High School Preparation for Engineering Students

It is recommended that high school students intending to apply to a Baskin School of Engineering major have completed four years of mathematics (through advanced algebra and trigonometry) and three years of science in high school. Comparable college mathematics and science courses completed at other institutions also serve to properly prepare students for these majors.

For First-Year Students

Students interested in declaring a School of Engineering major can do so by following the major declaration policy for that major as specified in the corresponding program statement. Major declaration must be completed by the sixth quarter of study at UCSC (not including summer), but can be done earlier. Students are encouraged to declare as early as possible, to ensure placement into courses required for the major. 

First year students (frosh) interested in pursuing one of the majors in the Baskin School of Engineering are encouraged to indicate that on their application by selecting one of our majors. If they have not done so at the time of application, they will do so upon entry into the department. Please see the UCSC campus admissions site for more information about admission to UCSC.

As of fall 2018, Computer Science is an impacted major. For an incoming student to pursue Computer Science, they must indicate Computer Science on their application and be admitted as such. Students admitted into a different engineering major will not be able to transfer into Computer Science after they enroll.

For Transfer Students

The Baskin School of Engineering strongly encourages applications from transfer students. Due to the prerequisite structure for upper-pision courses, prospective transfer students should have completed as many of the lower-pision requirements for the respective majors as possible to complete the degree within a reasonable time. Students must plan carefully because many courses must be taken sequentially.

Transfer students following the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) should be note that the IGETC plan does not provide transfer students with enough mathematics and engineering courses to allow them to complete Baskin Engineering programs at UCSC in two years.

Students who apply as transfer students with junior status (60 semester units or 90 quarter credits or more of transfer credit) who wish to earn a degree from the Baskin School of Engineering must indicate a major as their first choice on their UC application. (Students may also indicate an alternative major as their second choice.)

Junior transfer students who do not list a major on their application to UCSC will not be considered for admission to such majors after the first day of their first quarter on campus.

Acceptance into the major is based on the student’s academic college record. Applicants are encouraged to take and excel in as many courses that are equivalent to the department’s foundation courses as possible. For many engineering majors, completion of a year of calculus (accepted as equivalent to Mathematics 19A-B), linear algebra, differential equations, a year of calculus-based physics courses (accepted as equivalent to Physics 5A, 5B, 5C), and two programming courses (accepted as equivalent to Computer Science 12A, Computer Science 12B, or Computer Engineering 12/L) are strongly recommended. Only students who have completed most or all of the foundation courses will be offered admission.

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.