<p>(I also posted this on The Parents Forum, so I apologize to (and thank) those who have seen it there and commented)</p>
<p>I wasn't sure whether to post this in the Parents Forum or in the Engineering majors forum, but I thought that perhaps a few parents might have some insights regarding my rising high school senior S's situation. He's a strong all-around student (all A's in most rigorous curriculum in large public CA school); all 5's and one 4 on several AP's, 800's on 3 SAT II's, mid to high-700's on the 3 parts of SAT's (taken once, won't retake). He's always been most interested in math and science, and he has done a couple of summer programs, one in astrophysics and one in math, that involved study and some independent research. He's taken AP chemistry and is planning AP physics this year. At this point, he thinks he'll probably major in physics or perhaps physical chemistry, but he thinks he might also be interested in engineering. The problem is, he's never really been exposed to engineering. He's read the descriptions of what the different engineering fields are all about, but feels that he won't know if he's really interested in engineering until he takes courses in it. For some of the colleges to which he's applying, he doesn't need to make the decision between physics or chemistry and engineering until sophomore year, so there's no problem. However, some schools, such as UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon, require that the student apply as a freshman into the school of engineering, and into a specific engineering major;supposedly, it's almost impossible to transfer in later, even into that major.</p>
<p>So, what is a student like my son to do if he doesn't really know at this point if that's the route he wants to go? A couple of people have advised him to apply to engineering at schools such as UCLA because one takes basic math and science in the first and second years, and it's easy to transfer out of engineering into science, just not the other way around. However, he would have to specify a particular field in engineering, such as EE or Chemical Engineering, and he really has no clue which he would prefer, if either. He likes math; he likes chemistry; he likes physics; he basically likes every physical science to which he's been exposed; he recently has been studying climatology for one of his extracurricular activities and he likes that. So he keeps saying, "How can I choose now whether I want science or engineering, when I don't even know which particular science I'm going to want to major in?"</p>
<p>I do know that transferring between schools at CMU requires filling out the internal transfer paperwork, which depends on space availability as well as grades. However, transferring WITHIN the engineering school isn't as difficult, with the exception of getting into EECS. From what I've heard (both from friends who go there now and in my own experience talking with the counselors there when making my college decision), CIT students are required to take intro courses in two distinct engineering areas (ChemE and MechE, for example), and then decide after that on their intended track. Getting into EECS used to be highly competitive, but I've heard that there have been enough spaces in the past few years that the majority of those who wished to switch in were able to do so. Getting out of EE, on the other hand, is apparently much easier.</p>
<p>As far as UCLA goes - I'm sure it's quite similar to UCSD, where transferring between engineering majors is not difficult as long as those majors are not impacted. Chemical engineering (with the exception of Berkeley) is typically not impacted; Electrical usually is. If your son was able to get into UCLA EE, he'd be able to switch into ChemE.</p>
<p>Obviously, you would want to check the specifics with counselors at the specific schools. However, from my experience, even schools where you declare majors when applying tend to be pretty flexible once you've gotten in.</p>
<p>Yes I actually have a friend who's a freshman at CMU right now. He didn't get into EECS but into all other majors in engineering but he says that he's still planning to go into EECS. He says that if you keep a 3.0 GPA during your freshman year you'll almost definitely be able to transfer to EECS.</p>
<p>The problem is that your son will probably be a sophmore upon entering college (if he has AP Calc, Chem and Physics done which are the 3 core courses of the freshman engineer!) and then he will be expected to start taking the sophmore sequence of courses, so he won't have a year to do some soul searching. He can, of course, still take a freshman course "What is Engineering?" or whatever might be offered so that he can be exposed to various types of engineering, but as a sophmore he will began to have specialized in a field and it's too late.</p>
<p>Tell your son to do some soul searching now. Does he want to build cars? Medical Devices? Does he want to write difficult algorithms that perhaps search through DNA? Does he like tinkering with electronics? Do ferrari and fast cars excite him? How about gadgets? How about sitting over a piece of paper with a pen? Maybe he wants to build bridges! How about robots? How about a huge robot that performs surgery on a human being? Some of these things will sound exciting, and more so than others... that's where you go... of course my list is incomplete, I'm biased towards math, CS, BME, and ME, EE, and some CivE but there are a lot of engineering fields out there to explore.</p>
<p>Actually, we've never seen our son as the "engineering type." Other than obsessively building Legos from early childhood until about age 12, he's never really shown any interest in exploring how mechanical things work or building things; he's never been one to take the radio apart, for instance, to see how it works. However, he's loved all of the courses he's taken and all of the experiences he's had in physical science--Regular and AP chem, a summer course that included some research in astrophysics, even studies in climatology he's done for one of his EC's. He seems most excited when he tells us the latest theories about the structure of the universe--both the largest stuff and the smallest particles. He says he likes the challenge of creatively trying to solve complicated problems in science using math. So, maybe he's really not the "engineering type" at all, and is more suited to majoring in physics or chemistry? This is what we're trying to figure out.</p>
<p>I was the exact same way... obsessively creative and constructive as a kid, really good in math and science but never <em>loved</em> it the way some kids love other academic subjects. I was pretty well-rounded, but went into an engineering school at columbia because I felt that's where my talents were (and thus my competitive advantage). I took a few courses in a few disciplines - one Civil course in particular on "Bridges, Buildings and Spacecraft" was pretty hot - but ended up in a non-hands-on major, applied math, just because I got to think instead of do busywork, and didn't get my hands dirty too much.</p>
<p>Your son might find that an engineering school contains the range of possibilities for him that he'd want, and affords him an ability to work with confidence because he's already good at that sort of thing. The analytical abilities he refines in school will serve him well no matter what he does, so in that sense an engineering curriculum - even if he doesn't end up building bridges - is a good thing. And maybe he'll change tacks and be a mathematician or theoretical physicist, but at least he'll still have those avenues open to him, and won't have things like a foreign language requirement rammed down his throat.</p>
<p>Have him visit a few places and see if he likes the students there, and the kind of research that some of those students are doing.</p>
<p>Your son can still do the theoretical stuff he enjoys in engineering. Electromagnetics and solid state research in EE is basically theoretical physics. If he goes into engineering, he'll still have many options related to his interest in physics and chemistry. I think the important thing is for him to try it out. Given the AP credit he will receive, he can probably start taking engineering and advanced physics courses. You will never know what he will end up interested in. That's why college is so great! I have a friend whose complete interest was pure mathematics (theorem proving). He ended up taking a few electrical and computer courses and switched his major to EE.</p>