FOR FALL 2022, UC Berkeley Applicants can now select an ALTERNATIVE MAJOR and this is good news.
Previously if you picked a highly competitive major like EE or CS, you had a much lower chance to get accepted into UCB because if lots of people selected that, the admit rate for that major might be like 6-8% versus 12%-15% for other majors averaging to 11.4% the last cycle.
So you can still shoot your shot and pick CS, but then pick a safety or target backup major to ensure you will at least have a good chance of being accepted by UCB rather than getting rejected.
I do not think this is going to improve acceptance rates but I do think that since UCB will be able to slot admits into their majors better, there will be much fewer waitlist decisions this cycle.
To keep this community safe and supportive: