Limited to a school?

<p>I like Stanford because they don't make you choose a major until the end of sophomore year. I think I want to do engineering, but I'm worried because my other schools (Cornell, JHU, Duke, Northwestern) are having me apply to a School of Engineering, and I won't get a well-rounded curriculum with English and History and everything. Stanford's great because it is the best school, and doesn't have these limitations. BTW, I was deferred.</p>

<p>Anyway, when I apply to a specific school in a university, am I limited to that field of study, with no other liberal arts courses except the minimum required? Do I even take classes in the other schools? I want to WAIT to declare my major until I've figured out exactly what engineering even is...and if I like it! I wish all schools were like Stanford!</p>

<p>Most or at least many of the top schools have a core curriculum that's pretty well-rounded, and I doubt any will make you stick to the major you chose when you applied.</p>

<p>I wonder why they make you apply to a specific college, then, if engineering only comes into the picture later. I feel like I'm shunning the liberal arts and everything else when I choose, the (Pratt, McCormick, etc.) School of Engineering.</p>

<p>balance. most students who choose engineering probably won't switch gears and go into philosophy (i'm sure some have, but highly unlikely). this way, eng students are compared against other eng students, etc.</p>

<p>that makes sense...but I'm afraid I might be one of those who switches from engineering to philosophy! LOL I'm torn between engineering and journalism.</p>

<p>from what i've heard (no clue if this is true at all schools), since engineering is usually the most competitive program to gain admission into, it's quite easy to switch out and into anothe program. harder the other way, though.</p>

<p>don't know if this is fully true though...anyone with more knowlege?</p>

<p>[philosophy of engineering? ;)]</p>

<p>I wish that was a major!!</p>

<p>Is that a fact--that engineering is more difficult for admission than other majors? I know that at Cornell, it's the other way around (eng. is the easiest), but that might not be true.</p>

<p>well, this is what i've heard from a few friends in college (but they're all in the humanities side, so i don't know if this becomes a "friend of a friend said..." thing).</p>

<p>from, <a href="http://www.oar.uiuc.edu/prospective/ugrad/ugchances.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.oar.uiuc.edu/prospective/ugrad/ugchances.html&lt;/a>, it does seem that way though.</p>

<p>from visiting duke and JHU, i know that even if you apply to one school and get in, while on campus once accepted, you can apply to the other school if you decide you want to change, and you can always take classes from the other school.</p>

<p>but this question seems pretty easy for someone at the admissions office to answer. just ask them how it works, if you can double major in engineering and a humanity, or just take classes accross schools etc.</p>