Switching Majors

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1

<p>I am really undecided as to which discipline of engineering/or computers that I want to do- so I was wondering which would be the best major to enter college with so that I can switch relatively easily</p>

<p>Background:
I have built 2 computers and have a business repairing pc's
I have volunteered at a Computer "bank" which fixes up computers to give to disabled
I havent had much experience with programming but I am going to try out visual basic and c+ or whatever its called this summer- (im going to be a senior)
My dad is a civil engineer, grad of UIUC
The Situation:
Im not sure what i want to do (duh lol)
Basically i would like to just take general engineering courses to get an idea of what I like- so is taking "general" engineering a possibility, or should i try out computer engineering- and if I choose computer engineering would it be possible to switch to, lets say, civil engineering?
Thanks for responses-
Also, if anyone on this board has been accepted to the engineering program at uiuc would u care to share your stats? jus worrying lol</p>

2

<p>You might know this already, but I'll mention this anyways. The Engineering College has two majors related to what you're talking about. Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Computer Engineering focuses on the hardware, circuitry, and functionality of computers. Computer Science is mostly concerned with programming and software. </p>

<p>In terms of selecting a major, I would recommend selecting a specific concentration of engineering instead of general engineering because I think it's easier to switch from a specific concentration to general engineering. I'm not majoring in engineering though, so I'm not positive about that. You'll probably just be taking the fundamental engineering classes at first anyways, so you'll have time to see whether you want to switch out of a more specific concentration of engineering.</p>

3

<p>ok thanks i wasnt aware that computer science was considered a part of the engineering college- so i guess that opens up my horizons a bit</p>

4

<p>Yeah, you can compare the different classes you'll have to take for each major at these links. </p>

<p><a href="http://courses.uiuc.edu/cis/programs/urbana/2006/fall/undergrad/engin/comp_engin.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://courses.uiuc.edu/cis/programs/urbana/2006/fall/undergrad/engin/comp_engin.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://courses.uiuc.edu/cis/programs/urbana/2006/fall/undergrad/engin/gen_engin.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://courses.uiuc.edu/cis/programs/urbana/2006/fall/undergrad/engin/gen_engin.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://courses.uiuc.edu/cis/programs/urbana/2006/fall/undergrad/engin/comp_sci.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://courses.uiuc.edu/cis/programs/urbana/2006/fall/undergrad/engin/comp_sci.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>heres a random question: does UIUC consider legacies? my dad went there as a civil engineer</p>

6

<p>I don't think UIUC is that big on legacies unless they still have strong ties to the school or are really successful. This is an isolated case, but I know a kid who had all of the stats, extra curriculars, etc. to get into UIUC. Plus, both of his parents went to UIUC, but he didn't get in. This was most likely due to the fact that he sent in his application pretty late though.</p>