<p>I'm just finishing my Carnegie Mellon supplement on the Common App and I have a few questions.</p>
<p>First: when they say "current classwork" do they mean the classes I have right now, or my courseload for this year? The wording suggests the former but all other schools asked for my courseload for the entire year, so I just want to check what I'm supposed to put there.</p>
<p>Second: I am applying to the Carnegie Institute of Technology. I noticed it says "If you want to be considered for Electrical and Computer Engineering, you must specify this department". What exactly is meant by this? Is it impossible to switch into ECE at a later point? As of right now I'm not sure what field of engineering I want to study. Would putting down undecided lock me out of ECE? If so, would it be better to put ECE and thus retain the option (if I were accepted) of switching out into another field should I decide to?</p>
<p>Current Classwork
List every class you’re taking this year if you can. Otherwise, just list your semester courses.</p>
<p>ECE vs undecided
ECE is harder to get into than any of the other majors at CIT. Thus, you have to specify ECE if you want to be considered for it. If you’re accepted to CIT for any other major, you can switch into ECE as a freshman by doing well in the core ECE courses. </p>
<p>If you’re truly undecided, I would highly suggest listing undecided. Its easier to get into CIT if you’re undecided instead of ECE.</p>
<p>To answer your second question: since ECE is very popular, they can’t take everyone who applies. In your case, if you’re not sure, trying to ECE would not hurt because if you get in, you won’t be restricted: you can choose any major you like. But if you dont get in, you will have to try pretty hard if you want to get a spot in your class’ ECE group.</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you.</p>
<p>Still not sure on what to do in regards to ECE. I’m a fairly strong applicant, score/course rigor-wise. Still, my EC’s aren’t anything special and I don’t want to take anything for granted. At the same time, I’ve already been admitted EA at University of Michigan, so it’s not like I’d be completely high and dry if I was rejected for ECE.</p>
<p>Additionally, I have MCS and SCS as my 2nd and 3rd choices respectively.</p>
<p>My decision rests on the following:</p>
<p>A. How difficult is it to switch into ECE within CIT?</p>
<p>B. Is it even possible/how difficult would be be to transfer into CIT if I were only admitted for MCS or SCS?</p>
<p>If I were you, I would apply for ECE regardless.
A. Nobody in CIT declares his/her major until March-ish of their freshman year, so you have that time to take an intro course you’re interested in. Before switching to ECE you should at least have taken the intro course, and did very well in it.
B. I think switching from those two colleges shouldn’t be too difficult as long as you have decent grades (a 3.0+). If you’re still early on in your college career (fresh-soph) ,majority of your classes will probably be requirements/gen eds, some of which overlap between colleges, so switching around shouldn’t make you lose too much time.</p>