Structures
ECON 1 Microeconomics
ECON 2 Macroeconomics
ECON 11A & 11B, Mathematical Methods for Economists
ISM 50, Business Information Systems
MATH 19A & 19B, Calculus for Science/Engineering/Math
PHYS 5A/L, 5B/M, & 5C/N, Introduction to Physics and Labs

For further information, please contact the School of Engineering Undergraduate Advising Office (225 Baskin Engineering) at (831) 459-5840 or .