<p>I recently have been accepted in the school of business and the honors college and was wondering how difficult it would be to switch LEP programs to the engineering program this far before orientation. I could debate that I am a very strong applicant to UMD if this would help. </p>
<p>call the admissions office, CL. They probably get this question a lot more often than we do, and they might be more accurate in their response. What have you to lose?</p>
<p>Clark does its own evaluations after admission to UM, and they would be the ones to make that call. So, rather than the general admissions office, I would call Clark admissions to ask.</p>
<p>Without knowing your stats, its hard to say…min SAT for Smith is 1300, min SAT for Clark is 1320, avg SAT for Smith is 1363 avg for Clark is 1381. Also, if you have that, but a higher CR score than M score, that could be problematic depending on what the M score is. Also, if you don’t have any demonstrated interest/strength in the math and sciences through your coursework/transcript that could also be problematic. </p>
<p>NOT saying it’s not possible, just don’t want you to assume that if you get into one LEP, it means you will automatically be accepted by another. Smith and Clark look for different things in applicants. Again, NOT saying it can’t be done, but just don’t expect it to be automatic, if that makes sense…</p>
<p>Worst case scenario is you do an in-school transfer after taking gateway courses for engineering. Really not a big deal because if you meet the minimum grade requirement in those courses, you will be accepted into Clark without a problem. Unlike Smith, Clark is not still “competitive” for applicants as an in-school transfer. It’s just competitive for direct admission. </p>
<p>However, you need to really think about why you want to change. If you do transfer to Clark, transferring back to Smith if you find you are not happy will be a LOT tougher. Smith is competitive both for direct admission AND in-school transfers. You will have to wait for 45 credits plus gateway classes and then still be competing for a limited spot. Remember that they also have a program in Shady Grove and readmission to Smith could possibly put you there instead of CP.</p>
<p>What kind of engineering do you want? Have you looked at the coursework? You really have to want to do engineering to do this because the coursework is very demanding. Yes, business is demanding too, but in a different way. </p>
<p>So, think carefully before you make this move and do some research. Here is the page for the engineering 4 year plans <a href=“Four-Year Plans | A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland”>http://www.eng.umd.edu/advising/four-year-plan</a> Click on the gen ed -four year plan 2013-14 and then the disciplines will appear for you to click on and open. Compare the coursework to what you will be doing for business. </p>
<p>FYI, here is the in-school transfer gateway reqs for engineering <a href=“Transfer to Maryland Engineering | A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland”>Transfer to Maryland Engineering | A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland; compared to in-school transfer reqs for Smith <a href=“The University of Maryland | A Preeminent Public Research University”>The University of Maryland | A Preeminent Public Research University;
<p>Hope it works out for you! </p>
<p>Maryv is correct, it takes a special kind of person to do engineering. My D did the opposite. She thought she wanted to be an engineer. She sailed through AP Calc BC and AP Physics and all the other math and sciences in high school. She was sure that engineering was in her future until she spent 4 days as an engineering student at Cornell. She came home knowing she wanted to be anything but an engineer! She transferred to Smith very late in the process, but couldn’t be happier with it. So, OP, like maryv said, think very carefully about your decision. I always think of engineering as more of a calling, something that people have known they wanted to do for a while. The courses are so rigorous. If you decide you are an engineer at heart…go for it and hopefully you will be admitted to Clark!</p>