<p>I am very interested in Cornell at the moment, but the main drawback for me is having to apply directly to one program. I am very torn between Engineering and AEM at the moment, and ideally I would be able to take one year before I declare a major like at other schools I am applying to. I realize this is not an option so I have a couple questions about transferring between the schools in Cornell.</p>
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<li><p>How hard of a process is it to transfer between the schools providing I maintain a relatively good GPA. </p></li>
<li><p>How far would it set me back if I were to transfer between the two programs I mentioned? Would I still be able to graduate in 4 years?</p></li>
<li><p>Is it easier to transfer into one or the other (AEM Vs. Engineering) The reason I ask is if one is almost impossible to transfer into I will probably apply to that one first choice to make it easier if I decide to switch.</p></li>
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<p>I did not transfer between colleges. I was in engineering. I did a business minor (many of them with AEM) and got somewhat familiar with the lower level requirements for AEM. </p>
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<li><p>It’s a lot of paperwork and a couple of sit downs with both colleges. But if you have a good GPA, transferring between colleges should not be impossible. You would definitely want start the conversation 1 month in or so, after you’ve gotten a taste and made up your mind. </p></li>
<li><p>If you have AP credit, graduating in 4 years is more than doable, unless you plan on minoring in something. If you don’t have AP credit, you would have to plan your first year very carefully if you go AEM > Eng so that you can have as many overlap as possible.(basically you’d be doing all of the engineering versions of the science requirements, and need to do the engineering maths. The econ requirement can count as engineering liberal arts but yeah) Even so if you compare the freshmen year of engineering vs AEM, you would not have fulfilled the “intro to engineering” or “intro to matlab/intro to python” requirement - unless you overload - which are readily/heavily used skills in sophomore and beyond engineering courses.</p></li>
<li><p>Eng to AEM would definitely be easier than AEM to Eng, based on the 4 year curriculum of both programs. The EA direction has much more overlap than AE direction and EA would increase your chances of finishing in 4 years but a lot. That being said, freshmen AEM have one or two courses that are AEM-only and AEM-tailored, designed to I guess… indoctrinate them as a group and transferring into that group might leave you at a bit of a disadvantage social-academically, if you get what I mean. </p></li>
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<p>Side notes: I suspect an AEM minor would be easier to complete than an engineering minor (actually I’m not even sure if you can minor in engineering if you’re in AEM).
Both majors in general lead you to very different aspects of industry/academia. There’s some overlap here and there but it’s something else to consider.</p>
<p>I would recommend for you to look into the Operations Research major in the College of Engineering. Also, I’d like to second how tough it is to transfer INTO Engineering… so I would apply there if you are unsure because it’s easier to transfer out of engineering into any of the other colleges (its especially easier for CALS, HE & ILR).</p>