<p>Well I actually did it, and it didn’t take “many meetings and lots of paperwork”, when I did it, for that I don’t need “uncle ezra”. I recall an application as mentioned- which was no big deal- and maybe one meeting to discuss it. Maybe my advisor had to sign something. It was no big deal. </p>
<p>There has to be some degree of procedure in place, because the qualifications, capabilities and prerequisites needed to succeed in these different programs are not all the same. Not every agriculture student can just waltz into the Architecture college and do the work there, or have the prerequisites for same; this needs to be established. And you wouldn’t necessarily want every Hotel Administration student to just waltz into the engineering college, without verifying that they are able and prepared to do the work there. That’s just common sense.</p>
<p>“I seem to remember that the career services were centralized during my time and not broken out amongst the colleges”</p>
<p>The engineering college has had its own career services office, specifically for handling engineering employment, since well before I got there in 1972. My entire interaction for engineering employment was with the staff at the engineering school. IIRC its offices were the top floor of the engineering library.</p>
<p>The only time I dealt wth the university’s broader career services offices- which may well have been otherwise centralized, but excluded engineering- - was when I was looking for a (non-engineering) summer job.</p>
<p>“I remember at least one colleague during my time attempting to transfer from Engineering to A&S and being denied”</p>
<p>That goes to “assuming you have the GPA and can complete the required coursework” which you stated as requirements for transfer at Lehigh. Which is different from the process being difficult.</p>
<p>Cornell is very diverse, the standards, capabilites and excellences between its seven colleges are not all the same. It could well be the case that Lehigh’s student body is more uniform and hence transfer qualifications are also more uniform. That does not mean a qualified Cornell applicant will have a difficult time transferring. And I sincerely hope it doesn’t mean that just any Lehigh business student will be waltzing into its engineering school without first some closer prescreening and scrutiny of his qualifications, because frankly that doesn’t speak too well of Lehigh to me.</p>
<p>I have no argument with the general principle of being able to change majors at Cornell; once the case has been made and procedures followed. However, the student must take the initiative. </p>
<p>Overall, Lehigh as an institution has a ‘forward-leaning’ philosophy to making things work if a student wants to explore another major. This comes across from day-one in working with faculty advisors that have a holistic ‘figure-out what’s your interest and pursue your bliss’ attitude; as reported to me by my son.</p>
<p>My experience, and that of many of my colleagues across all colleges at Cornell, was more of ‘how do we make you successful in the path you’ve started down’; as opposed to ‘sample the University and find out what interests you’. </p>
<p>Both schools are excellent institutions. However, size/scale does matter to the overall ‘personalized’ experience one will have. There are nuances in their philosophies and that’s what threads like this can surface for prospective students.</p>
<p>Just a gratuitous update: DD in the middle of her junior year at Cornell, majoring in Environmental Engineering. She is deliriously happy, doing research in several different labs. has had 2 summer internships, is TAing a class (which she says is great fun) and, although she loves her major, has enjoyed her non-engineering classes almost more than her major ones. It was a good choice for her.</p>
<p>It’s so wonderful when our children end up with the right place for them, isn’t it? My son’s first choice was Cornell, but he unexpectedly did not get accepted. He was quite upset at the time, but is thriving so completely at Lehigh, it makes me think that is was meant to be!</p>
<p>College is what you make of it and it sounds like your daughter is taking advantage of every opportunity! Continued success!</p>