<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm going to be at Michigan next year and well there's one thing that's bothering me so I needed to ask you guys.</p>
<p>Although I applied and was admitted to LSA, I'm COMPLETELY unsure about what I want to pursue. I'd really like to find out what field interests me truly, and I want to try courses in Biomedical Engineering as well as Business. Is it possible for me to take courses in CoE and Ross in my first semester, so I understand what I want to pursue and then switch to the respective school (or stay in LSA). Is this possible? Is it common? Will I be disadvantaged in any way?</p>
<p>Thanks for any reply. :)</p>
<p>Transferring from LSA to the CoE is pretty standard. You need to take Engineering prerequisites, which are mostly offered at LSA anyway, and as long as you maintain a reasonable GPA (3.3 ought to do it), you should be able to transfer to the CoE without any hassle. </p>
<p>Transferring to Ross is another animal altogether. You need to maintain a higher GPA (3.5 or higher), involve yourself in a couple of clubs/organizations and effectively/convincingly express your motives for wishing to major in Business. Even then, there is no guarantee.</p>
<p>That being said, you cannot first take a bunch of classes at Ross or at the CoE before transferring. You need to know from day one and work on getting the prerequisites (mostly in LSA) completed during your first year in order to transfer. Once you transfer, then you can start taking classes at the CoE/Ross.</p>
<p>There will be a TechDay in the engineering school on 9/28. You may want to go to explore different fields in the Engineering school including biomedical engineering. However, it would be very difficult to transfer from LSA to engineering school. There are many required course in the freshman year for engineering that you may not take in LSA particularly if you have not made up your mind. The only exception is Computer Science that you may take pretty much the same class in LSA. Getting into Ross from LSA is rather common although it is still competitive.</p>
<p>Register for Math 115 (or higher if you placed out), Econ 101, Physics 140/141 and English 125. You should know after that whether you are meant for Engineering, Business or Asian Studies.</p>
<p>^That would be such a difficult schedule. If you’re thinking about Ross take econ first semester and wait on calc. Idk what engineering freshmen usually take, but if you are considering Ross you can’t make your schedule so hard that you’ll get a low GPA.</p>
<p>Wow, that sucks if I can’t take cross-classes, causes I’m truly clueless about what I want to pursue. I think I can spend a few of my holidays watching youtube videos of lectures in each subject at different universities and find out what intrigues me.</p>
<p>I have taken IB HL Econ at high school, and to be honest it didn’t attract me much - but I though business would be a different ball game. I did the IB, and I didn’t take Physics so I maybe slightly screwed.</p>
<p>Another situation is that I switch to say CoE and hate it, will going back to LSA waste too much time? Is my chance to go to Ross gone forever then?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your replies, they were extremely helpful.</p>
<p>You can transfer to Ross or the the CoE. Michigan is open to all cross-faculty transfers. CoE is easier. Ross requires better grades and a formal application. The CoE is pretty automatic as long as you take the prerequisite courses and maintain a 3.3 GPA in them.</p>
<p>But focus08, you really need to give it some thought ahead of time (like in the summer). Some schools are very flexible because they only offer traditional majors within the college of arts and sciences. But universities like Michigan, Cornell and Penn have separate colleges for non-traditional majors such as Business, Engineering etc…, and each of those have significant graduation requirements. It is not like you can spend 2 years shopping around for classes and then decide on a major in Business in Engineering. Well, you can, but you won’t graduate within 5 years. </p>
<p>Here’s what I would do:</p>
<ol>
<li>Explore the curricular requirements for Engineering and Business. Ask yourself if the course description appeal to you. </li>
<li>Check out the sorts of careers that are open to Engineers and Business majors. Do those appeal to you.</li>
<li>What would you major in if you stay in LSA?</li>
</ol>
<p>BTW, it is possible to double major from Ross and LSA. It may take an extra semester, but it is very manageable. </p>
<p>So no, it does not “suck”. Put yourself in the shoes of students enrolled in CAS at Penn. Wharton is out of their reach. Same for CAS students at NYU. Stern is not an option. At least you have the option of transferring to Ross with relative ease should you choose to do so.</p>
<p>Alexandre, thank you for that post, that was really insightful. I have 2-3 months of relatively free time before I go to Michigan, so I guess that’s what I’m going to do - I’ll try and see what intrigues me.</p>
<p>At many other schools, its possible to major in one school and minor in another. Is this possible at Mich as well?</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your answers, they were extremely helpful!!</p>