<p>I am planning on a pure science major, but would like to take some engineering courses along the way in case I end up going that route after undergrad; I was wondering if I could apply to Columbia College in something like Chemistry, but also take ChemE classes if I were to get in.</p>
<p>Thanks for any help in advance.</p>
<p>I called them and they told me no. I was planning on doing the same thing. They stated, you have to get into the school of engineering to take engineering courses.</p>
<p>Nope. Engineering is separate from the rest of Columbia. From what I gather, the rationale behind it is because the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) students and Columbia College (CC) students start their college career in starkly different ways. The first year at CC is very liberal arts heavy with the Core, while SEAS students take a reduced version of the Core and engineering prerequisite classes. So by the time you’re done with LitHum, UWriting, etc. as a sophomore in CC, you would have to take all the prerequisite classes that the SEAS students have taken during their freshman year to even begin taking real engineering classes. If you really want ChemE courses, I would suggest considering going into ChemE as a major in SEAS, because while CC students cannot take classes in SEAS, SEAS students can take classes in CC.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>Columbia Engineering student here. CC students are allowed to sign up for classes in SEAS. </p>
<p>You can use the [CU</a> Directory of Classes](<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/]CU”>CU Directory of Classes) to see which classes are open to which schools. For example, go to the ChemE page: [Spring</a> 2014 Subject: Chemical Engineering](<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/subj/CHEN/_Spring2014.html]Spring”>http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/subj/CHEN/_Spring2014.html)
Click on a course, and look at the “Open To” section. It appears that all classes open to SEAS are open to CC as well.</p>
<p>Edit: aulica makes a good point. Of course, you might be limited to taking introductory classes if you don’t meet the prerequisites. You can use the SEAS Bulletin and the CC Bulletin to determine how much class overlap there is between chemistry and chemical engineering.</p>
<p><a href=“Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University”>Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University;
<a href=“http://engineering.columbia.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://engineering.columbia.edu</a></p>
<p>BUT even if you can only take introductory classes, you can still get general knowledge to help you decide whether ChemE is something you like.</p>