<pre><code> I've recently earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, but now I realize that I would rather pursue a career with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. I have looked at some schools in California about their policies on accepting students for a second B.S. and they vary from school to school, with many of them not even allowing it.
A question for those of you who may have experience with this sort of thing. How should I go about applying for my second bachelor's degree.
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<p>Find one of the few schools that allows it, and apply. Keep in mind that the most selective schools tend not to allow it, you will not be eligible for financial aid, you will be starting your career four years late, and in every single job interview for the rest of your life you’ll have to explain why you aren’t doing chemical engineering.</p>
<p>Few if any of the CA publics will allow this. For the ones I’m aware of that offer a 2nd bachelors, they say it has to be in a substantially different area than the first. So for example taking engineering classes after getting a degree in History.</p>
<p>There is a way you can do this, if you’re sure its what you really want, but it will take several (probably at least 3-4) years, so you have to ask yourself if its really what you want. The way is forget about getting a 2nd BS, get a MS. Its a more marketable degree anyway. The Cal-State schools are pretty likely to admit you for a MS in what’s called provisional status, in which you have to make up the missing courses before you are formally admitted to the major. </p>
<p>Since its already mid-Sept its too late for this year, but that’s ok. You’ll need to research this, of course, but a rough timeframe is to apply this fall for a MS program starting the following year at a CSU school (after making appts to talk to counselors at those schools). Meanwhile get to a local CC that is just starting up and take the lower level courses that EEs take. With a ChemE degree you probably have all the general math and science, you’ll just need a circuits course and perhaps a few others. A year later you start at the CSU, takes 2 years to take the EE upper-division classes which you could potentially compress depending on your sub-branch of EE, and then another year for the MS courses.</p>