<p>He went to a PSU satellite campus for the first two years in engineering. He always wanted to major in Mechanical Engineering but he did so well in his classes his advisor thought he should enter the Honors Engineering Science program at University park as a junior.</p>
<p>He signed a paper last spring where he put "engineering science" above "mechanical engineering" when he declared his major.
School started last week and he has discovered his course work in engineering science is nothing like he thought. He really really wants to major in Mechanical Engineering. He is overwhelmed and feels unprepared for these classes.
He asked to switch his classes and switch to the Dept of Mechanical engineering.
His advisor said no way, the Dean said no way. He asked his advisor from last year to get involved and he said there was nothing he could do.
He was also told that if he withdrew and reapplied he could never be admitted to the Dept of Mechanical Engineering.<br>
He is withdrawing. He will go home and find another college with Mechanical Engineering and apply to transfer.</p>
<p>WOW…I thought part of college life is being able to change your major.</p>
<p>It’s different now. I know it’s hard to transfer at the University of Texas. Not impossible, though, if you have a high GPA. It’s harder to get into a couple of departments (Architectural and Biomedical) than others. I think it’s harder to transfer when you’re further along, also.</p>
<p>Penn State says you need to declare during second semester of sophomore year. He did that.
What I do not get is the inability to be flexible the FIRST week of junior year. They are telling him DME is over enrolled and that he may NEVER be admitted to that department.
If he withdraws he can never come back and must find another school.
Sounds like blackmail to me.</p>
<p>Is this because there is just enough space (and allocated money/resources) for a certain number of students in a certain major?</p>
<p>I do kind of remember my school (years ago) doing that for the Computer Science major. it was one of the reasons I switched to being a Math major. There were never a bunch of Math majors and I could always add a CS course through drops/adds.</p>
<p>Still one of the things about engineering is almost everyone takes the same schedule the first two years (I know EE, CS and ME has some specialized sophomore courses)…and JustAMomOf4’s son was JUST starting the 5th semester. It was not going to impact much…unless all the classes were filled.</p>
<p>^ to be clear - not my son (but like one).
I suppose they have a limit on the number of students - but isn’t there always room for one more? They said all classes were full so he specifically asked if he could withdraw and re-enroll to get what he wants - that is take a year off. They said No. Signing that paper last spring sealed his fate.</p>
<p>Sad thing is he is in-state. He now either has to transfer to Temple or Pitt to get in-state tution or pay $$$ for oos or private. In any case, he is probably looking at three more years, not two.</p>
<p>mechanical engineering is always the most popular major at engineering colleges. While sad, it is a reality especially at public colleges that have been forced to take in more students than they can handle just to get more tuition money.</p>
<p>I know that Penn State has campuses all over PA and some of them also offer M.E. How much would the PA employers “frown” for having a degree from PSU-Harrisburg or PSU-At Wherever?</p>
<p>I know it hurts more at undergrad than grad but I don’t how much within PA.</p>
<p>(for the record, I thought of doing my grad work at PSU-Harrisburg in Engineering Science but that ES program is more interdisciplinary than the program at State College).</p>
<p>send him to ohio state that fixes your problems.</p>
<p>First of all, sending him to Ohio State will only cause more problems.</p>
<p>Second, your son has been trapped by that inpenetrable force known as bureaucracy, a problem at every school I have ever seen.</p>
<p>Check out page 14 in:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.engr.psu.edu/AdvisingCenter/progguide10-11/GENERAL_1011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.engr.psu.edu/AdvisingCenter/progguide10-11/GENERAL_1011.pdf</a></p>
<p>Specifically where it says: “After the Pool semester entrance-to-major process, NO changes of major or exceptions will be approved for majors under enrollment control.”</p>
<p>Since ME is inder enrollment control, your son is screwed - universities will make a ton of exceptions for academic issues, but none for bureaucratic issues. He could transfer to one of the other non-controlled engineering majors, including EE or NucE, but if he has his heart set on ME then he is truly done at Penn State. And since the system is a statewide system, I do not think he can get around it be going to a commonwealth campus. He got bad advice.</p>
<p>The issue I see with Ohio State is the semester-to-quarter conversion…although OSU is supposed to goto semesters next year or 2012 (according to my sister who went there).</p>
<p>He should pay more attention to what documents he is signing that was completely his fault.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ok…I know it’s been awhile since I have attended college, but you mean to tell me that students now have to sign stuff that says you must stay in the degree program and cannot change majors?</p>
<p>cosmicfish - (again, not my son!)
I get that. He got poor advice from an advisor at a satellite campus. Not being up at UP he did not have a real ‘feel’ for the Engineering Science major and didn’t fully understand the courses and type of courses he would be taking. He was somewhat coerced into signing up for Engineering Science. He knew what he was signing but being 19 years old - did not fully grasp that NO changes would be allowed EVER and what the scope of the ES major is.</p>
<p>I understand they can’t change him for this year. What I do NOT understand is why, if he takes a year off, he CANNOT go back into ME. This nonsense is far beyond my comprehension and in my mind is nothing more than b.s. and blackmail.
BTW - he is an excellent student - 3.5 gpa. Could have gone to UP as a freshman, chose to stay home and save two years room and board. He is first generation college.
The Engineering Science is an HONORS major and you would think they would attempt to accomadate excellent students and listen to what THEY want - not what they think they should want.
Anyway, it’s a shame no matter how you look at it and a word of warning to those who take their first two years at a satellite campus.</p>
<p>He’s not going to Ohio State - lol.
I suspect he will look in the E PA, MD area.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, a 3.5 GPA wouldn’t be high enough to transfer into some engineering departments at Texas. It’s amazing to me!</p>
<p>I agree, though, it seems like he should be able to get in some time, somewhere!</p>
<p>Come to Clemson! We’d love to have him here :)</p>
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<p>…and this is what I don’t get. Schools figure that limiting enrollment will produce the best students and ONLY THOSE students figure to obtain/maintain a career in a certain major.</p>
<p>I find this especially odd in Computer Science where many software developers are not full-fledged Computer Science majors.</p>
<p>The reasons he cannot go back into ME are:</p>
<p>1) The major is enrollment capped - I believe this was an ABET issue for accreditation.</p>
<p>2) “New” declares are given priority in entering a major over those wishing to change majors, regardless of GPA or other factors.</p>
<p>3) Students are expected to be intimitely familiar with all rules and regulations, no matter how obscure or arbitrary.</p>
<p>4) If they say yes to your not-son, then they will have to listen to petitions from other reasonable people with reasonable requests, and when will that ever end?</p>
<p>The Engineering Science major itself has nothing to do with this - this is a college issue, not a department issue, so there is nothing they can do. You might suggest he take this a little public - the Collegian might do a nice piece on it, and the University itself might like to know why it is losing a quality student.</p>
<p>As far as alternate schools go, he should check out Carnegie Mellon - it is in Pittsburgh, not too far away, and also has a very high quality engineering program if he can afford it. After that I would recommend UMD over any other PA programs - you won’t find a better value in the area.</p>
<p>I went to CMU as an undergrad, and while it’s a great school, I don’t know how many transfer students they take each year (since our retention rate is pretty high, I imagine it’s not many). However, I think the MechE department has been losing enrollment a bit to ECE in recent years, so there should be spots open for him if he does get in.</p>
<p>There’s also Pitt right down the street which is a pretty solid school for engineering, as well (he’d also fit in cheering against PSU at sports games).</p>