So i heard from a few friends that it’s easier to get into a general engineering major than a specialized engineering major, is it true? If so, Is it smart to start out as a gen. engineering major and then transfer into the mechanical engineering major? If so is it , what are some good schools?
It depends on the school. Some don’t even have general engineering.
I studied mechanical engineering and it is really provides a broad background. The risk you run with just “engineering” is companies don’t hire “engineers” they normally have a specific discipline in mind
General engineering is usually offered at places where engineering is relatively small, and may not offer specific types of engineering. However, elective choices can allow students to approximate a specific type of engineering major (e.g. mechanical, electrical) within such a general engineering major (although small departments may be limited in the types of engineering offered). Investigating the actual offerings as such schools is necessary if there are specific types of engineering you want to focus on within a general engineering major.
With respect to changing major, whether that is a formality (provided that you have the prerequisites for the new major) or requires another admission process depends on the school.
General Engineering is also offered at some schools that have many different engineering programs to catch those who want engineering but aren’t too good in any one. You have to look at each school.
There are also some schools where students enter a “first year engineering” or similarly named program where they take frosh year course work, then apply to enter an actual engineering major. In some cases, some or all of the actual engineering majors may require a higher college GPA than needed to stay in good academic standing, or require a competitive admission process.
@ucbalumnus what schools do that? I think I’d be more comfortable doing the basic courses if I were an oos frosh
Purdue and Minnesota are examples.
@ucbalumnus Purdue requires all frosh to do that?
Virginia Tech and UVa.
Purdue:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Academics/FirstYear
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Academics/FirstYear/T2M
@sevmom does virginia tech let you switch majors easily? Like from gen. Engineering to mechanical engineering?
Virginia Tech:
http://www.enge.vt.edu/undergraduate/undergraduate-changing-majors.html
Note: http://www.enge.vt.edu/_files/undergraduate/pdf_COM_Requirements_Policies.pdf indicates that a 3.0 VT GPA will guarantee admission to the first choice major, but those with lower GPAs are admitted to majors on a space-available basis.
First year students spend the first year in “general engineering” in the department of engineering education. Student are exposed to the 14 engineering departments so they can make an informed decision about what to pursue. Some departments are more popular than others, have different requirements . But as ucbalumnus says, as long as you do well in your first year courses, you should get your first choice major. http://enge.vt.edu/undergraduate
What state are you in ? Are you looking at your instate options?
General engineering majors are usually like engineering management or systems engineering.
It is not just a matter of getting in and then transferring. You are usually admitted to the engineering department, not a specific program. There are plenty of good engineering schools out there, so apply to a few of them and choose your field of focus after the first year.
“General engineering majors are usually like engineering management or systems engineering.” Systems engineering is not the same thing as general engineering. Systems is ABET accredited. It sometimes is Systems at a school like UVa or as part of the Industrial and Systems Engineering department at schools like Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.