<p>Ok, so I am in a very complicated situation right now and have a serious decision to make.
I started at a CC in Fall 2011.
I applied for transfer for Fall 2013, got admitted to Cal as an Econ major.
Decided to go to Cal.
So now I am currently in my first full semester here at Berkeley (took one summer class at Cal and got a B in Stat 20).
Recently, however, I decided to switch my major to Mechanical Engineering.
I won't go into why I want to switch to ME, nor is it the point of this post.
(This would have been so much longer if I were to say why I want to switch)
Let's just say I want to go into a technical major, and I am determined to switch to Mechanical Engineering.
As many of you should know, UC Berkeley gives transfer admits a maximum of 5 full semesters to complete their degree and also there is a unit cap enforced.
Not surprisingly, as an Econ major, I do not have the prerequisites for Engineering, except for Calc 1 and 2.
Transfer admits are not allowed to apply for a change of college to the College of Engineering anyways.
So this all puts me in a very complicated dilemma.
In order to me to major in ME, I would have to drop out of Cal and go back to CC and start taking Engineering prereqs, which will take another two years. At first, I was very reluctant of such idea but I figured if I wanna switch, that's what I have to do.
So it really boils down to two options:
1. I could spend two more years at Cal and graduate with Econ and then start engineering for a second Bachelor.
2. I could drop out now and begin taking engineering prereqs at CC in Spring 2014 and apply again in two years. (I will be turning 21 later this year if that helps)</p>
<p>Trade-offs:
If I take the first route, I would practically be burning my tuition and wasting my time. But at least, you could say, I have a degree from Cal.
If I take the second route, I would have to withdraw from Cal and my money and time invested in this semester (and summer) would be wasted. And I would be applying for a transfer for a second time in two years with well over 100 units (right now I have 64 completed, with 15 in progress) , which puts me in a pretty bad place. Also, I won't be getting back into Berkeley COE since I would be on a withdraw from UC Berkeley L&S. The only way for me to switch to COE at Berkeley is to apply for a change of college, which, like mentioned, is now allowed for transfers.
So I will be looking at other UCs like Davis, LA, SD, SC...Or maybe Cal State</p>
<p>I had been talking to L&S advisor, community college counselor and my parents, who are very reluctant of the idea of my dropping out and start in another field. Their argument is that I should finish what I started and then move on to a new phase later.</p>
<p>I am really lost right now and I really need some advice. I thought I'd throw this up there so I can expose my situation to broader range of people.
Please feel free to say anything. I am looking for some raw / unbiased opinions.
Any words will be appreciated.</p>