do you decide your major when applying to college or after your first year of college? i know that i want to go into STEM, like in engineering or computer science, but am really worried that i will have to pick one specific type of major like chemical/software, and will end up hating it. is it possible to initially major in some general engineering degree, and then specifically major in a type of engineering and just test out the waters?
Different universities do it differently.
Some admit by major. If they fill each major, it may be difficult to change to a different major. At least one school has high GPA progression requirements to stay in the major.
Some admit to a first year pre engineering status. Students declare majors later. At many of these schools, some or all engineering majors require a high GPA or competitive admission to declare.
Some admit to the school in general. Some of these have enough capacity for all engineering majors to be open to all students who pass the prerequisites. But there may be some where some majors are competitive admission.
The schools where it is easiest to declare or change major tend to be very wealthy private schools and not very selective schools where many engineering students find that engineering is too hard for them. Popular state flagships are the most common examples of schools where declaring or changing engineering majors can be difficult or competitive.
The first year of engineering is the same for everyone…Calc, Physics, Chem, programming…Sophomore year you may add a major specific course but it is more of the same.
This is not necessarily true at all schools, particularly when students are directly admitted to the major (rather than engineering undeclared or first year pre-engineering or some such).