<p>I applied with Aerospace Engineering as my intended major and had a few questions if you guys wouldn't mind. First off, is the engineering college a lot harder to get into then the regular one? I assume it is, but if someone could let me know just how much more exclusive it is that'd be great.</p>
<p>Second, if I am not accepted to the engineering college would I then have a chance in the regular college or would I be straight rejected? My friend and a teacher told me that you can be denied entrance to a specialty college but still be accepted to the main school, is this true of Notre Dame?</p>
<p>For some background, I plan on doing AF ROTC and know that they'd love for my major to be Aerospace Engineering over things that I'd rather major in. However, I'm starting to feel that I'd rather be at Notre Dame and doing what I like over being less likely to be accepted because I'm trying to please the Air Force.</p>
<p>Any help on these questions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>ND doesn’t admit students to a particular college. All students are admitted to the “First Year of Studies.” While whatever major you write down on your application is considered, but mostly in the context of your future career plans, courses you’ve taken, etc. (That being said, you will be asked to declare an intended major if you’re admitted, which will influence the courses you take as a freshman.)</p>
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<p>If I’m not mistaken, Aerospace is a [Tier</a> 2 program](<a href=“http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/airforcetrng/a/afpocerp.htm]Tier”>http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/airforcetrng/a/afpocerp.htm) anyway, not Tier 1, so wouldn’t another form of engineering be functionally equivalent for you? It’d be a bit easier for me to help you with this question if I knew what other majors you were considering – for instance, choosing between engineering and non-engineering is a very different kind of decision than choosing between two types of engineering – but overall, I would say go with what you most want to do. AFROTC and a Notre Dame education in general will prepare you for whatever you want to do.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I didn’t realize that Notre Dame doesn’t admit to specific colleges like other colleges do. I’d much rather be in Political Science or Psychology.</p>
<p>OK. As I understand it, picking a non-technical major makes getting a ROTC scholarship substantially trickier, but certainly not impossible. You can also always join ROTC without receiving a scholarship.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. If you have more questions, I can try to answer, but your best bet is to contact the Admissions office; if they can’t answer your question directly, they’ll have the most up-to-date contact information for the ROTC programs themselves.</p>
<p>(Edited to add: political science and psychology are both in the College of Arts and Letters, so you will likely be able to declare either one without difficulty regardless of what you take as a freshman.)</p>
<p>Ah ok thanks for the help. As it stands I didn’t realize that ROTC was a scholarship, I thought it was more of an automatic college payment aid so I missed the application deadline and will be doing it w/o a scholarship for a little while. I’ll contact admissions since you’re right, they’ll know best and they’ll also see that I am still very interested in ND after getting deferred. Thanks so much for the help.</p>
<p>Ok, so I can declare them easily, good. Would I have a better shot at being accepted to ND if I went in intending to do one of these over AE?</p>
<p>I’m a freshman engineer at ND, and I think you should apply with whatever major makes the most sense within the context of your overall application. If your transcript shows strong math/science grades and you have more science-related ECs, then maybe engineering is your best bet. If your application shows strengths in humanities, then you might want to consider applying for Arts and Letters.</p>
<p>With that said, DO NOT stress over your major choice on this application. It is just an “intended” major, so whatever you pick can be easily changed on Day 1 simply by meeting with your academic advisor. </p>
<p>If I were you (assuming you have solid grades in math/science), I would go ahead and fill out the application as an Aerospace Engineer. Although Notre Dame claims that your major choice won’t affect your chances, I would guess that applying as an engineer would give you the biggest advantage. Notre Dame is not extremely well-known for engineering, so it is harder for ND to find qualified engineering students than students interested in humanities. Especially as an ROTC student, I think Aerospace would be a logical choice for your application. And if you change your mind before the school year starts, it’s super easy to change intended major.</p>
<p>Feel free to message me if you have any further questions.</p>
<p>^ I agree wholeheartedly with the first and second paragraphs. The third paragraph should be taken with a grain of salt, since as I said ND doesn’t admit students to a particular major per se. Personally, I think it would be poor form for someone to apply as an “engineer” while in the back of their head thinking that they’ll switch to arts and letters as soon as possible.</p>
<p>That being said, I’d assumed you’ve already sent in your application (since you said “applied” in your first post), so I didn’t think it would even be possible for you to change what you put on your application at this point. If you put down aerospace and it’s too late to change it, don’t worry about it.</p>