Hello everyone!
I was recently admitted to UIUC’s Engineering Mechanics program for the fall of 2019 as an international Indian student.
This school is one of my top choices, but unfortunately this was my second choice major, the first being MechE.
I have a few questions, so please hear me out:
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Could someone tell me what I would have to do and how hard would it be to transfer from Engineering Mechanics to Mechanical engineering after my first semester?
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I know MechE is SUPER competitive here, but does being in the College of Engineering and especially Engineering Mechanics help me?
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And, say if I wanted to switch to something like Systems Engineering from Engineering Mechanics, how hard would that be? As much as MechE?
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Could someone please tell me the main differences between Engineering Mechanics and Mechanical engineering? I am a bit lost on the details that differentiate them.
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Ultimately, do you think it is worth it to switch or should I just stick to Engineering Mechanics? I am not completely sure whether I would be doing grad school (most likely I will) and going into research (I want to go the industry route)
Any input would be appreciated. Thank you so much for answering.
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Not sure about after one semester, but possibly after 2-4 semesters if you keep on track with the curriculum.
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It may not help directly in the sense of having priority, but can’t hurt. Plus, since they have a lot of common classes it will be easier to keep on track for both. For example, you may be able to use it to make connections with advisers and professors who may be common to classes in both majors. To improve your chances, you definitely want to get As in nearly all of your classes, take as many required/recommended classes as possible and make some connections with faculty through meetings, seminars, clubs, extra help, etc.
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Systems Engineering is not an oversubscribed major, so it would be easier than Mechanical Engineering to switch. Likely if you maintain at least a solid B average and have the necessary courses you should be able to move from Engineering Mechanics to Systems Engineering with the necessary departmental forms and such. This chart below is the requirement for moving out of the DGS Pre-engineering program into engineering majors, so it doesn’t apply exactly to someone already in Engineering Mechanics, but it gives you a rough idea of where you want to be in terms of grades and classes:
https://dgs.illinois.edu/sites/dgs.illinois.edu/files/2018-12/Guaranteed%20Admission%20Major%20Chart.pdf
https://wiki.illinois.edu/wiki/download/attachments/679071653/Courses%20for%20Transfer.pdf?version=2&modificationDate=1541624326000&
- Pretty similar overall, hopefully someone in this department can explain the differences.
http://mechanical.illinois.edu/undergraduate/bs-engineering-mechanics#EMCurriculumReq
http://mechanical.illinois.edu/undergraduate/bs-mechanical-engineering#MECurriculumReq
- I think there’s no need to decide now. If UIUC is your top choice and you get mostly As, you will have a lot of flexibility to change majors to whatever you find interests you after 1-2 years of classes.
Can u please share your stats. My son is waitlisted for mechE. He didnt apply for 2nd major. May b he would have got in if he opted for 2nd major.
@friend1976 sure! But I am an international (that too Asian :/) applicant, so acceptance rates are lower than American applicants anyway…and yeah my sibling made the same mistake, and got waitlisted for EE!
My stats are:
34 ACT
112/120 TOEFL
800 Math 2, 770 Physics
Class rank: 4/55, from an ISC (Indian) curriculum school
GPA: We have no GPA system, but my marks were pretty average, and my predicted score for my final exams was about 91%
Decent EC’s and internship
I feel I would have gotten waitlisted too if I did not choose a second major, but hey, I’m super grateful to get my foot through the door to the MechSE department! And transferring is always an option if I keep up my GPA…
Could you share your son’s stats too?
Thanks!
*I mean transferring to mechE, not to another school (just to clarify lol)
@omnom2169 thanks for sharing.
My son also international indian. He also has similar stats like you.
SAT - 1520 ( maths 800, CR 720)
110/120 TOEFL
SAT II - 800 maths , 770 Physics
School doesnt rank top 5% of class
High school diploma with 3 AP in junior year and 4 this senior year
GPA - 4.22 on a scale of 4.3
Decent ECs and 1 internship
I truly believe not opting for a 2nd major may have been the reason. It was a shocker for us to see the waitlist. Didnt expect it.
Which other schools you have acceptance from?
My son has received only 3 results so far. accepted from purdue. Waiting for other results now.
I had applied to around 14 schools, all for mech. engg./college of engineering, here are my acceptances:
UIUC (engineering mechanics)
Purdue
Minnesota - Twin Cities (10k per year scholarship)
Virginia Tech
Michigan State (21k per year scholarship)
I am still waiting for around 8 more decisions which have a lot more reaches, so let’s see what happens.
Could you please tell me the universities your son has applied to and the decisions so far? Thanks
Wow, I didn’t even do any AP’s because I wasn’t very well informed, nor was it available anywhere in the city I live in… I think your son has a great shot with those stats along with AP’s…
@omnom2169 my son applied to stanford & purdue early action. I know stanford was a hard reach but we wanted to take chances since the admisiion process is such. U never know. We still have 11 more results most of which are targets & reaches. Looking at the uiuc result it seems if we didnt have purdue we were screwed. How unreliable the admission process is. I can understand my son counsellor’s worries now about his college selection.
hmm, I had applied to Cornell early decision (HARD reach) as it was my dream school but I got rejected…it surely is hard dealing with the emotions and getting over it…and yeah the admission process is WAY more complicated than I could imagine…but we have many more decisions left to go! we both may get even more selective schools or maybe even end up at the same place!
Be sure to let me know where your son finally commits to after all decisions are out! (I don’t know why, just for curiosity’s sake :D) and good luck
Sure. Good luck to you too. My son applied to cornell RD.
@illinoisx3 are you a student there? If yes, what are you majoring in? Thanks for letting me know
@omnom2169 Electrical Engineering many years ago;-) My son is at UIUC now, dual major Math and Engineering Physics.
Oh wow, that’s good to know. Thank you for taking the time to answer other prospective students’ queries!
My son was admitted EA in Dec to EE (first choice). We are oos, he had 1470 SAT ( submitted multiple scores, best was 790 math, 700 english), around 3.9 uw gpa. Dual enrollment math in calc 3 and diffeq. Typical band, varsity sports, volunteer stuff.
Husband and I are both alums. I feel like that certainly didn’t hurt things.
Was also accepted to:
Wisconsin
Iowa
Purdue
Osu
Msu
Deferred then denied at GT
Deferred from UM and still have not heard
I would reach out via Facebook to ask students and call Illinois directly to ask that. At the moment your not in engineering. I have heard good and bad about transferring and it’s not easy to get As in any engineering discipline especially at Illinois for the best students. See which program costs less in the long run.
@Knowsstuff what do you mean “at the moment you are not in engineering”?
EM and ME are under the same department (MechSE), and UIUC’s Rankings section states its rank along with ME as the same rank. And it’s got Engineering in the name, could you please elaborate?
(Sorry for freaking out)
