<p>Hi I am an admitted student with for general engineering. Can any current students or people familiar with the school tell me about the major and its freedom to transfer to other engineering majors and double majoring. *** is general engineering?</p>
<p>My boyfriend is in General Engineering at Poly. Hes a third year, but a senior units wise. He hasnt been able to transfer into Mechanical engineering so hes just doing a concentration of ME under GE. So I think its easier to transfer INTO GE than it is to transfer out. Transfering at Cal Poly is difficult to begin with. You have to take a certain amount of units with in the major you are currently in plus some GE’s so it takes about a year or longer just to transfer into another major. Doing a double major or even a minor would add some time to your grad date as most engineering majors take about 5 years. But if youre really set on it, do it. Itll set you up really well after you graduate :)</p>
<p>Okay thanks for your fast and thorough reply, but are u saying that General Engineering is a hard major to transfer out of? I should have applied for compsci so that I could always transfer down, I had the grades and sat scores to get into anything at Cal Poly but thought General Engineering was good cause I really didnt know what kind of engineer I wanted to be. Is general engineering a respectable major, or do employers dislike the broadness of it?</p>
<p>There are no double majors at Cal Poly. You can minor, but your minor must be out of your college. ie can’t do general and mechanical, both in engineering, could do general and IT, because IT is in school of buisness…</p>
<p>I would have to disagree here is from an email that my dad sent to a cal poly Rep</p>
<p>Hi. My son has admission to the GENE (General
Engineering) program for this fall. How would he go about getting a
double major with the business school Let me know. Thanks</p>
<p>Your son would have to apply for the double major once he was a student here.</p>
<p>Alisa</p>
<p>Alisa Williford-Smith</p>
<p>Senior Admissions Advisor</p>
<p>Cal Poly State University</p>
<p>It is hard to transfer into another engineering field period. I am not sure about comp sci but as long as you keep your GPA up I think youll be fine. My boyfriend has talked to alot of employers and alot have told them that they wont look at his degree with the same value as someone with an actual ME degree so youre right. Employers kind of look down on it, which I think is weird because I thought that with a GE degree you would have more options open since it is broader. If that makes sense. </p>
<p>And I think you can do a double major at Cal Poly, but I am not sure.</p>
<p>“Students requesting to double major must present a quarter by quarter course outline that shows how they propose to finish both degrees. Students are expected to average 20 units per quarter in order to complete both degrees in a timely manner. Students also must have a consistent academic record that show above average grades.”</p>
<p>I was wrong, you can double. However, you have to be accepted into the Business program as well… I know several kids waiting in line ahead of you, and they aren’t doubling, they are just trying to switch their first major. Things are going to get harder next year, less $$ means cuts everywhere. Be happy you are in for one major, classes are going to be tough enough to get for one major, let alone two.</p>
<p>Snap I really hoped I would be able to transfer, I hope to meet with someone in general engineering at the open house, would knowing the dean or chanceloor help facilitate a transfer?</p>
<p>The dean might help but I am pretty sure all transfers go through the dept head anyways Youll have to meet with them and then do paper work and all that, but not until your first year or so. I would for sure talk to someone at the open house and see what they have to say :)</p>
<p>Here’s some info from College of Engineering Advising page about changing majors.</p>
<p>[College</a> of Engineering Advising Center - Majors](<a href=“http://eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/]College”>http://eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/)</p>
<p>And here’s info about the 4 + 1 (BS + MS Engineering Degree) from the Materials Engineering web page: [Blended</a> 4 + 1 program - Graduate Studies - Cal Poly Materials Engineering](<a href=“http://mate.calpoly.edu/graduate/blended/]Blended”>http://mate.calpoly.edu/graduate/blended/)</p>
<p>A blended 4+1 program supports multi-disciplinary students</p>
<p>Undergraduates from non-materials engineering majors are welcome to apply to the 4+1 program. All 4+1 students in our program, regardless of their undergraduate degree, would receive a B.S. in their undergrad major and a M.S. in engineering with a specialization in materials engineering.</p>
<p>Hirenishungry, You might be able to transfer within the College of Engineering as a freshman under this condition:</p>
<p>Option for Reviewing Freshmen Students
When a freshman student applies to change major within the first three quarters after entering Cal Poly, the target major has the option, where feasible, of first considering the student on the basis of his/her academic Multi-Criteria Admissions (MCA) score, possibly combined with a specified Cal Poly grade point average, in lieu of employing other performance criteria. Feasibility may depend on whether the MCA scores for the originating and target majors are based on the same formula, and on the availability of relevant historical data. If this option is selected, the target major will: </p>
