I’m undeclared and I wanted to know the process to switch into mechanical engineering. I know that it will be very tough. What classes would you recommend taking the first quarter? Thanks everyone
If you are attending Freshman Orientation, you will meet with an academic advisor to help you plan your courses.
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Before petitioning for a change of major to mechanical engineering, six (6) of the following core courses or their UC equivalents must be completed: Math 3A-B; Math 4A; Math 4B; Math 6A-B; Physics 1-2; ME 14-15 (at least one of the 6 courses must include ME 14 or ME 15). Acceptance into the major will be based on UC grade point averages, applicable courses completed, and space availability. All students considering changing into Mechanical Engineering must meet with the ME Academic Advisor during their first year.
call the engineering office and ask how many people made this switch in each of the past few years, and how many tried. The info on the page at https://engineering.ucsb.edu/undergraduate/academic-advising/change-major-college-engineering is vague and they ought to be able to give you some firm numbers
Since this is an advice forum,here’s my advice. If majoring in MechE is something you are really sure you want to do because you’ve talked with engineers to understand the field, looked into the type of work, and so on – in such a case you might want to think about alternate plans if the info from UCSB is discouraging. Although this brings up the question that if you have long wanted to major in MechE then why didn’t you apply with that major? Anyway, the alternate plans would include not attending UCSB but instead going to a CC where you can prepare to enter a UC or CSU as a junior level transfer. The odds of getting to your end goal, again assuming you really understand what a ME does and are certain it is right for you, may be higher this way.
And if you do go to UCSB then your 2nd year, when you are completing the requirements to apply to the major, you ought to be applying at the same time as a xfer student at CSU and UC campuses in case you get into one of them and are not accepted as a xfer at UCSB. You should also be meeting regularly with the undergrad engineering advisor if you go to UCSB (once a quarter or so). By the end of your 1st year your grades will enable a better estimate of whether you’ll be accepted as a change-of-major assuming you keep up the trend you’ve shown.
On the other hand, if MechE is something that recently became an interest, I’d say take the time this summer to talk to actual engineers and find out about the field so that when you start school in the fall you have a strong sense of whether it is right for you rather than kicking that can down the road. It is unfortunate that engineers need to decide so soon (really by 12th grade when they apply to college at most schools) and perhaps that is why 1/2 or more nationwide end up dropping out of engineering programs.