How easy is it to transfer from Exploratory Studies to Computer Science?

Colleges and Universities A-Z North Carolina State University
1

Hi,
As the title says, I was wondering if it is difficult to transfer from Exploratory to CS. Also, does anyone happen to know the acceptance rate into Exploratory? I know that State’s Engineering acceptance rate has been going down, and was wondering if that affected any other programs too. I’m in-state if that matters.
Thanks!

2

You may want to ask the CS department directly what kind of college grades and GPAs are needed (or were historically needed) to change into CS.

3

If you want to be in a CS program, apply for CS. It’s not going to do you any good to get accepted to a school if it’s for a program you don’t want.

4

@austinmshauri but I’ve heard that people move from Exploratory Studies to CS all the time. I know that there’s a CODA (Change of Degree) program specific to State that is a possible way to Engineering. I was wondering how frequent this was.

5

It is possible.
https://advising.dasa.ncsu.edu/prospective-students/fast-facts/
There are a couple gotchas. (1) the engineering program and CS in particular are space limited. Not all freshman already accepted into the engineering program get their first choice when they CODA to a specific program. (2) The engineering fundamental class that all freshman take is only accessible to students in the college of engineering. That could put you out of sequence for many of the subsequent coursework. Summer school may be a way to offset that.

As for competitiveness, one of my sons just graduated after starting in ES. At the time we were told that it was right behind the college of engineering in acceptance rate. I doubt that has changed. It’s a good program for a kid that has a general idea of what to study, but has not dialed it in enough to select a college. Good advisers, especially with course selection that gets students into class that both helps them pick major and also will count for credit in multiple programs depending upon where they end up.

Final note - as others have said, if you want to study CS, apply to the college of engineering. Others have asked this same question in the past hoping to use ES as a way to get into NCSU, with no intention of “exploring”. It did not go well.