<ul>
<li>Recalculate the academic MCA as if the student had applied to the target major on entry. </li>
<li>Compare with the academic MCA cut-off used to determine admissions for the fall quarter in which the student first enrolled (when the student first enrolled in winter, the comparison will be made with the admissions cut-off for the preceding fall; when the student first enrolled in summer, the comparison will be made with the admissions cut-off for the following fall). </li>
<li>Admit the student if his/her MCA exceeds this cut-off, there is space available within the target major, and (where applicable) the student meets the Cal Poly grade point average requirement prescribed by the target major. </li>
</ul>
<p>A freshman student who is considered in this manner but fails to meet the criteria for admission based on MCA will still be subject to review under the target major’s normal process for change of major decisions.</p>
<p>Found this here: [Change</a> of Major Policy - Academic Programs - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://www.academicprograms.calpoly.edu/academicpolicies/Policies-Undergrad/Change-major.htm]Change”>http://www.academicprograms.calpoly.edu/academicpolicies/Policies-Undergrad/Change-major.htm)</p>
<p>What is a MCA score is it based on stuff like high school gpa and sat scores, because then i think i will be fine if there is space available.</p>
<p>Heathcuel could you tell me if any of your boyfriends friends transsfered to other ajors like EE or CS or ME or CE and if so how lond did it take them to do that
/</p>
<p>None of his friends transferred into another major because they are already in ME or CE. Hes in GE and trying to get into ME. He was accepted as an EE but decided to go GE instead to be able to take more ME classes and he just went into talk to the advisor and they let him switch to GE from EE, but now that hes trying to switch from GE to ME, he cant seem to catch a break. The dept head wants him to get at least a b in his toughest class but thats hard to do when youre taking other challenging classes as well, so hes still not an ME and hes been trying to get out of GE for about 3 quarters now?</p>
<p>THis sounds like a nightmare, I am hoping that when I get there for some polycultural event they will tell me that as a freshman they will consider allowing me to change majors using some of the stats i applied under. If not no slo for me. I want to get into cs ee or me or ce. so we’ll see</p>
<p>Does it matter how early you apply for a change of majors? and is it also true that there is a waiting list to change all majors?</p>
<p>Okay, I’m currently in a not entirely dissimilar boat. I’m currently a 3rd year CSC who was considering switching to ME. There are a couple of reasons why it appears that I will not be able to. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Realistically speaking, I have 1 year and some odd quarters until graduation. That’s acctually really close. If I switch to ME now, it’s 4 years, no matter how you dice it. And, I’d have a harder time getting my CSC degree out of it. I’m willing to put in the time, but university most likely will not let me… And, of course, I can’t switch under the incoming freshman rules…</p></li>
<li><p>GPA. And not overall GPA either. You see, you need to get a certain GPA in a certain number of classes to switch major. The more impacted the major, the higher the GPA. If you are switching as a transfer, you need more classes (which I think would work to your advantage). Now, since I’ve been here since I was a freshman, that means I’d need a 2.75 in these classes (to switch to ME): Math 141, Chem 124, Math 142, Phys 131, Chem 125, Math 143 and Phys 132. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>There’s a fail in there, and a couple of C’s. Now, I retook the failed class, but it still counts towards this special GPA calculation. Which means, I’ve got a 1.8 something in those classes, which means short of re-retaking a bunch of classes, which would delay me even further. And it would jeopardize my academic career, since you can be on probation for not taking enough classes towards your current degree. And, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to hunt down classes I can use. (after this quarter, I’ll be fresh out of tech electives)</p>
<p>Alternatively, I could talk to the department head for ME… I haven’t tried this (see reason 1), and even if I did, I’d likely have to take stuff like Statics and its ilk to prove that I’m worthy. And, even if I did all that, there’s nothing saying they HAVE to let me in.</p>
<p>As an incoming freshman, you get one more choice, which was mentioned earlier in this thread:
3) [Change</a> of Major Policy - Academic Programs - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://www.academicprograms.calpoly.edu/academicpolicies/Policies-Undergrad/Change-major.htm]Change”>http://www.academicprograms.calpoly.edu/academicpolicies/Policies-Undergrad/Change-major.htm)
I wouldn’t know the first thing about that. I know it’s somehow possible (my stand partner in symphony changed his major in his freshman year), I just don’t know exactly how College of Engineering does that.</p>
<p>On the subject of Double Majors:
[College</a> of Engineering Advising Center - Double Majors](<a href=“http://eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/doublemajor.php]College”>http://eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/doublemajor.php)</p>