<p>It’s easy unless the major is full. The problem is that MechSE and ECE are the two most popular departments. That’s why I said contact ECE and ask how easy it woul be this year to switch, particularly before all students have made their enrollment decisions and the departments are full.</p>
As art2CS noted, you asked if it was possible. If you did not want to know that, you should not have asked. At my alma mater, for many engineering majors, it simply was not permitted, so I felt this was a relevant bit of information.</p>
<p>Likewise, if you want to know how easy it is, looking at the procedure will give you a pretty good idea how hard it is going to be. Please note: you are not required to duel a current ME student for his or her slot. If you look at the second link you will see that it requires a relatively routine petition to the college, something that happens I believe a few hundred times a semester.</p>
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You ALSO asked this - it was not your only question. And considering that CC includes only a relative few representatives of any university, it is not tremendously likely that there is a former ME / current EE student able and willing to answer.</p>
<p>I transferred from AeroE to EE at PSU, and there are always two difficulties in making such a switch - first the coursework, second the permission. </p>
<p>On the first hand you need to be aware that there may be subtle differences in the preparatory coursework. For example, at PSU there were 3 and 4 credit versions of the same math course - if you took the 4 but needed the 3 you could petition (automatic approval), but if you took the 3 and now needed the 4 you would need to essentially repeat the course. You should also note that some courses taken as an ME student will simply not apply as an EE.</p>
<p>On the second hand, getting approval is nearly always a question of regulation and GPA. If the regulations permit it, and you have a decent GPA, it is nearly always allowed - schools do not generally like forcing people to graduate in a major they do not want. The biggest issue is therefore GPA, as the new department will not want to accept someone who does not appear to have a good chance of graduating - as in almost all things in college, a high GPA lets you do nearly whatever you want while a low GPA gets you a whole lot of NO.</p>
<p>Ok sorry for the mis communication
I didn’t mean difficulty of the actual process, I meant the chances of my petition getting rejected
I also want to know what constitutes as a high enough gpa seeing as an engineers gpa is alot different than the average LAS students gpa seeing as the coursework is relatively harder.
So what gpa would I need to be safe in switching after one semester?</p>
Although there are many rumours, I have not seen any real statistics to support a big GPA gap between engineering and the humanities - perhaps 0.1-0.2 at most on average. A 3.0 GPA is around the 50th percentile for engineering at most schools, and even a 3.5 GPA is only the 75th percentile. So don’t think that a high GPA in engineering is unattainable - high GPA’s are fairly common.</p>
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At most schools (including, I think, UIUC) a 3.0 GPA will open all the “regular” doors and a 3.5 GPA will open almost all the “exceptional” doors - this is a pretty regular thing, so as long as you are at 3.0 or above I see no reason they would reject your petition. One thing to bear in mind is that it may take a few weeks or even months for your petition to be reviewed (there are a LOT of petitions!) so be sure to get it in early!</p>
<p>Hey there, a current UIUC student here and although I haven’t gone through this personally, I know people who have. ECE at UIUC has pretty high GPA standards but is also on the bigger side in terms of number of ECE students. You will need to shoot for as high a GPA as possible to be able to transfer in. I recommend a 3.5 or higher and make sure you take all courses, if any, they require you to take to be admitted. One friend got in but he had a 4.0 the first two semesters. One other kid I knew didn’t get in and he tried transferring in a few times and he had around a 3.0 GPA I believe, maybe a little higher. It is competitive, so stay on top of your game.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why they would make that transition difficult
From what I heard engineering classes have more work and more rigor than the majority of other majors
Further more I was accepted to engineering, not to mention one of the most impacted ones.
How hard is the first semester of engineering to get a 4.0?
I consider myself good at calculus and physics I have taken in highschool. Is first semester calculus equivalent in coursework to calc AB?</p>
<p>They just try to stand out as a tough department and one that desires motivated students.</p>
<p>Well even when kids come in with AP credit, more than likely there are still some genEds students will need to take, and these can be used to boost one’s GPA for that first semester. If you dove into college and took a bunch of technical courses the first semester, you may not do as well. However, if you plan smart to obtain good grades, it is possible to obtain a 4.0 or close to it, especially if you actually put forth the effort (many kids don’t want the good grades bad enough to put in the effort). </p>
<p>Also, first semester calculus depends on the kid. I came in my first semester and did Calculus III, and Calc AB is equivalent to Calculus I so some kids obviously don’t do Calculus I freshman year. I will be in my senior year next year at UIUC so if you need help figuring things out, I can help you.</p>
