My DS was accepted to UF for Fall 2018. He put down that his major was engineering, but I understand that UF doesn’t admit for specific majors. All other schools he applied to (most he is still waiting to hear - Cali schools and Michigan) he applied for a specific major and would start that as a freshman. He was admitted to Purdue college of engineering and would begin engineering study there as soon as he started classes in the fall.
How does it work at UF? Do all students just take general classes and then have to apply to specific majors/colleges after the first year or two? He has taken 4 years of PLTW engineering in high school so UF is definitely at a disadvantage in his mind if he stops his engineering study for a year or two and has no guarantee of admission to the engineering school there.
UF doesn’t “consider” major during freshman admissions, but they will put you into your chosen major (with a few exceptions).
In most cases, he should be admitted to his major. My DD was an 1’st year industrial engineering, while my DS is a 1’st year Aerospace engineer. (actually, due to AP/AICE/IB credits, both started off as Sophomores…as do many others).
If he picked an engineering major, he should see that, once he can’t get logged into UF’s systems.
The one engineering exception, is BME, which is a limited access program. These get put into “pre-BME” status, until they get accepted into the BME program as juniors.
It’s fairly easy to switch engineering majors at UF, until you’re a junior, at which point you have to make a final decision. It’s perfectly fine to start off as a Mechanical engineering in your first year, and then switch to Civil in your 2nd year. UF wants students to explore different majors, before making a final choose.
Most engineering majors share the same critical tracking courses (with some exceptions). They have to take at least 1 Chemistry, Physics 1 and 2, Calc 1, 2 and 3, and Deferential equations.
You can find your son’s major curriculum online, and see which classes they recommend he takes each semester.
Unless it’s BME, you’re in people! UF isn’t like a lot of these other colleges. :-bd
The downside to this flexibility, is that it’s difficult for Community College transfer students to get into the more popular engineering majors, like Mechanical or BME. You see the same thing happen in the college of business, where it’s hard for students to transfer into Finance or accounting, but Freshman can just pick the major.
No need to re-apply (unless it’s BME) for your engineering major as a sophomore. UF does require that the student continues to make progress towards his or hers major by taking the critical tracking courses (at least 1 each semester) and keeping a 2.0 GPA.
For example, here is the Mechanical Engineering requirement (ME is one of the most competitive engineering majors at UF):
Thanks. My son is interested in Computer and Electrical Engineering. So, you are saying that all kids accepted to UF are automatically accepted to any major (with some exceptions) whether that is engineering, genetics, history, geography, art, etc (not sure if they have all these majors just trying to put down a variety)? Students simply need to take the required classes and meet the grade requirements to graduate with a degree in the major they want?
Thanks again. This approach is very different from other schools he applied to. Can’t decide if better or worse approach.
@clover2018. Exactly. With the exception of limited access majors complete the GPA and tracking courses each semester and you keep moving through to graduation. If a student decides they don’t actually like what they are doing or can’t keep up with the requirements, then they would look to change.