So I just got accepted today. I applied for Computer Science but I guess I didn’t get into it because it says I’ve been “admitted to an alternate major which is Undeclared Exploratory Track UND - Natural Sciences”. Can someone explain what that means?
They mentioned these at the accepted students day - trying to provide better guidance to undecided candidates and those who were not accepted into their requested major. Selected RAPs will be aligned with these tracks as well. More details here
@Derflez - CS was very competititve this year. There are simply too many qualified candidates for the available spaces. This is UMass way to encourage the applicant to attend their school with the freedom to choose their major later. I actually think it is a very acceptable approach because many students change their 1st choice major anyway. It means that UMass gets you in their ranks (and I’m sure they want that) and gives you a chance to explore what major you might want. I would also look into choosing CS as a minor. The demand is so hot that that may be enough to get you a very desirable job after graduation.
@derflez my DS is in the same situation as you. Applied for CS and got the same exploratory track . He is just going to speak with the advisors and get into the CS dept. later
Usually exploratory students are “on contract” for their major. They will need to get and maintain certain grades for a few semesters, and then apply into their majors. I am a declared CS major, however I do know many people who are “on contract”.
My son applied for mechanical engineering and was accepted into the exploratory natural sciences too. He was given a chancelors scholarship. He will not be accepting as he got into other schools where he can study his chosen field. He said it was a slap in the face. They never even looked at his application until last week (only just went “under review”.).