<p>From what I can see online, it appears that as a Freshman you declare your intended major in Engineering. However, it also appears that most student's first year in Tech are pretty similar. My question is, if you are unsure what you want to major in, does that first year help give you some idea? Can you change your major after the first year without losing any ground? Some schools first year gives you a flavor of the various engineering areas but I don't see that at NU. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Per my son the Eng Major : You can go into Eng as declared or undeclared - They want you to declare in Soph year.</p>
<p>He also said that the Quarter system allows you to look at different disciplines before you decide and/or declare. And you can change your mind - but yes, if you change your mind at end of Jr year you might have to make up ground.</p>
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<p>Actually, NU is one of the few schools that let freshmen to experience real engineering early by giving them design projects for real clients. In “Engineering Analysis”, several courses in math, physics, mechanic, and computer programming were integrated to let students combine materials in those aeas and apply them to case studies. The curriculum is more innovative than most others.</p>
<p>Yes, How could I forget to comment about the Engineering First Program!</p>
<p>All Frosh are put into 3-4 person teams, then linked up to real people with real problems.
It’s multi-disciplinary - my Son and D the ChmeEs were linked with MatSci, Elect & MechEs -
The groups interview their clients, and create working models to help. Then at the end of the term their is a big show where all the projects are on display and are judged by Eng professionals.</p>
<p>I was really impressed by the ingenious solutions - and you could tell that their clients - with various handicapped issues - appreciated all the work and effort - and answers that went into the projects.</p>
<p>I would have given them all A’s, but that’s not the way they do things at NU!</p>
<p>[Engineering</a> First ® Program | McCormick School of Engineering | Northwestern University](<a href=“Undergraduate Programs | Undergraduate Study | Academics | Northwestern Engineering”>Undergraduate Programs | Undergraduate Study | Academics | Northwestern Engineering)</p>
<p>That is exactly what D likes about the NU’s engineering school.</p>
<p>A belated thanks to each of you for your responses. My daugher applied early and was accepted to NU’s engineering program. We’re very excited. As an alum and now a parent of a student, I really think NU has to do more to market programs like Engineering First. I was looking for it while we were looking at schools and couldn’t find it. Thanks again.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is the varying requirements of different majors and how you will start to fulfill them freshman year. For example, some majors like chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, materials science will require a full year of chemistry freshman year, while others like mechanical engineering or computer science will not. If you are considering one of the engineering majors that requires a full year of chemistry, make sure to take all of the chemistry. </p>
<p>My daughter was in Comm her first year, and the only courses that she took related to engineering were her MENU classes. In April of that year, she decided that she wanted to be in McCormick. She managed to jam all of her reqs for mechanical engineering into the next three years. As of this evening (after an all-nighter, two take homes, and an in-class exam today), she only needs one more course to graduate. So, it is possible to transfer into McCormick, even starting sophomore year. Of course, she wishes she had been in McCormick from the beginning so that she could have explored a little more and been able to take Russian lit.</p>