So I got accepted to ga tech today. I’m not very sure what kind of engineering I want to do (I’m basically interested in all of them). On my acceptance letter it said I was accepted into Material Sciences Engineering- the only reason i applied to this spedific major was because i did a materials science internship and thought it would boost my chances of getting in if I applied Materials. However, I’m not sure if i actually want to do materials.
So basically I have two questions: How easy is it to take classes across the various engineering disciplines, and if i find out i like chemical, mechanical or whatever engineering better than materials science engineering, how easy is it to switch?
The freshman year curriculum should be pretty similar across all engineering disciplines. Calc, Physics, Chem, etc. Switching majors shouldn’t be too difficult.
Thank you so much, I appreciate it! I would like to know if anyone who goes to ga tech or familiar with the school’s policies specifically has anything to add?
All entering first-years are entitled to one unrestricted change of major prior to earning 60 credit hours. The earliest a change of major can be requested is after the drop/add period in the fall semester. For example, first-years who enter Georgia Tech in 2017 were eligible to request a change of major beginning October 29, 2017. Dates for 2018 will be posted later this spring. For further details, see http://admission.gatech.edu/change-major If you were truly unsure, there was an undeclared engineering box on your application that you should have checked. You will have to remain in MSE for your first semester, and it should not have much impact on classes, as you’re unlikely to be taking major specific engineering courses until later.
ahhh i see, so i say in MSE for first semester, and if i decide i want to declare something different, i can do so unrestricted after first semester. thank you so much for your response!
@InPursuit, I thought there was a way for high school students who are admitted to change major at FASAT? What about calling the Dean of Engineering, and asking to switch to undesignated? It seems this student should be able to switch now, to give him/her more flexibility to change a few more times, if needed.
@icef1ame I would call the school to make sure, but I doubt declaring a specific engineering major after starting as an undecided would count as an unrestricted change. However:
Ahh okay ty! One last question, does the unrestricted major chage include within colleges (ex. If I switched to comp sci in the school of computing) or is it merely within the college you applied?
I would check with GaTech, but since you don’t technically apply to any specific college I would assume that there aren’t restrictions across the colleges.
@Coloradomama Students can no longer change their major at FASET. This was an option in the past, but Tech now requires admitted students to stick with their major until drop day of their first semester. Admissions also now considers an applicant’s major as part of the holistic review process, even though admissions has historically not considered indicated major when making decisions.
@icef1ame The unrestricted major change is just that, unrestricted, which means you can switch to any major within any college before you earn 60 credit hours. I do not know if changing from undecided to a particular engineering major counts as the one unrestricted major change. This is probably something that can be answered at FASET, by an academic adviser, or during the GT1000 course for undecided engineering majors.
Please note that outside of Industrial Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, no other majors currently have restrictions on major changes. (CS does have some restrictions for juniors and seniors transferring in, but most people transfer in before then). In general, students maintaining a 3.0 GPA should have no problem changing majors at any point during their time at Tech. If you get Cs or less, transferring into Industrial Engineering or Mechanical Engineering might not be possible, but as long as you remain in good standing, other majors should be available.
@InPursuit, thats very helpful information. Thanks. When you mention mechanical and industrial engineering major restrictions, do you mean, they are more full than other majors or they have higher standards than other majors, or both? It sounds like mechanical and industrial require Bs and all other majors such as CS or Aerospace engineering, may only require a C to transfer in?
@Coloradomama Some schools, such as ME and IE, have asked for special exemption from the nominal institute level change of major requirements due to their need to better control the number of enrolled undergraduates in those majors. For other schools, after sixty hours or upon a subsequent request for transfer after the unrestricted change, any transfer will be permitted at the discretion of the school that the student is seeking to enter. Generally schools require students to attend a school specific change of major session, meet with an academic adviser and/or faculty member, take certain classes, meet a fairly low GPA requirements, etc… to get approval for the major change. As examples, a student wishing to switch into Aerospace engineering would need to meet with the AE academic adviser and obtain a faculty signature, a student wishing to switch into Computer Science would need to attend a major change meeting and it would be recommended that they complete an intro computing course (CS1301/1315/1371) with a grade of “C” or higher (this is required for sophomores-seniors changing majors into CS), and for major changes into business a student would need to attend a major change meeting and have at least 2.3 GPA. There is no one size fits all rule after the first unrestricted major change, but generally students who are doing reasonably well are not going to face many hurdles when trying to change their major.
Hi thanks for all our replies! Just clarifying…u can switch before or after 60hrs and what exactly do you guys mean by 60hrs (sorry I dont really understand how college credit hours work)
@JonTargaryen Each course you take is awarded a certain number of “credit hours” which typically aligns with the number of weekly classroom instruction hours. Most courses are 3 credits, but some are more and some are less. 60 hours means 60 credits - or ~20 courses - and generally corresponds to 4 full-time semesters of study. Most of the GT programs have published recommended curricula, so I would recommend looking at them to see what your schedule will look like.
The challenge with changing majors after 60 hours is that by this point you will have started taking major-specific courses that will not be applicable to the new major. The later you change majors, the more likely it will be that you will not be able to graduate within 8 full-time semesters. It’s not the end of the world, but can make things really expensive.