Help needed!

<p>I applied RD to engineering. Since then I have realized that I am not cut out to be an engineer. I wish to study something totally different. I KNOW that Cornell is the right university for me, but wish I would have applied to a different school. I have spent more time at Cornell than any other school to which I have applied, and I live 6 hours away. I have spent numerous nights, 6, on campus and in the dorms because of a camp I attended a couple years ago. More recently, I was fortunate enough to be accepted to their WIE fall program and spent three days/nights there and even attended a physics class. So, I know Cornell is where I would love to be in the fall of 2013. Is it possible at this point to switch to another school? If not, if I am offered a spot, can I then switch? How difficult a process is that? How long would I need to stay in the engineering school? Any advice or info you can share with me would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>4.0/4.5
33 ACT
1/400 rank
12 AP courses.- Calc AB, Calc BC, Physics, Bio, Macro Econ, Stat, Lang, Govt., Environmental Sci, US History, World History, Psychology,</p>

<p>Many ECs and volunteer hours, part time job, athlete</p>

<p>Yeah, you’re going to have to spend at least your first year in the College of Engineering.
The specifics of internal transfer depends on the college to which you are switching to, but generally, you need a 3.0 GPA during your first semester at the College of Engineering, and then you will be given either a “direct transfer” or “conditional transfer.” Conditional transfer is a situation in which you’re basically “reviewed” for a semester in the new college that you’ve transferred to, just to make sure that you’re doing well after switching out from the College of Engineering.</p>

<p>Who knows, maybe you’ll come to enjoy engineering and decide to stay.</p>

<p>If you have not yet been accepted to Cornell, could you call their admissions office and ask about changing? I’m not sure if Cornell admits based on your chosen school, but I think you (or perhaps your GC) should call the school to find out.</p>

<p>I’m pretty sure you won’t have to be in engineering for a year. Usually it depends on the college you’re transferring into, not the one you’re transferring out of. If you know immediately that you want to switch out, you can talk to advising and they’ll most likely let you take other classes instead of engineering ones while you’re going through the transfer process. But I would call engineering advising and see what the process is! And I’m not sure if you’re a boy or girl, but being a girl applying to engineering doesn’t hurt!</p>

<p>Thank you for the responses.Should I contact them now, or would that totally kill my chances of being admitted? I hate feeling like I’m concealing something, yet I really would love to be accepted to my dream school. I’m afraid if I call them now and tell them that I no longer wish to be in the engineering school…that they simply would deny my admission. And, that would be understandable on their part. I am willing to do engineering for a year if I have to, wouldn’t enjoy it, but I would do it.To make matters worse i have an alumni interview coming up in a couple days. How should I handle that??</p>

<p>humec2014- yes, I’m a girl.</p>

<p>If going to Cornell is a high priority for you then I wouldn’t call them. If you don’t care that much then I would let them because there is a chance that they would admit you for A&S. Your stats are definitely good enough. But it is a risk nevertheless.</p>

<p>To transfer between schools is not that hard at Cornell, even out of engineering. It is not the case at a school like Columbia. You can try to take as many core requirements as possible in preparation for your transfer to another school within Cornell. The important thing will be to maintain as high of GPA as possible. It may be easier said than done in Engineering. Many top students end up with below 3.0 the first year.</p>

<p>If you were my kid, I would tell you to go with it for now. As far as the interview, it is more informational, so don’t be stressed over it. If asked about your interest in engineering, just talk about your love of math/science. Talk about the fact that Cornell has 7 different schools, it will also allow you to take courses outside of engineering.</p>

<p>oldfort, I am inclined to believe as you do. I think keeping quiet about it at this point is probably my best bet. I do feel badly about it though. I really just had a complete change of heart and my application was already in. </p>

<p>Do you agree with Cornellian2014 that I would have to stay the full year in engineering? I was kind of hoping that after first semester I could transfer out. But, as I said before…I’m willing to do it. I really feel that Cornell is the right school for me.</p>

<p>I’m really nervous for this interview. The interviewer said it is a casual thing, but it is hard to be passionate about engineering for me right now. I will try my best to fake it through!</p>

<p>Thanks very much for your help!</p>

<p>Here is another thought…If you were admitted to CoE, you may want to contact them in April to see if you could change it to A&S because you had a change of heart. At that point, they couldn’t withdraw their admission and I think most adults understand 18 year olds change their mind all the time. </p>

<p>I am not familiar with Cornell’s transfer requirements, it is different for each school. You may want to go on their website to get the information.</p>

<p>My niece changed her mind after acceptance and before attending. She changed many of her first semester classes to align with Arts and Sciences and transferred from Hotel to Arts and Sciences by second semester. She just had to write a short essay. Arts and Sciences actually encourages one to come in undecided. It was seamless. My D has a friend who changed from Human Ec to Arts and Sciences by second semester as well so it is not unheard of.</p>

<p>One more thing - I would be inclined to wait until acceptance. You are an excellent candidate for both, however.</p>

<p>Wait until you’re in, and then see what you have to do to transfer. There’s a good chance you’ll have to spend a year in Engineering, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. Take the bare minimum in terms of what you need to meet the CoE’s first year requirements, and take all of the rest of your classes in things that interest you in Arts and Sciences.</p>

<p>Thank you all for your responses. I had my alumni interview last night. I think it well. The woman was very nice and answered all of my questions. She was very passionate about Cornell. This is so difficult because I truly love Cornell , but I applied to the wrong school for sure. I have been accepted to another very prestigious university already. If I am lucky enough to get admitted to Cornell it will really be a tough decision…go to my dream school but have to take engineering for a year or, attend the other school and start right in with what I want to do. I am afraid transferring out of CoE won’t be as easy as it sounds. As oldfort mentioned, I can’t be the only one with this problem, but I sure haven’t read much about it on cc.
Again, thanks for your help.</p>

<p>Here is a link to the internal transfer site:</p>

<p>[Office</a> of Internal Transfer](<a href=“http://internaltransfer.cornell.edu/FAQ.html#5]Office”>http://internaltransfer.cornell.edu/FAQ.html#5)</p>

<p>Here is a question about internal transfers found on the site:</p>

<p>If I’ve just been admitted to Cornell, can I transfer colleges before my first semester begins?</p>

<p>No, you must matriculate to the school or college you were admitted to and then apply for internal transfer for a subsequent semester.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you!!</p>

<p>Thank you cormom15!</p>

<p>Internal transfers are super easy though. I hand wrote my “essay” when I internally transferred to Arts and Sciences a half hour before it was due. Didn’t have any problems.</p>

<p>qwer0987, that is encouraging! What did you transfer out of?</p>

<p>Human Ecology. I think I took two HumEc classes my first semester, determined by how much I disliked them that I wanted to transfer, and took one more HumEc class second semester to meet HumEc’s enrollment requirements (so I wouldn’t be on academic probation or anything) before I could transfer to Arts.</p>