How do colleges/majors work?

Applying to College
1

<p>I was researching schools and I saw that at NYU you must apply to each individual school within the university (Stern, CAS, Gallatin) but at the College of William and Mary you apply to the university as a whole and then begin your junior year at a specific individual school like Mason School of Business. </p>

<p>What is this called?</p>

<p>How do I know which school does what?</p>

<p>What's the difference?</p>

<p>What are the pros and cons of each?</p>

2

<p>For a university divided into divisions like “College of Business”, “College of Arts and Sciences”, “College of Engineering”, etc., the admission standards may differ for each division, and changing between them once enrolled may require another competitive admissions process.</p>

<p>However, frosh advising will be more tailored for the majors available in each division. For example, the “College of Engineering” can advise all of its frosh based on the assumption that they all intend to major in engineering.</p>

3

<p>This is not always true, but it’s a pretty good general definition:</p>

<p>A college is a set of related disciplines, say The College of Engineering or The College of Arts and Sciences. (W&M is a college, not a university.) Universities are sets of colleges or schools organized under a larger umbrella, say New York University, which contains many schools or colleges like Stern, CAS, and Gallatin.</p>

<p>As a general rule, colleges are smaller than universities. Stand-alone colleges often only have undergraduates, whereas universities almost always have graduate students. (There are exceptions both ways.)</p>

<p>Because universities are so large, you often apply to a college within a university. The individual colleges may also have different admission requirements.</p>

<p>Each school has different rules regarding declaring a major. Some allow you to declare early, some don’t allow you to declare early, almost all require you select one before you start your junior year.</p>

<p>Check each schools website (or call them) to find out the rules for each individual school.</p>