<p>Hey all, I just signed up for collegeconfidential and need some advice.</p>
<p>First, I was admitted to UT's aerospace engineering program, but am having second thoughts on the nature of the work. I am strongly considering changing my major from aerospace to civil engineering. Here are my questions:</p>
<p>The website says I can simply send a fax to request a change. What are my chances of changing majors within the school?</p>
<p>If my request is not met, will I lose time due to a change in major later on?</p>
<p>The civil engineering department says I can SPECIALIZE in different things, should I include my specialization when requesting the major change, or is that decided later?</p>
<p>Finally, what are the chances of finding a job in civil engineering (structural) after college?</p>
<p>Thanks for any advice you all can give. -Steven</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptance! UT’s engineering school is highly regarded.</p>
<p>I have no direct experience with the Cockerell School (my D is in the College of Liberal Arts), but I would suggest simply picking up the phone and calling them (as opposed to calling the admissions dept.) D had second thoughts about her major going in (ultimately decided to stick with the original plan) and we kept phoning them with questions. I think it only gets mucky if you are attempting to transfer between colleges. Really, I always find the people I speak to at UT are nice when I call. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you for the response. I didn’t realize I could contact the engineering department directly, so I will definitely look into that. I am worried that all of the paper pushing will amount to a lot of time involved in getting the change to happen, but my freshman orientation is June 8th, and I do not want to sign up for classes I don’t need. I’ll give Cockrell a call and see if they can help out anymore. Anybody else?</p>
<p>Steven, I think calling is your best bet. I was in the Civil department, but many years ago. I’m a structural engineer. You don’t need to worry about specializing yet. You’ll start out with general courses, and get specific later.</p>
<p>It’s tough getting any kind of job right now, but I’ve done OK in structures. I met my husband in grad school at UT, and we moved to Maine in 1986 in order to get jobs. It IS a very cyclical profession - up one year and down the next! We both got laid off a few times and were even on unemployment! We started our own firm (just the two of us) that we run out of our house. It’s been 11 years now and it’s been steadier than working for somebody else!</p>
<p>If you’re SURE you want to go the structural route, you could think about Architectural Engineering, which was my specific major. I picked it because I was interested in building design - I knew I didn’t want to design highways or draw drainage plans! It’s a very tough program to get into now, though.</p>
<p>Good luck! Feel free to PM me to ask more questions.</p>
<p>PM sent MaineLonghorn</p>