<p>I am not entirely too sure what I want to do in college. I'm a HS senior right now. I know engineering curriculum is very rigorous and strict on the courses you must take. Naturally, I want to explore other fields before I make a decision. But I fear that may not be possible if engineering is on the table. </p>
<p>How early must one "commit" to doing engineering if they want to graduate in 4 years?</p>
<p>If you want to graduate in 4 years, you need to basically commit to going down that path right off the bat. You will have general education electives that you may be able to use to explore a bit, but you need to start down the path of taking the foundational math and science courses from the outset.</p>
<p>If you are considering engineering you must (just as boneh3ad says) get started on that path out of the gate. However, if you choose a different field I’d bet money that you have not wasted any time. The math and science classes required for engineering would readily meet the requirement for virtually any other undergraduate field I can think of.</p>
<p>I can appreciate your question, and I don’t think many outside of engineering understand that you must start right away or a 4 year finish is virtually impossible. For years I have looked at people funny when they say “you don’t really take your in in major classes until junior year” Never understood where that came from, but now that I am helping son#2 with his college search (likely not engineering), I am amazed how many programs don’t require a firm choice of major until 2nd semester soph or first semester junior year.</p>
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<p>Well this particular phenomenon is because of the fact that for the first 3 semesters or so, all engineering disciplines require essentially an essential set of basic courses, so you don’t necessarily have to commit to a specific engineering flavor right out of the gate, but you at least need to get yourself onto that engineering track right away.</p>
<p>If you are thinking of engineering you in general want to apply to the engineering school because at a number of schools they have different criteria for entering students in this department. Its easier to change majors to the arts and sciences than from arts and sciences to engineering.</p>
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<p>Just for the sake of clarity, I was referring to programs other than engineering. It was amazing that someone could still choose between diverse items such as elementary education/economics/marine biology that far into college with no real impact on graduation dates.</p>
<p>It’s almost like there are two worlds within a large university - Engineering and Everything Else. (gross simplification) Each has its own decision tree.</p>
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<p>This is usually based on the length of the longest prerequisite sequences in the major and the number of courses or credits required. Most non-engineering majors have relatively short prerequisite sequences (though the sciences tend to have somewhat longer prerequisite sequences than non-sciences), and have total requirements of about a third of the degree, so even a student who decides late after taking the introductory course in his/her third or fourth semester can often still finish all of the requirements within a total of eight semesters.</p>
<p>In contrast, finding a six or seven semester long prerequisite sequence in an engineering major is not that unusual, and engineering majors have at least five eighths of the degree in courses for the major (not including H/SS breadth requirements, which are often subject to restrictions like distribution, depth, etc.).</p>
<p>Well, if it helps, the other fields I am considering are very science/math related. </p>
<p>Nonetheless it is a little disturbing to know exactly how early I have to get into engineering. At most of the schools I am applying to, it is fairly easy to declare a different major in a different school but of course the prerequisite ordeal is still the same.</p>
<p>I do like engineering because it has much more job stability and good income compared to other sciences. However I am not all that attracted to what engineers actually do.</p>
<p>Your other posts indicate interest in math and physics. The first few semesters’ worth of courses for engineering majors largely overlap with math and physics, so many of the courses would not be a waste of schedule space if you decide to do math and/or physics instead. Of the non-engineering majors, physics often has relatively long prerequisite sequences, as can math if you do not have credit for college or AP calculus taken while in high school, so you would have to get started early on those courses anyway.</p>
<p>Hopefully I can transfer some of my AP Credits. I’m currently in AP Chem and AP Physics B. I know that many universities don’t even accept Physics B since it’s algebra based and physics and engineering usually do physics that is calculus based. That is, of course, if I get a satisfactory score on the test(s).</p>
<p>I am also only in Pre-Calculus right now but I did a program through my school that would let me take CC classes for free. I may take Calculus I over the summer at the CC before I go to university so I am more prepared for calculus in college. I’m not so much concerned if it would transfer or not, but more just to get my feet wet. I’d only be paying for the textbook anyway and my summers are always pretty empty.</p>
<p>The program at your school will allow you to take free classes at your community college even after you’ve graduated?</p>
<p>There is a program in my state that if completed (consists of basically 50 hours of volunteering), we can earn 2 years of community college tuition for free. However since CC is not my route, I found out that we can take two classes in the summer and it also get it free.</p>
<p>That way I can have a calculus class taken before I into physics / engineering since I will have only completed Pre-Calculus by graduation.</p>
<p>Think of AP physics B as a good high school physics course. It will not give useful subject credit for a physics or engineering major, although it will be good preparation for university physics courses that typically recommend high school physics as a prerequisite.</p>
<p>If you complete calculus 1 in the summer and go on to calculus 2 in the fall (assuming that the university accepts the community college calculus 1 course for subject credit), you will shorten the long prerequisite sequence by one semester, giving you more schedule flexibility.</p>
<p>You don’t have to specialize yet but the sooner you know the better you can spread the engineering course load.
