So I’ve been deferred from Santa Clara EA to RD. It was kind of unexpected, especially since I was accepted to Northeastern, which seems to be a bit more selective. While I know it wasn’t a make-or-break thing during the first viewing of my application, I noticed that I haven’t really “demonstrated interest” in SCU, even though it’s one of the things they consider on their CDS. I haven’t been able to visit (will visit if accepted, since I’m in NY), and I haven’t had any burning questions to shoot off to my area’s admission’s counselor.
Getting to the point, my question is: how do I demonstrate interest at this stage of the game? The “letter of continued interest” idea always seemed to be a little cheesy to me, although I could just be out of touch. Since I’m applying for Comp. Sci & Engineering (that’s 1 major) in the School of Engineering, they offered me the chance to be reviewed as undecided in the College of A&S if I don’t make it in Engineering (I got a C+ in Pre-Calc - that might’ve been why I was deferred). Should I mention something about “being content” with either, or would that sound too desperate/not interested enough in my major?
Any other advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Just be honest and email the college that you still consider them a top choice. Consider that the admissions office is very busy and won’t really spend much time reviewing logs of who visited and what not. An email is quick and to the point and guarantees someone will see it.
@bobnotbob I think writing and asking them the requirements for moving to engineering from A&S is a legitimate and important question you should have answered. At most schools it requires a certain gpa in certain courses, I honestly have no idea what SCUs are for getting into engineering after you start there. I would want to know how difficult it is to move into engineering in general - say you meet requirements, is it then a slam dunk, is it selective meaning you have to apply to the engineering school in some manner, or depend on how many are enrolled that year? etc. There are a lot of questions you could ask in an email to admissions and/or the engineering school (I would probably write to one and copy another) that would demonstrate interest at the same time. You may want to explore website incase it is obviously stated there. In which case you could say something like, “I see on the website that moving into engineering requires x,y,z…if I meet those requirements, is there anything further required?”
You might mention that you are excited about the opportunity to be reviewed as undecided in A&S because SCU is your number one choice, and you would like to know how difficult or what the requirements would be to move into engineering. It is fine to say that CSE is your top choice major, but add that you are open to what you discover within A&S and the core curriculum of SCU. Many students change majors, they know plans aren’t set in stone and actually like people open to the idea of exploring new things with their minds through the educational process.
You would just need to stay on track in math and physics which you can still do from A&S, they just take a few actual COEN classes in the first couple quarters (intro to programming and intro to engineering type classes) and perhaps you could even get into those or do it in the summer. Good luck!
p.s. like your user name, made me laugh 
@CADREAMIN Alright, I sent it out. Thanks for the help!
Good luck and Happy New Year! Hope you get in!