transferring into engineering?

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

<p>Ok so im a senior in highschool right now. Im almost positive that I wont get into engineering because of my stats (28 act, 3.2/4 gpa, top 60% of class =[, and i only got almost all a's in junior year.)</p>

<p>if i get into u of i's general studies program, do amazing in the first year i go there, can i transfer into aerospace engineering? I really wanna do engineering. I think purdue and iowa state will take me for their engineering, but i really like u of i. Im so undecided :(. Im afraid to go to u of i because i think engineering transfers will have a much harder time. since i wanna do rotc for the air force and become a pilot, keeping my college gpa up will be important so i want to maximize my advantage.</p>

<p>How hard is it to transfer into engineering? Also, one quick question. If I apply to u of i as an engineering major, and they say no way to letting me into engineering, will they automatically consider me for general studies?</p>

2

<p>On your application, there will be an option to be automatically considered for admission into the Division of General Studies if you aren’t admitted to the College of Engineering. Make sure you choose that option. That way, there’s no risk in applying to CoE because you’ll automatically be considered for DGS anyway.</p>

<p>If you aren’t admitted to CoE but you get into DGS, you’ll need to complete Calculus 1 and 2, two semesters of chemistry, and one semester of physics, with a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0 in those courses and a minimum overall GPA of 3.0 in order to transfer into engineering. You can increase your chances by taking additional courses that are required for your intended major. More information available here:
[Transfer</a> Students | Engineering at Illinois](<a href=“http://engineering.illinois.edu/prospective-students/transfer-students]Transfer”>Majors & Minors | The Grainger College of Engineering | UIUC)</p>

3

<p>I’m assuming you’re a rising senior, and that you took the ACT this last spring, receiving a 28.</p>

<p>Actually, you apply to the engineering degree of your choice, and if you don’t get accepted there, you will automatically be considered for another engineering major, including General Engineering, which is also a degree in and of itself. If you are not accepted into engineering, you will automatically be considered for DGS. There is no option that needs to be checked. If you are not offered a place in DGS, you can be deferred during priority registration, waitlisted during the regular registration period, or outright rejected.</p>

<p>Since you took the ACT during your junior year, you can still retake the ACT as late as the October setting, which will still get to priority registration before the deadline.</p>

<p>My son took the ACT 3 times, going from 28 to 30 to 32. He used the Barron’s Prep book to practice. Your GPA and class rank are your biggest drawbacks, but you won’t know for sure unless you apply. Upward GPA trends are looked upon favorably, as is the rigor of the courses you took during high school.</p>

<p>P.S. They just changed the DGS checkbox thing this last year as I understand it mjohnson91.</p>

4

<p>WHat if the student’s first choice is COE and 2nd choice is LAS? If the applicant could not make it into coE, would they try to put the person in LAS?</p>

<p>Did I hear correctly that there are different engineering majors within the coE that a freshman would apply for?</p>

<p>Do EACH of these engineering majors have their own seat quota/limit and/or admissions criteria from HS academic performance and test scores? Say, aerospace needs a 33 but mech needs a 31, for example?</p>

<p>Or does an applicant get into the college firstly, and later a major is decided upon? </p>

<p>I thought I’d fold the real app link into this thread, but it looks like there is gonna be no info til 9/1/10. So we’re gonna have to rely on the voices of experience, balthezar, for some extra perspective (in addition, of course, to admission officers).</p>

<p>[U&lt;/a&gt; of I Admissions: Freshman Application](<a href=“http://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/app_freshman.html]U”>Page Not Found, Illinois Undergraduate Admissions)</p>

<p>also, Balthezar, so there is a enough time for the 10/23 act scores to get into the priority deadline of 11-1?</p>

<p>Finally, the title of this thread prompts me to ask: how easy is it for a student in the LAS college to transfer to the CoE college?</p>

5

<p>^If you are rejected engineering they will consider you for DGS not LAS. If you are in DGS, it is fairly easy to later transfer (after first year) into most things in A&S.</p>

