<p>I'm an engineering freshman at UAEU(United Arab Emirates University). I recently applied to Queen's university and Iowa State University as a freshman for fall 2015(Yes, with the intention of starting over and I want it that way). I still don't know if I should study abroad or not. The engineering faculty in UAEU is ABET accredited, it's all for free right from the start of your Bachelor's till the end, the student to faculty ratio is pretty small and I've been living in the UAE for 17 years now so I know a lot of people here but the kicker is that it doesn't offer software engineering as a major, something I truly love and have passion for, the atmosphere and university spirit are dull and there aren't a lot of extracurricular activities available. If you were in my shoes, would you take the risk and pursue something you love considering the advantages you have(money isn't a big problem)?</p>
<p>This should be moved to the engineering majors forum. If you were my son, I would suggest getting your degree for free. Electrical engineering would be a good fit if your school doesn’t have computer engineering. Take a semester or a year aboard to study at your dream American school. Usually engineering students don’t have a lot of time for extracurriculars, but if you do, work on a software project of your own since you are so passionate about that. You don’t need a degree in software engineering to write software. You can always come to America for a masters.</p>
<p>International transfer is difficult and will not receive any aid from the target school. In addition, some of the credits you received will not be accepted, so make sure you check before you apply. I would get a free education and apply for a master degree in the US or anywhere you like.</p>
<p>Well you need to send in transcripts from your current college regardless, it is REQuIRED to send transcripts from all colleges attended.</p>
<p>Most people working in software engineering have straightforward CS degrees. Many have degrees in ee or math or physics. Some have software eng too. Are you saying no CS degree there at all? In that case an EE degree plus as many CS and programming, discrete structures, algorithm classes as you can should work out. You can teach yourself skills online and get jobs with just a complimentary degree that is heavy on math.</p>
<p>What would your legal status be in the US? Would you need a student visa?</p>
<p>What are your long-term goals for where you would like to build your career?</p>
<p>Whether or not you apply as a transfer or as a freshman applicant is not up to you. That depends on the institution that you apply to. So email each of these places and verify that it is OK for you to apply as a freshman. </p>
<p>Thanks for your replies guys! Happymomof1, I’m a US citizen and a Canadian resident so no worries! My long term goals are to work in a successful software company as a programmer then get enough real-world experience to create a start up. I already applied, just told the universities that I took a gap year! I want to start over because it’s probably gonna take me some time to adapt to the different culture and it’ll garuantee a solid gpa! Yeah brownparent, UAEU has no cs degrees. </p>