<p>immediately after posting my previous thread (whether a math-oriented student would be placed at a disadvantage when applying to a school of non-engineering), I figured it would've been wiser to ask what the essential difference is between a school of engineering and school of arts & science.</p>
<p>I only know that students in school of engineering are exempted from many mandatory core classes (ex. history, english), and thus can concentrate more on taking science-related classes. (excuse me for interchanging the words science and engineering) And that all students can take courses from either of the schools.</p>
<p>Is the graduation requirement (in terms of credits) the main difference from a school of engineering and arts & science?</p>
<p>I'd say the main difference is the work load. Engineers will have many labs and intense problem sets. The arts part of arts and science is just no labs or problem sets but readings and essays. Sciences are more like engineering though, but maybe not quite as intense.</p>
<p>At many schools, there's a basic set of requirements for all students, regardless of major. It might be specific (1 year of Government, 1 year of a foreign language, 1 year of math etc) or it might be more broad (15 credits of humanities, 15 credits in the sciences/engineering etc)</p>
<p>Engineering is a specific and narrow field of study - it's more "vocational" in nature. It has many more requirements, and virtually everyone in the program studies approximately the same things (within limits, of course, as there are sub-specialties to engineering). Arts & Sciences is designed to be broad-based and more "exploratory" in nature. You generally have more electives available, at least in the beginning, and you can change majors more easily (you can start out in history and end up in chemistry, for example).</p>
<p>I opted for the engineering school at my college because I happened to be really good at math and science - although I didn't really love either. I ended up enjoying my core courses much more, things like small seminars discussing great works of literature, and the history classes I took as electives were my favorites. In retrospect, though, I'm not sure I would've wanted to take 4 years of classes with more subjective grading, much more time in the library, and much less ability for someone with an analytical mind to get their work done quickly (as is the case with math/science classes). So it's a double-edged sword, but strongly consider it if you're the strongly analytical type.</p>
<p>Just remember, you don't have to be in engineering to study math and/or science. Engineering is a very concrete subject, even in all its technical glory. If you're interested in theoretical stuff or straight laboratory research, engineering won't do it.</p>
<p>I guess the bottom line is that if you don't know exactly what engineering is and what it does, don't apply to engineering schools! You can apply to technical schools that have lots of math & science, but graduate more than engineers (all of the Institutes of Technology do).</p>