<p>When you apply for engineering you must pick a specific major. Start here for finding information on engineering departments and majors:[Departments</a> | Engineering at Illinois](<a href=“http://engineering.illinois.edu/current-students/departments-undergraduate]Departments”>http://engineering.illinois.edu/current-students/departments-undergraduate)</p>

<p>The annual target for new freshman engineering students is 1200 and each department within engineering has its own target within that 1200 and the numbers vary between the departments. Those are soft targets, they sometimes end up with more and sometimes less but they admit on the basis of trying to end up with the target number of persons who accept the offer of admission and enroll. The middle 50% rank/test score ranges for each department do vary somewhat from what you will find for the engineering college as a whole, except that bioengineering, the most difficult major to get into, varies significantly from the published ranges for the college. Bioengineering freshman are usually in top 5% or better of high school class and have 33 ACT or better.</p>

<p>When admitted to engineering you will be admitted to either your chosen major or be offered another engineering major if they reject you from your chosen one.</p>

<p>Go here: [U&lt;/a&gt; of I Admissions: Freshman Admission Requirements](<a href=“http://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/requirements_freshman.html]U”>Page Not Found, Illinois Undergraduate Admissions) As it tells you, if you scroll down to testing requirements, an October ACT will NOT arrive in time for priority admission when the priority date is November 1.</p>

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<p>what is priority admission? What if i take an act on september 11, will i still get this priority admission you speak of?</p>

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<p>Drusba is right. My son took the September ACT and the scores arrived in time to meet the priority registration deadline, but not by much. It takes about 5 weeks on average to receive scores, but can take as much as 2 months. Sorry about the “October” mistake above. October scores definitely won’t make it in time to meet the 11/1 priority registration deadline.</p>

<p>Information on Priority Registration can be found here: [U&lt;/a&gt; of I Admissions: Freshman Dates & Deadlines](<a href=“http://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/dates_freshman.html]U”>Page Not Found, Illinois Undergraduate Admissions)</p>

<p>If your application and all supporting materials (Test Scores, Transcripts and the Application Fee) are received by November 1st (or have a Nov 1st postmark), you will receive your decision by mid-December (which was 12/17) this last year. You also may have an edge in getting into programs in which “space is limited”. Priority Registration is not binding, and you basically get your decision sooner, so it’s always a good idea to try and get the application in before 11/1, if you can.</p>

<p>So September 11th is pushing it, but your scores will most likely be received by November 1st. They are electronically sent by ACT and programmatically uploaded to your application. The scores are sent by ACT twice weekly as soon as scores are tabulated, but, if you’ve taken the writing portion of the ACT, section scores won’t be sent until the writing portion has been manually scored. Make sure you specify that the scores be sent to UIUC when signing up for the ACT.</p>

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<p>drusba, </p>

<p>“…varies significantly from the published ranges for the college”</p>

<p>Are these the published ranges you were referring to ? Are there published ranges for for the CoE within each Engineering major - where?</p>

<p><a href=“http://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/requirements_freshman.html[/url]”>http://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/requirements_freshman.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>“If you are in DGS, it is fairly easy to later transfer (after first year) into most things in A&S” Any overlap of classes freshman year between coE and LAS students?</p>

<p>A&S = ?</p>

<p>But if a freshman were to be in LAS, how easy would it be to transfer to the coE later, say, at sophomore time?</p>

9

<p>^Yes, those are the published ranges. A&S (Arts & Sciences) is just another abbreviation for LAS.</p>

<p>For transfer to engineering, you need to take same math, chem, physics and rhetoric courses that freshman engineering students usually take, You need at least a 3.0 first year to be considered and for some majors possibly higher. You also need to have no less than B’s in math, chem, and physics. They also prefer that the language requirement be completed (three years in high school or completion of third semester level in college). That gets you considered for transfer (not guaranteed to get in and you should assume you will probably need better) and you face a factor against you if you were rejected engineering as a freshman as they will give preference to those who would likely have been admitted freshman year to engineering if they had applied. In other words, it is not easy. If you wait to try to transfer after second year, that factor will no longer be considered against you.</p>

