<p>My current plan is to major in chemical engineering.
Of course, being a 17 year old, my plans are subject to change (as I'm reminded everyday by my doctor-obsessed mother).
If my current plan is engineering but that may change in the future, should I apply to schools like U of Chicago, Georgetown, or Boston college, none of which have engineering departments? I know CC stresses accounting for majors in college selection but I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of potential opportunities by limiting my choices. Another reason I ask is that all 3 colleges I've listed have non restrictive early policies, and since I'm probably going to apply to MIT/Cal Tech early, I want to maximize the number of schools I apply early, but I cannot find any other schools that have non restrictive early action (other than perhaps Georgia Tech which unfortunately is too expensive for me)</p>
<p>You sound like you need aid or scholarships. If so, then you need to apply to schools that will be affordable AND offer a variety of majors. You dont want to transfer…hard to get aid then.</p>
<p>dont apply to schools that dont have engineering. </p>
<p>what are your stats?</p>
<p>how much will your parents pay?</p>
<p>36 ACT 800 Math II 800 Chemistry 3.96 UW with 12 APs by end of junior, 18 by end of senior.
Family income is around 30k so I basically need 100% need.
I’m in state for California.</p>
<p>I would say <em>do</em> apply for the schools that are EA with no engineering if they won’t impact anything else (like time on other apps or studying). They’re essentially free options, after all.</p>
<p>You can then decide where to attend later after getting the aid letters.</p>
<p>If you want engineering, I’d focus on schools with engineering. And my D’s friend got a nice scholarship from GA Tech as an OOS student, so it may be worth considering an application. And you can consider UMichigan as a place with strong engineering that you can apply to early non-binding (not sure how they would be with aid to OOS students though). Look at in state public options as well.</p>
<p>If today you feel that you want to study engineering, then by all means apply to engineering universities or colleges like Swarthmore or Mudd; it makes no sense to do otherwise.</p>
<p>I’m with Lake Sr. on this. There are great schools with engineering programs that also offer dance or Italian majors. With your scores, you have a chance at any of them. And both Swarthmore and Mudd, among the best schools in the country, are parts of consortiums that will give you access to courses at several schools that can offer you what HMC and Swat do not offer. One caution at HMC: if you want to major in something other than the sciences you are stuck because Mudd doesn’t offer any such majors.</p>
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<p>I think you need to look harder for EA schools that offer engineering. SMU, Case Western, and Miami all have engineering schools and offer unrestricted EA, although of those three, only Case offers chemical engineering. There are plenty more that offer EA, just check the sticky list of EA schools</p>
<p>I see. So it’d be better to go to a school where engineering is available while having other options if I change my mind.</p>
<p>The OP is asking about schools to apply EA to. I really like Mudd and Swarthmore (though I’m pretty certain that Swarthmore doesn’t offer ChemE; I’m not even sure Mudd does), but they don’t have EA, as far as I know.</p>
<p>Also ChemE is closer to chemistry than a lot of other engineering majors (like CompE, for instance).</p>
<p>Finally, UChicago will have a new molecular engineering major, which may be somewhat close to ChemE. I wouldn’t pass up applying EA to the U of C if I had the time, personally.</p>
<p>Mudd and Swarthmore are both ED so they’re out of the question. Would the molecular engineering major be comparable to an engineering degree at say MIT? Since its so new, would employers see it as not credible?</p>
<p><<<
Family income is around 30k
<<<</p>
<p>do you have a NCP?
do your parents own a business?</p>
<p>I’m sorry, what’s an NCP?
And I’m just going off the official tax forms that I ran through NPCs</p>
<p>I really doubt that employers would see a STEM degree from the U of C as “not credible”. Read up on the molecular engineering initiative at the U of C. They’re evidently hiring the top people in that field.</p>
<p>NCP=non-custodial parent (i.e. are your parents divorced).</p>
<p>No they are still married but my mother doesn’t work. My dad is self employed and has a small business. Again, the income is straight off our official tax form so I’m confident it’s accurate unless my parents are dodging taxes (which I assure you they’re not)</p>
<p>Also I’m Asian male, first generation if that matters. I’m a permanent resident right now but I’m getting my citizenship very soon before applications start.</p>
<p>Why would you apply to a school that doesn’t have engineering? Makes no sense to me. UChicago is a great school, but their application is a lot of work. </p>
<p>Apply early to MIT and CalTech. Some other EA schools with engineering are Case Western, WPI, and Northeastern. </p>
<p>Case Western and Northeastern applications do not include additional essays, so if you are applying to CalTech using the CommonApp, it’s no extra work to apply to Case. </p>
<p>If you are interested in engineering, I think you should only apply to schools that have engineering programs. Most of these schools are going to have other programs as well that you could tranfer into if you decide you do not want to do engineering. It is generally easier to transfer out of engineering than into engineering.</p>
<p>Ok makes sense. Thanks!</p>
<p>So here’s my experience:</p>
<p>Back in the day, I didn’t apply to any school without engineering because I thought I wanted to be some kind of engineer early senior year of HS. In fact, I started out as a science major freshman year in college and then ended up as and graduated as a CS major. If I had known that that was the path I was going to take, I would have applied to UChicago.</p>
<p>It’s possible that your interests will change even as you go further in senior year of HS. You’ll have to judge for yourself whether the free option of applying to UChicago, etc. (presumably over the summer?) are worth the extra work and time. If doing so will not detract from other endeavors (like applying to other school), unlike other posters here, I don’t see the advantage of turning down free options. Especially since Cal/UCLA/other UC are backups for you, I don’t see the point of going lower than them.</p>