<p>I didn't do this, but I was wondering that if you marked on your application that you want to major in engineering at Smith, will it be harder to get in? Is the program very competitive, or is it the other way around?</p>
<p>I don’t know if it has much effect on your application unless your course work indicates that you have an interest in/would be prepared for the engineering program. Smith definitely wants more engineers becuase that’s one of its flagship programs and one of the things that really concretely distinguishes it from other women’s colleges. So I imagine if you marked that you wanted to study engineering that would probably be a plus for your application. However if you marked that you wanted to study engineering but you clearly didn’t have a strong math and science program in high school, they probably wouldn’t believe that you were really going to be able to hack it as an engineer. </p>
<p>Also, I think there may be some financial aid grants that are tied to engineering, but I don’t know that for sure.</p>
<p>S&P there are indeed a few merit scholarships for incoming engineers. I doubt marking engineering on you application would effect your likelihood of acceptance either way. The admissions committee knows that many incoming students have many interests and what they think they will major in and what they end up majoring in are not always the same thing.</p>
<p>what ^ said. I don’t really think you have anything to fear; I put egr as an academic interest on my application despite the fact that my science and math grades are lower than other areas (I have a lack of natural aptitute for science, but not of love). Perhaps I’ll see you next fall, when you’re being tortured in the hazing ritual that is EGR 100 <em>laughs sadistically</em> (I’m kind of exaggerating…haha).</p>
<p>EGR 100 is not bad at all. The work load is tough at the end of the semester, but it’s also super light for the first month or so. Also, it is not a difficult class as far as the material goes, but time commitment gets pretty rough towards the end when you’re building and testing your model house. The real hard class is PHY 210 which you generally don’t take until your sophomore year.</p>
<p>I saw on FB that Smith is graduating 17 engineers this year. They got their hard hats today.</p>
<p>Awsome! Thats cool CarolynB! Also, for my recommendations my guidance counselor told Smith that I was interested in Political science, and one of my teachers told smith I want to major in physics and philosophy (which I do), and my other teacher who wrote my rec said I wanted to major and spanish and become a journalist (I really love writing so I used to want to be a journalist, but to be honest, I have no idea what I want to be) On the common app for future plans I indicated “writer/journalist”. Is this bad that everyone said different things about me? (I had told them to, when my mind kept changing) Should I notify Smith and explain, or should I leave it alone? Will this negatively affect me?</p>
<p>I would leave it alone. Smith doesn’t expect people to know what they’re going to be right off the bat. If you’re not 100% sure you’ll be an engineer, just sign up for engineering 100 as a first year and see how it goes. </p>
<p>One of the reasons I decided on Smith was that when I was 18, I had no clue what I wanted to do either. I was all over the place. But it seemed to me that Smith graduated women who were leaders in every field. So if I went there, at least I had a good chance as coming as SOMETHING good by graduation. You’re not expected to have it all figured out, and it’s probably good that all of your teachers see something different in you. It means you’re well rounded and you could go in a lot of possible directions.</p>