<p>My son is putting together his EA app to Northeastern, and of course the question comes up which college to apply to and what major. He has strengths across the board and could apply as an engineer or a business major if he wanted, but as a sr in hs does not have any narrow focused interests yet. Would it be a problem if he applies to the college of arts and sciences as an undecided major? The supplement asks for first and 2nd choices. That would be his realistic first choice. His 2nd choice might be more of a fantasy - some kind of engineer. :D</p>
<p>I was hoping that Maximus, who seems to know more about NEU than anybody on the board, would answer your question...in the meantime, I'm not sure I would apply undecided. It really depends on your student but for instance, my son went into NEU with a semester of credit due to APs (they even took a 3 on
Euro. History) and community college classes. Because he passed the AP Eng Lit he did not have to take Freshmen writing. So, as a freshmen he is taking one course in his major already and other courses that relate to his major. His roommate is a business major, lots of engineering majors in the honors dorm with them. From what I can gather, many of them are taking heavier science and math than he is (he does not have either one this semester). It might make sense to check with someone in admissions or do some web searching on how hard or easier it is to change majors... sorry I don't have a better handle on it.</p>
<p>NJRes:
NE was the only school we have visited that suggested that a student NOT list "undecided" as their major on their application. Most other schools admitted that was okay, and quite common. NE said that it would reduce chances for admission, because you get placed in a different (and more competitive?) pool of students. At the same time, they stressed that it is easy to cross register, and take classes from many different departments. So, they advised to declare what you think you might be interested in studying, and that changes were possible later.</p>
<p>Njers:
I don't know about Northeastern, but for many schools it is almost impossible to transfer INTO engineering from other disciplines. (However, lots of kids drop engineering and slide into something else.) So you might want to check that out.</p>
<p>I have no real answers either but my gut says apply to CAS either undecided, or, if S really may consider engineering down the road, what about either applying to COE undecided and CAS second, with either math or one of the pure sciences as major? You can easily change majors within CAS (and you don't actually declare a major until soph yr). And a relatively high number of COE students decide they do not want to do engineering and change majors later. Also, my guess is that chances may be better with CAS even undecided than Engineering; I believe we were told that Engineering was harder to get into than CAS--fewer students and slightly higher stats? Basically, if S is not seriously considering Engrg right now why start out there? By listing as a second choice even if you list undecided CAS first, you are still showing a student who is probably interested in science and math.</p>
<p>Also just by way of background, for engrg students, there is a core curriculum the first yr that includes: calc, chem, physics, engrg design (one ea sem), social/hist electives and college writing. NEU requires engrg freshmen to take a 1-credit intro to engrg course fall semester to help them figure out what major they are really interested in. So for Engr you have little choice during registration in what courses you take unless you are getting AP credit and skipping some. (They even pre-assign sections for non-electives in an attempt to streamline the process and also to divide students into smaller groups that will have classes together so early orientation was not much of a benefit as far as choosing classes or sections for my S). </p>
<p>As far as I know, they do NOT do anything like this for CAS. But I believe CAS also requires a similar 1-credit intro course (intro to college or by major, ie intro to physics, intro to biology etc). I mention this as something to keep in mind...strategically, if your S is possibly interested in engrg, maybe he could start out in CAS as a science major or even undecided and could take some of the same intro level math/science courses in first yr as engr students and not be behind if he decides to switch to engrg? I really do not know how easy or how often CAS students switch over to COE, although the opposite happens quite frequently (also, just fyi, NEU also has an accelerated 5-yr/BA-MS program where you major in Physics and get MS in Elec Engrg in 5 yrs in case S might be interested in something like that? I assume you do fewer co-ops? That would mean starting in CAS).</p>
<p>Sorry, more info than you were looking for and no real answers (must be the ASpie in me!)...but I would guess if he has good stats etc his chances should be good even if he lists undecided...applyng EA may help the most.</p>
<p>missed the other recent posts due to own rambling, but I agree, probably better to have something listed for CAS--and it is easy to change majors within CAS (although with careful planning esp first yr, you may be also be able to switch to COE later, JMO)</p>
<p>Go back and read some of the earlier posts on this forum too..Maximus listed difficulty of admit by major...some majors are more competitive than others...I believe this is part of the reason they say do not apply undecided....</p>