I’m a senior in high school planning on applying early to Yale and other schools. I’ve taken Calc 1 and 2 and am enrolled in Calc 3, and I’ve realized I like math and I’m good at it. I haven’t taken physics because it hasn’t fit into my schedule (tried to take it this year but there was a conflict, took Bio and AP bio as well as Chem in years past) and I’m becoming interested in engineering. The thing is, I’m not sure about engineering and not sure what I want to do as a career.
Many schools make you choose what college you’re applying to, and usually engineering is separate. I’m not sure if I should apply for engineering because I know engineering programs usually make it harder to get in, and I’m not sure about engineering but am interested.
If anyone has been in this situation, I’d love some insight and help. I want to be able to explore in college, but don’t want to miss out on trying engineering or anything else.
If it is harder to get in as an engineering applicant, it will typically require another admission process to change to engineering if you enroll as a non engineering student.
If Yale is your first choice, know that it accepts people into the general Yale College population. However, for potential Engineering applicants, they request an engineering-specific supplement from applicants. Frankly, they’re keen on top engineering candidates and this supplement allows them to target them specifically.
The good thing is for engineering, any ABET accredited school will give you a fantastic engineering education. However, like you said, you’re not 100% settled so it’s understandable that you’d like to keep options open. I was in your exact shoes, in more ways than one.
I’ll just come out and say it - don’t apply as an engineer to colleges that have different (eg more difficult) admission standards for engineers.
A decade or so ago there were a lot of questions about college selection and jobs on Wall Street. These days they seem to have been replaced with questions about engineering and CS. Which means a lot of kids are asking not out of a deep desire or interest but as part of following the pack. And while for Wall Street the advice is mainly to go to an elite school where they recruit from, for engineering the impact is different. Engineers take some of the hardest classes for undergrads and need to study much more than many of their peers. It is no surprise that the dropout rate nationally for engineers at most schools is 1 out of 2 or higher.
Another “tell” here is your interest in schools like Yale. At Ivy colleges few of those with an engineering degree actually take jobs as engineers. The vast majority go to work on, yes, Wall Street. So what it really comes down to is you don’t want to shut any doors, and maybe engineering will be what you decide is right for you, but it is unlikely.
So my advice is don’t apply as an engineer or else you face a significant risk of being turned down at colleges that would have accepted you otherwise. Once enrolled in any major you can start out taking the same math & science classes engineers do, but my bet is that before the 1st year is up you’ll decide it isn’t for you. And in the event you become convinced engineering is what you really want to do then the door is still open. While it may be easier to continue on to an engineering degree if you are initially accepted into the major, there are still pathways at any college to change your major into engineering.
The last assumption is often incorrect at schools where admission selectivity varies by major. Maybe the door is still open, but only a tiny bit, to the point where students need extremely high GPAs or face extremely competitive admission processes to change into desired engineering or CS majors.
It’s FAR easier to switch OUT of engineering than in. If you have an inkling, I’d start in engineering. If you don’t and then want to get in, you first have to be admitted (which in many programs is not assured and can be challenging, if not impossible), then you start at square one because the curriculum is SO sequential.
Make sure you pick a school that has non-engineering options in case you decide it isn’t a good fit.
As for Yale, it’s not exactly an engineering powerhouse. Most any state flagship will be more widely recognized within the industry. If you want to be a banker with an engineering degree, that’s a different story.
" I haven’t taken physics because it hasn’t fit into my schedule" - Do you mean you have not taken AP Physics? I (You really need at least high school physics as prereq for engineering… AP/IB would be even better).
High school physics is helpful for aspiring engineers, but I certainly wouldn’t call it a prerequisite. Even the 4-year program paths at all the ABET-accredited engineering programs assume no prior physics or calculus experience, thus the reason those courses are listed as requirements in the first year. Having previous experience with the material in high school essentially just eases the transition.
Some colleges’ physics courses list do high school physics as a recommended prerequisite, presumably assuming that the student has been exposed to the subject at a high school level, although that may not be strictly necessary.