So tonight I got an application update and was informed by Umass Amherst that I was admitted with a $10k Chancellors Award.
However, I applied for General Engineering. On the acceptance letter, it says the following…
“You have been admitted to the Exploratory Track in the College of Natural Sciences.”
Is this the General Engineering program? I don’t remember putting a second choice major down. Ty in advance
Congrats on getting in. The award you were given is renewable from one year to the next, so long as you complete specific things re: your GPA. You can find out what those things are by contacting admissions.
You weren’t admitted right into the engineering major. Something about your application - your SAT scores, your GPA, or your high school coursework - didn’t allow you to get right into that major. Instead, you’ve been admitted into what’s basically a program that allows you to take the pre-requisite coursework for admission to the engineering major:
Info on the exploratory track: https://www.cns.umass.edu/advising/exploratory-track-in-natural-science?_ga=2.186216681.1133336813.1551803651-2094929000.1551803651
Talk to admissions about what courses you must take to be able to get into the engineering major.
It’s hard to get right into the engineering majors at UMass Amherst, so it’s not unusual for people to be admitted into the program you’re in now. So long as you take the pre-req classes once you’re at UMass and do decently in them, you can apply to the major.
You also need to ask the CNS academic dept and/or advising center https://www.cns.umass.edu/advising/cns-advising-center how competitive it is to get into engineering from the exploratory track:
How many students apply?
What % of students are accepted?
What was their average GPA?
What are the required classes?
The classes required to apply to the engineering majors for a current UMass Amherst student are:
MATH 131 (calculus 1 for engineering/science majors)
PHYSICS 151 or CHEM 111 (general physics 1 for science/eng majors) (general chem 1 for science/eng majors)
ENGLWRIT 112 (freshman English/college writing)
You’re required to get at least a C in these classes, and for your overall GPA, to be able to apply to the engineering major. But the average GPA of students transferring into the engineering major from inside UMass Amherst is something you’ll need to ask UMass for. When last I looked… I remember it may have been about a 3.3-3.5, but I really can’t be sure of that, so please ask.