Selective Major Application

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Beginning with the Summer 2025 continuing student application cycle, students will be able to apply to this major once per year (between Summer and Fall quarters).  Note that space will be limited and acceptance to this major is not guaranteed.  For more information about the admission process and criteria please see the UC San Diego Selective Majors Page.

General Information

UC San Diego undergraduate students who would like to change from another major or undeclared into the DSC program may apply to the major via the Selective Major Application. Applications must be submitted on or before the deadline.

Please note that space within the Data Science major is limited and admission is not guaranteed. We recommend that all interested students looking to switch majors meet with their current Major Advisor, College Advisor, and a DSC Advisor.

Students majoring in Computer Science and Engineering may NOT double major or minor in Data Science.

The Data Science Selective Major Application can be found here: https://soeapp.ucsd.edu/cappedmajor/DSC  

2024-2025 Selective Major Application Timeline

WINTER 2025:

  • Open to Students to Apply: Thursday, January 2
  • Deadline to Apply or Make Changes: Sunday, January 12
  • Offers of Admission Sent: Friday, January 24
  • Deadline to Accept/Deny: Friday, January 31

SPRING 2025:

  • Open to Students to Apply: Wednesday, March 26
  • Deadline to Apply or Make Changes: Sunday, April 6
  • Offers of Admissions Sent: Friday, April 18
  • Deadline to Accept/Deny: Friday, April 25

Eligibility Requirements

  1. Successful completion of twenty-four units (for letter grade) at UC San Diego (to ensure that students are making progress toward their degree).
  2. Successful completion of the 3 screening courses: (MATH 18 or MATH 31AH), (MATH 20C or MATH 31BH), and DSC 10.
    • Courses must be completed for a letter grade at the time of the Selective Major Application to be eligible. Students may not have any outstanding grades for screening courses or any reason (e.g., Incompletes, pending Academic Integrity case, etc.). Grades from transfer credit for screening courses will be used to determine eligibility.
  3. Students who entered UC San Diego as First-Years must apply by their 6th academic quarter.
  4. Students who entered UC San Diego as Transfers must apply by their 3rd academic quarter.
  5. Students with 150+ units at the time of the application will need to submit a quarter-by-quarter (QxQ) plan for their remaining requirements to be reviewed by the DSC department and their college. QxQ plan must be emailed to dscstudent@ucsd.edu no later than the Selective Major Application deadline.
  6. Students are allotted 2 application attempts.

Selection Process

  1. Students will be ranked based on their GPA in the 3 screening courses: (MATH 18 or MATH 31AH), (MATH 20C or MATH 31BH), and DSC 10.
    • Grades from transfer credit will be used in calculating the GPA for the screening courses, but not overall GPA.
  2. Students with the same GPA in the screening courses will be ranked by their overall GPA.
  3. Students will be admitted according to their ranking based on the number of available seats. If there are more students at a given rank than available seats, random selection will be made from among the students at that rank to fill in the remaining seats.

Time to Degree Considerations

Students who entered UC San Diego as First-Years: 

Students must be on track to complete DSC 30 and DSC 40A prior to their third academic year at UC San Diego to be on a 4-year graduation track.

Students who entered UC San Diego as Transfers: 

Currently, the DSC major requires a minimum of 8 quarters for transfer students to complete. To remain on this 8-quarter transfer plan, transfer students must be on track to complete DSC 30 and DSC 40A prior to their second academic year at UC San Diego.