Hello,
I am wondering about the admission to schools and am wanting to study engineering. I understand that the engineering side of a university is a subsidiary of the university itself, like the Cockrell School of Engineering is within the University of Texas at Austin. Whenever you apply to a school, are you also accepted to that school of engineering?
It depends on the college/university. Some have separate Colleges of Engineering which you have to directly apply. Others, you apply to the general college and you declare a major later on.
Most of the time, you apply to the University and specify college of engineering in the application. You don’t have to declare a major on the application except for some schools that directly admit you into specific programs/majors like UIUC. If you do not apply to the engineering school this way, you may be able to transfer into engineering school internally but it is not guaranteed.
My DS’s school requires admission to both the University and the College of Engineering (especially if you will be applying for engineering scholarships). Once admitted, you have to continue to upgade to intermediate major and finally a declared major (required to enroll in certain engineering classes). Each university is different, so I would call and ask.
Engineering majors usually have additional requirements such as 4 years of math in HS, minimal SAT/ACT math scores, and subject tests in Math 2 and a science (chem/physics). Make sure you complete those additional requirements - check with the schools you plan on applying to.
Engineering /CS schools are often the most competitive of any of the schools within a given university.