<p>I greatly regret not going to college for engineering but because of a lot of reasons I am currently a Mathematics-Economics major. I recently discovered that many, or most, engineering programs do take applicants who majored in related things like math or a physical science. My questions are: will i get in? what engineering discipline would be best from that background? would a physics minor help? and is this even a good idea?</p>
<p>I have 3.7 gpa, an award in macroeconomics and i'm in my school's honors program, so i would have a solid application otherwise.</p>
<p>It’s very difficult to gauge anyone’s chances for grad school, and given the amount of information you’ve provided so far it’s virtually impossible to say. </p>
<p>Are you looking into MS or PhD programs? What particular branches of engineering are you interested in? I know you said you’d like to know which discipline would be best considering your background. Do you mean which would be best assuming that you’re interested in mathematics/economics, or which would be easiest to get into given you’ve majored in math/economics? Although bioengineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, etc, all overlap a bit, the fields are really quite different and your job prospects with any of these degrees will be different. </p>
<p>Are you looking into going to the most competitive schools? Do you have any research experience? Do you think you will have strong recommendation letters?</p>
<p>Try to give a better sense of exactly what you would like to do and what experiences you’ve had and people may be able to help you strengthen your application.</p>
<p>I’m not looking for chances necesarily. I just want to know if programs (top 100, but not elite) really do accept nonengineering majors for an MS program and whether it’s doable for for someone with a background in math and economics to be successful in a program like that. </p>
<p>Electrical engineering interests me most, followed by mechanical, but i would like feedback as to other disciples that may suit me better, either easier or related to math econ. </p>
<p>right now I’m wrapping up my sophomore year and i really want to know if this is a realistic goal for me over the next two years.</p>
<p>Engineering grad programs accept a lot of people without engineering undergrad degrees. Graduate study is very specific, and they only really care about whether or not you have the specific preparation for your intended area of research. For some specialities that is exceedingly difficult without the engineering degree, but for other specialities it is quite common.</p>
<p>You said that you are interested in electrical engineering. In EE you may find that certain mathematically-intense specialities, like computational electromagnetics or signal processing, would welcome you. Others, like circuit design, would probably ignore your application.</p>
<p>Ultimately, nothing is impossible - some people do get into good programs despite seemingly crippling handicaps in their application. But that doesn’t mean you should make it harder than necessary. If you cannot switch to engineering now, try and investigate potential areas of interest for grad school, and see what you can do to adequately prepare yourself.</p>
<p>Cosmicfish pretty much summed it up. MS programs are often a little less competitive than PhD programs, although funding for these programs will usually be loan based and not grant based, unless you’re lucky enough to be a TA or get a scholarship. For MS admissions your research experience may not play as big of a role as it would in PhD admissions, but some research experience in your area of interest would certainly help. </p>
<p>If you are interested in EE or mechanical, I think the physics minor that you mentioned in your earlier post might be helpful (or do an engineering minor if your school or another local school has it). At the very least I would take a few physics courses. For EE preparation, I would take electricity and magnetism and electronics. For Mechanical, you might want to take intermediate/advanced classical mechanics.</p>
<p>I think it’s very realistic for you to get into one of these types of programs. Although my circumstances were somewhat different, I was a physics major and I am now heading to a bioengineering program in the fall, so I know for a fact you don’t necessarily need an engineering major to make it work.</p>