Take GE and math, science the first year and them hopefully you find out right away.</p>
<p>Another thing to note is that a lot of engineering courses can be part of a physics curriculum like statics, dynamics, and fluid mechanics.</p>
<p>It depends on the school you choose. Although it’s rare, some, like Cal Poly, admit directly to a major, not just engineering, but the specific discipline. In those cases, the curricula are very rigid. Of the 200 hours in the Cal Poly ME curriculum there are ZERO free electives. If you aren’t sure, I’d avoid schools like that.</p>
<p>The other end of the spectrum are schools like Washington that are completely opposite to Cal Poly. You don’t even apply to engineering until after your freshman year. There’s a chance you could decide to go with full passion into engineering and then not even get in. I’d also avoid schools like that.</p>
<p>As others have said, it’s far easier to start in engineering and then back off than the reverse. </p>
<p>What state are you from? What are your stats?</p>
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<p>That isn’t very rare. In fact, it seems to be the most common policy.</p>
<p>Well if I have to absolutely commit to engineering and it is difficult to transfer out of it (to the schools I am applying to) I don’t think I want to apply to engineering at those schools. For those that it is more fluid and it is easier to transfer out of eng, I may try that out or at least take the Intro to Eng courses. Of course I imagine it’d be hard to transfer into engineering anywhere because of the overall prereqs.</p>
<p>I’m applying to Rice, WashU, Tufts, Lafayette, Brandeis, Reed, Grinnell, MST, Tulane.
32 ACT (33 superscore) 3.68 UW GPA 21% class rank
I am aware some of my choices (Brandeis, Reed, Grinnell) don’t have engineering, but I felt I was being a little close-minded when I was considering only engineering colleges. I’ve expanded a little bit in case I like the “vibe” at these lacs more when/if I visit.</p>
<p>I know at WashU</p>
<p>@boneh3ad , CP admits to the major AND competition for slots are only against others applying for that major. Admission is about 15% for ME and over 50% for IE. Transferring between majors is also related to how you would have stacked up against your cohort at admission time. As far as I know, that’s a fairly uncommon approach. </p>
<p>@Ctesiphon, with your stats, Rice, WashU and Tufts will be long shots. I wouldn’t hang all your hopes on any of those three. If you haven’t, you might also want to consider Lehigh. It has a better engineering program than any of those that you’ve mentioned and a pretty cool curriculum.</p>
<p>I did consider Lehigh but I am not 100% sure if I want to apply there. Nonetheless at this point I don’t really want to choose a university based on the quality of the engineering program. However they did give me a reasonable number on the NPC, and most of the schools I have a decent chance of getting into aren’t giving sufficient $. All of the Unis on my list are affordable based on NPC except Tulane, but the application was free so I decided to fire the trigger and maybe get some merit. Prob won’t be affordable anyway though, but that’s ok.</p>
<p>Is it even worth my time to apply to those three? Are the chances so infinitesimally slim that it would be a waste of $$ to apply? The less-than-ideal class rank is due to me not taking challenging courses my freshman and sophomore year, although it is somewhat disheartening to see that something like 90% of the kids accepted to these schools were in the top 10% of their class.</p>
<p>If it helps at all, I have a somewhat “special” family circumstance - I live in a single parent household and my mom works nights every weekend and a day or two in the week, and I have to stay home and watch my brother. I also do a part-time job.</p>