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<p>thanks, drusba , for the reply. It seems that it makes one have to think extra hard at freshman time to check that Engineering box. “do I feel lucky?” Will a 30 act score do it, or should I only check it if I have a 31 or more? The applicant might not get another shot at it , at least a shot at UIUC coE.</p>

11

<p>

No one factor decides whether you are made an offer. All parts of the application are evaluated. A 30 ACT was at the low end of the CoE range last year. Of equal, if not greater, importance is the applicant’s GPA and high school percentage rank (HSPR). The rigor of the courses offered by the high school vs. the courses taken by the applicant is also considered. Admissions receives a profile of the school from the high school counselor. The profile gives admissions information about the school in general, but they know the reputation of most schools through past contact with applicants.</p>

<p>Your son/daughter should indicate the college/program that they want to take. They will “get another shot” at transferring into engineering, but as Drusba said, that’s tough too. Nothing’s guarenteed. Applicant’s with less than 30 have gotten admitted to CoE, some with scores higher than 30 don’t. Applying is the only sure way to find out. The only guarentee is that if you don’t apply, you have 0 chance of getting accepted.</p>

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<p>So is it easier to apply of the bat to the school of engineering if I have an sat score that is a 28 on the act and am in the top 5% of my class or would it be better to not have the “I already applied but didn’t get in” strike against me not be there by applying directly to DGS and switching sophmore year?</p>

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<p>Applying and not getting accepted won’t be held against you. And you have time to retake the ACT and attempt to get a higher score. The September test should make it on time to be considered during the priority admissions period.</p>

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<p>To kingneptune, the original poster:</p>

<p>I have been in your shoes. You may not fully realize this, but before you get answers to all these admissions details, you need to stare your biggest issue in the face. That involves two divergent career paths, air force pilot and aerospace engineer.</p>

<p>The layman might think the two go hand in hand; but for those who know, they most certainly do not. To get a pilot slot in the Air Force is very difficult, and they look at GPA a lot. They don’t care very much for school ranking, nor do they care much about major. In descending order, they care about your GPA, ROTC assessments, and finally, your academic major. School ranking, which plays a part in the civilian world, does not play a part in the military officer recruitment process.</p>

<p>As a pilot, you will not be doing aerospace engineering. You won’t be using vector caculus, you won’t be making finite element models, you will not be using design software. In short, you will have busted your but at UIUC engineering, and if by chance you make it into the pilot slot, you won’t use squat of what you learned… save for basic aeronautical terms and concepts which can be learned in a few weeks.</p>

<p>As an aerospace engineer, you will not fly fighter jets. Perhaps you’ll get a license for fun and go around in a Cesna. You will sit at a desk, 0 mph, and design stuff. That, or be an overglorified factory foreman for Boeing or Rolls Royce.</p>

<p>From my experience, ROTC takes 10-12 hours a week, that’s on top of the 40+ for engineering. Half of those cadets are political science majors; can you, as a highschooler who is not top of the line, do both aerospace engineering, one of the harder engineering majors, and ROTC, and get a GPA high enough to become a pilot in the Air Force? There are foreigners at this school who’ve studied for the SAT like it’s their gate to heaven and they struggle; you got a 28 on your ACT, how do you think you’ll do?</p>

<p>With your grades you have a better chance of being a pilot. Go to an aeronautical institute, like UIUC’s aviation school, join ROTC, and take it from there. Your GPA will be way better than in aero, and you’ll have a better chance to fly in the Air Force and some fun in college, both in the sky and on the ground. Aviation School at UIUC offers a bachelor’s degree for pilots, and even if you don’t get a pilot slot, you’ll at least work around planes as an air force officer.</p>

