CMU Science vs. UCDavis Engineering

College Search & Selection
1

<p>The decision for my daughter is between the Engineering
school at UC Davis, and the Science school at Carnegie
Mellon. She is waitlisted by the Engineering school of
CMU.</p>

<p>She is equally interested in science (more specifically
Phisics), and engineering. The only reason she marked
Engineering as her first choice is because it is usually
easier to change from Engineering to Science, vs. the
other way around.</p>

<p>CMU is a more prestigeous school. The concern is that
it is hard to change major. In fact, if one admitted
to Science school alone, she can only do double major
only if both majors are in the same Science school, to
our best knowledge.</p>

<p>On the other hand, UC Davis is a solid alternative, and
more affordable as California residents.</p>

<p>I think this is a highly personal choice. It is hard
to judge how important is the flexibility to change
major in the future. The need may never arise. Any
thought on it is welcome. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Can you call CMU and ask them if she can change to engineering if she wants to?
What engineering degree whould she do?</p>

3

<p>I'd go with Carnegie, I think Carnegie has a better name nationwide amd probably has a better rep, while UC Davis I think mainly gets high value within California. </p>

<p>I'd also choose CMU for the following reasons:
Cheap place to live in general(Pittsburg)
Smaller Classes than UC Davis
Probably has better companies coming in to recruit</p>

4

<p>To bjwbell:</p>

<p>In theory you can change major, subject to space availability. In practice, from what we have heard, there are far more demand than supply for a space in the engineering school at CMU.</p>

<p>This could be a moot point. She may fall in love with the Science school and never want to change. The point remains that she has more flexibility if she gets into the engineering school in the first place.</p>