<p>My son goes to a top prep school and is the captain of his football team. He is interested in becoming an engineer and has been focusing his college search to D3 schools in the Northeast that have football programs.</p>
<p>He has been speaking to coaches and trimmed his list down to a few schools that he is focused on applying early decision 2 to.</p>
<p>In his last conversation, with his top choice school, the coach asked him if he'd consider applying as a liberal arts major rather than an engineering major. The coaches thinking on this is that it would be easier for him to get accepted as a liberal arts major and the coach doesn't want to risk using his "chips" on a situation that isn't more of a sure thing. Their feeling is he can work to get into the engineering program after he is accepted.</p>
<p>My son has other good schools that aren't asking for him to do this kind of thing, but this was his top choice.</p>
<p>My question is whether he should apply to his top choice as a liberal arts major and then fight to get into the engineering department after he gets in, or if this raises some red flags that he will regret later.</p>
<p>I would try to find out from people who already attend that particular school, how difficult it would be to change majors once you are in. At some schools, it is very easy, and at others, not so much.
At any rate, I would definitely consider it if it were my first choice school.<br>
Best of luck to him!</p>
<p>I think we need some clarification. is this coming from the Coach to recruit or from Admissions to Coach to Recruit?</p>
<p>I have to admit I’m lost on the coaches logic if it coming directly from him. This would be a red-flag to me if it is coming from the Coach only. Is the coach going to sponsor your son (a slot) through Admission…yes or no? It is pretty straight forward</p>
<p>However, if the coach is telling you that Admissions has done a pre-read and feels your son is not competitive with other engineering students that is another matter entirely. Is Admissions (not the coach) more comfortable providing a slot for liberal arts admission? If so, your son has some choices to make about the school and/or his decision to study engineering . Then it may come down to how badly your son wants to study engineering. As the father of two engineering students, I can tell you my kids would have dropped sports first before dropping their intended major. But they are pretty hard-core about it. It is what they wanted to do. Your mileage may vary. </p>
<p>While the question and the answer seem straightforward,
the outcome will not be easy to forecast…</p>
<p>Coach/and or Admissions seems to think your son’s scores are not strong enough to get into the engineering school, and are asking your son to apply to a different sub school/concentration/major.</p>
<p>I have heard of this before, and if his scores/grades are not strong enough now against the engineering school, it will be hard to predict how he will stand up against the competition in college trying to get into the engineering school.</p>
<p>He will face serious competition trying to get into the engineering school his freshman year.</p>
<p>WHILE… AND THIS IS THE KICKER… the college students he is competing against will not be devoting 20-25 hours a week during FALL SEASON to football.</p>
<p>So, the easy answer. What is more important to him. Football or engineering?</p>
<p>Another option is to major in physics and take an engineering course or two in the summers at a local university. If he can get a summer engineering internship and or do research in the physics lab that is engineering based - he can probably get into a Masters in Engineering program for grad school. If he was planning on grad school anyway, this may be way for him to have the football and the science during his undergrad years.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that at many DI-AA and above schools, the players often stay on campus to work out over the summer months. There is time to take a course or two each summer (including the one prior to freshman year) to take a couple of courses, thus allowing for a slightly lighter academic load during football season.</p>