<p>Which brings me to my next point, say you join ROTC, do aerospace engineering, and apply for a pilot slot. What if the Air Force classes you as a security officer, i.e. Air Force infantry? Chances are they won’t, but chances are, you’ll be an electronics officer on some bomber for 4 years with guys that have no engineering degree whatsoever. You’ll again have busted your butt in engineering to do no engineering whatsoever. Again, you might get lucky and get a coveted slot as an R&D officer; but you’re gambling. Oh, and did I mention that as you gamble with whether or not your hard earned engineering major will even be used your classmates will be getting jobs with a higher salary than yours doing real engineering without any gambling at all?</p>

<p>As for Purdue and Iowa, they’re probably good schools, although I’d go with Purdue because Rolls Royce is in Indianapolis. UIUC will open more doors than Purdue or Iowa, but the difference may be too small for you to pick this place over the other two.</p>

<p>Remember though, you’re gambling a lot if you don’t get into the aero. eng. program from the get go. Most engineers I know, myself included, have their toughest semesters in their late freshman and sophomore years where the GPA hover above 2.0 You think you’ll pull off a GPA greater than 3.0 doing CHEM 102, Physics 212, and Calc 2, the weeder courses in engineering?</p>

<p>Aerospace engineering allowed no transfer students from other schools to it last year. My buddy who graduated from Aero eng. with a GPA over 3.5 tried to transfer to Mechanical Engineering sophomore year and was denied. That’s the competition you’re looking at in the engineering college, and Aero is a small department with few slots.</p>

<p>Bottom line, if they accept you in their aerospace engineering department at Iowa or Purdue, don’t risk it, just go there. If you want to be an Air Force pilot, realize that the chances are slim, whatever your course of action, but looking at your record, slimmer when you consider your grades and your engineering/pilot ambitions.</p>

<p>Your decision should also hinge on residency, as all in-state ROTC cadets have the option of a tuition write off with no military commitment their first two years. However, Air Force ROTC is the least demanding of the three branches and the safest after graduation, so it is packed with people just like you. Just go to the Armory on a fine, 6:00 AM Monday morning and witness the horde of Air Force cadets/potential cadets versus the 20-30 Army cadets running the track. That state scholarship for in-state cadets is limited and competitive as well.</p>

<p>I can safely tell you that UIUC engineering is much harder than the Army’s bootcamp. It’s a prison of your own making, where the tempations to run away are yours for the taking. The end result is a great achievement, and you will have come out with a piece of paper that does open doors. Admittedly, you’ll be underwhelmed by some of your day to day engineering work, but at least you’ll have a future in a respectable career.</p>

<p>The admissions people here did not graduate from engineering college, and they will goad you into “challenging” yourself in pointless ways where you end up biting more than you can possibly chew. ROTC and Engineering is often such a scenario for many people. Honors math, chemistry, or whatever the fools advertise is another such scenario. Re-taking courses you have AP credit for is yet another such potential pitfall. Take everything admissions recommends with a grain of salt.</p>

<p>I took a lot of time to write this because I was a lot like you. I don’t want you to end up sophomore year, a student who was better than most of his highschool classmates, forced with options that the mediocre students back in highschool had to make. Talk to real engineering college students, and talk to the ones who struggled, not the straight A students or admissions personnel. Talk to the ROTC department and to actual Air Force officers.</p>

<p>And one final bit of advice; consider community college as well. You can do ROTC in two years or even one, you do not need 4 years to become an officer. Heck, you could just get your aersopace engineer degree and apply to Officer Candidate School for a flight slot after college. If you don’t get it, you just don’t go and continue your high paid engineering job; no gambling or drain on your time in college. Of course, your chances of getting a pilot slot are better as a ROTC grad, but still, you can always go the OCS route or one year of ROTC so that it does not conflict with engineering college much.</p>

<p>The paths you can take are many, but take the path that gets you the greatest gain and satisfaction, with the least amount of struggle which may derail you.</p>