<p>Hey, I was wondering if there's an easy way to figure out which master's degrees you can get with which bachelor's degrees. I'm a senior in high school finishing up applications and I'm trying to figure out how I can get the end result I want.</p>
<p>These are a couple specific "tracks" I was wondering about - </p>
<p>I would enjoy any of these degrees, but if I apply for earth science instead of engineering, I'm more likely to get in for UCSD for example. But, my engineering teacher told me that you can much more easily go from an engineering B.S. to an earth science/geology M.S. than the other way around. </p>
<p>The schools I'm primarily looking at right now include UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and University of Arizona.</p>
<p>I would tend to agree with your professor who said that its easier to go from engineering to a more basic science than the other way around. As an Earth Science major, you may not get the advanced math/physics/engineering courses that you would have as an engineering major. I’d recommend that you look at the master’s programs specifically to see if they require a certain major or certain coursework, but it is like much too early for you to be really focused on what master’s degree you’re going to get.</p>
<p>If you are considering engineering vs. Earth Science, I’d recommend starting as an engineering major since it’s often easier to go off the engineering tract than to get on it later in the game and still graduate on time.</p>
<p>Also, I went to UCSD, and my understanding is that they admit you to the university and then to your major/college. Applying for Earth Science over engineering shouldn’t make any impact at all on whether or not you get into the school. If the major you choose is impacted, then you’ll be admitted as your second choice major or as undeclared. I don’t know if it’s the same now, but when biology was impacted, it was actually better to apply as a biology major as an incoming freshman because it was easier to get in to the major as a freshman than as a continuing undergraduate.</p>
<p>I’ll take a look at different mining engineering graduate programs’ requirements. This is UA’s, for example:
I don’t think those requirements would be that hard to meet, but I need to look into the Earth Science curriculum a little more. I will probably just end up majoring in Civil Engineering or Mining Engineering though haha.</p>
<p>Right now for UCSD I’m set up as Structural Engineering primary major, and Earth Science as my alternate. I don’t think my scores are up to par for UCSD engineering but it’s worth a shot since they look at your alternate major. I have a good chance at Earth Science there. Also, you’re right about them admitting you into the university before they admit you into the specific college/major.</p>
<p>I hear what you’re saying about starting with engineering first instead of the other way around, and that seems a lot more logical. And it is probably too early to be worrying about this but I just want to optimize the results. Thanks again for the help.</p>
<p>^Those are probably the minimum requirements, but many competitive programs may have actual admissions standards that are higher than the minimum because they get many competitive applicants.</p>
<p>I think if you want to be an engineer, then you should major in engineering. If that means you have to go a place where you can get admitted to study engineering, then that’s probably where you should go.</p>
<p>This is why I dislike colleges that force 18-year-olds to specify their majors up front, because most of them don’t know and need to do a little exploring before they settle. I think it also discourages switching majors, which is crucial for STEM majors - about 25% of STEM majors switched into the major after they began college.</p>
<p>I agree and I’m thinking if I want to get into engineering I’ll have to start at the undergrad level. I’ll keep Earth Science/Geology as my alternate major for the three UCs I’m applying to, and theoretically that will leave me with UCD Civil Engineering, UCSB Mechanical Engineering, and UCSD Earth Science. I’ll do some more soul searching and campus touring once I figure out where I get accepted and, and go from there.</p>
<p>And I know what you mean about H.S. seniors basically having to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives. I’ve been reading for months about all different types of engineering, different schools, etc. It’s been stressing me out but I think I have my applications laid out well now. I’m a very rare exception at my high school; most in my engineering classes are signing up for mechanical engineering (maybe a few civil or electrical) because they heard it’s versatile instead of going in-depth and really exploring all their options in terms of what they want to do, where they want to live, and how much money they want to make.</p>
<p>This is why I tell people to start as an engineering major if they’re even considering it as a possibility. It’s much easier to rule that out and get off the engineering track than it is to decide you want to be an engineer in your second year of college (and still graduate in four years). With a major like engineering, it’s hard to mess around with different majors and still graduate on time. For other science and math majors, it’s much easier to switch around, but with engineering is much harder to do that.</p>
<p>UCSD’s an unfortunate situation because structural engineering JUST got added to the list of impacted majors, and in four years, it’ll probably be off the list again–but that’s too late for you unfortunately =( There are plenty of other schools where engineering isn’t impacted, so you should still have good options to choose from, regardless of what UCSD decides.</p>