<p>I found out that ChemE is in the college of liberal arts and sciences. Does that make it harder to switch later into another engineering discipline if I change my mind? What if I apply General Engineering can I then go into ChemE later?</p>
<p>Switching later (junior year) from Chem E in LAS to another major in engineering will not be difficult as long as you have required courses from first two years and minimum required GPA to make the switch. The minumum required GPA ranges from about 2.9 to 3.3 depending on major and you will most likely have all the courses needed to transfer because, though Chem E is in LAS, its first two year course requirements follow those of the College of Engineering (Chem E is really considered the same as other engineering majors and is in LAS as a quirk of history -- when Chem E was added in the early 1900's there were no chemistry labs or chemistry type teachers available in the College of Engineering and thus it was placed in the Chemistry Dept in LAS). Making the reverse switch from Gen Engineering to Chem E will have like requirements. The engineering college generally accepts a lot of transfers in junior year (both from other colleges in the university and from community or other colleges in Illinois) because by then a lot of the freshman who started in engineering have either left or switched out and there are many empty seats to fill (for example, in 2005, the engineering college accepted 72% of transfer applicants but almost all those rejected were either trying to transfer before junior year or otherwise did not meet minimum transfer requirements)</p>
<p>That makes me feel alot better. I was like oh goodness I hope I dont get stuck. Thanks.</p>
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[quote]
Switching later (junior year) from Chem E in LAS to another major in engineering will not be difficult as long as you have required courses from first two years and minimum required GPA to make the switch. The minumum required GPA ranges from about 2.9 to 3.3 depending on major.
[/quote]
Getting a 2.9 to 3.3 is no cakewalk in engineering. A 2.9 is right around the median GPA and a 3.3 is about top 25%.</p>
<p>So in that case is ChemE just as challenging and prestigious?</p>
<p>As to prestigious, UIUC's chem E program is highly ranked. As to challenging, from students and grauduates I know who have done chem E there, the experience is that there are three types of students who come in as chem E majors: (a) a minority who have some unexplainable gene that renders chem E fairly easy to them and they breeze through the program; (a) a majority who struggle through the program, study huge amounts of hours, and eventually get their degree; and (c) those who come to their senses once they hit organic chemistry and decide they want to study something easier like Einstein's theory of general relativity.</p>
<p>C is funny</p>