Hey guys! So I’ll give you a little bit of background.
So far, I am at a community college and have about 20 more units to go before I reach the general 60 units. I’ve planned to major in philosophy as I’ve always been interested in it even though I’ve never been much of a student. However, since the end of my first year at a CC I’ve started to find my groove in school and really enjoy it. Engineering has always been an interest of mine but I never was motivated or even confident enough to pursue it. So I guess this brings me to my question; taking my background into consideration, do you think it is possible that I am able to switch majors so abruptly like this and somehow transfer to a good university? I have a great GPA but haven’t taken any of the pre-requisites for an engineering program up to this point. Also, I should add that I’m mainly interested in civil and aerospace engineering. So what do you guys think? Can I change? And if so, how should I go about this?
Thanks in advance for the support!
Since you are still in CC, you can change, but you may spend another three or four semesters at CC completing the prerequisites to an engineering major if you have not been taking the relevant courses already. However, this extended time at CC should be less expensive than extended time at a four year school in most cases.
You can change. As above, may require a little more time in school. But it is really a small price to pay for a career that will last around 40 years.
The bigger question is; how are your math grades? Understanding and being able to use our math skills is a must for engineering.
@ucbalumnus Isn’t there a maximum number of units i can take at a CC if I want to transfer to a four year? like 70 or so?
If you are in California, you need a minimum of 60 semester units to transfer as a junior to a UC, but you can take more than that at community college before transfer. After transfer, the transfer credit for community college units will be capped at 70 semester units. However, all courses completed at community college count for subject credit to fulfill subject requirements (e.g. math, physics, general education, etc.).
Credit unit limits for transfer eligibility to UC come into effect if you have upper division credit from four year schools, or any credit earned at UC.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/transfer/advising/transferring-credits/index.html
http://www.sdmesa.edu/student-services/transfer-center/documents/uc-transfer-maximum-limitation-policy-chart.pdf
So the units taken for my major requirements would go strictly to that? If the subject credit is about 30 units, does that mean it can’t be over the maximum unit allowance on the chart you linked? I’m confused as to what that policy chart is on the second link. I thought by taking in a new major at CC, I would be allowed to take all necessary courses in order to be considered for admission, and there would not be a unit maximum? @ucbalumnus
There may be a maximum number of credits they’ll accept, but not necessarily a limit on how many you can take. What state are you in? Do you plan to transfer to an in state public?
My personal opinion: A switch from philosophy to engineering as a major will very likely require you to take a small number of additional semesters in school, whether at community college or university. However, a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy without graduate school will qualify for you to either go on to graduate school, or to go to law school, or to flip burgers at McDonalds. A Bachelor’s degree in engineering will qualify you for a well paying job.
As such, the total time between now and when you will have a well paying job will probably not actually increase much, if at all, if you make this switch.
I am under the impression that @austinmshauri is correct, and if you take too many credits at CC then not all of the credits will transfer to the university, but you can still take the credits at CC and can still transfer.
Lots of students change their major. The fact that you are doing this while still relatively young should make it less disrupting than it would be for an older student.
You are young, life is not a race. If you want to switch to engineering then IMHO you should switch to engineering. If this requires an extra year or even two at CC then I think that this is still very much worthwhile.
Assuming all courses are taken at CC and you transfer to UC, you would get subject credit for all courses (i.e. your math courses would fulfill math requirements, your philosophy courses would count toward humanities breadth, etc.). However, if you have more than 70 semester units (105 quarter units) of CC credit, you would transfer to UC with 70 semester units (105 quarter units). You would then need at least 50 semester units (75 quarter units) of course work at UC to meet the 120 semester unit (180 quarter unit) minimum to graduate.
In other words, you can take all of the courses you want at CC before transfer (of course, meeting all subject requirements as listed at http://www.assist.org ).