<p>I'm curious, if I wanted to be an engineer, when I applied to say, Michigan State, would I just do a general applications, and then choose my major once I was accepted? Basically, when you apply to a college, do you apply for a major, or apply to the school and then choose your major? I'm asking because I know some schools are average, like University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, but then are excellent at one program, engineering in this case. So could an average student just get into the engineering program? (This question is all for undergrad by the way)</p>
<p>It depends. </p>
<p>You should first make sure that your college has the major.</p>
<p>Some colleges, like The College of New Jersey, require you to specify a major when applying. I suspect it is so that they don’t get too many education or biology majors.</p>
<p>Some colleges, like Case Western Reserve University, have open door admission policy so you declare your major later on and even if you thought you wanted Economics and you switched to Engineering that would be fine as long as you take needed courses.</p>
<p>Other Universities you apply to a “college” like Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Nursing, Business and within that you can declare a major later.</p>
<p>For Michigan State it says: Students designate a major preference when submitting an application for admission. Students admitted to the university as a freshman or sophomore may designate “no preference.” All students who are undecided must officially declare a major by the end of sophomore year</p>
<p>It really depends on the college and the major. Some Universities require you to be accepted into the college where your major is taught. Mich State’s engineers are in the Engineering College. <a href=“Colleges and Programs | Michigan State University”>http://www.msu.edu/academics/colleges.html</a> For engineering you generally need to opt in early because the courses are taught in sequence. </p>