<p>For instance, Columbia University has a Columbia College and a College of Engineering. If I'm currently undecided between premed/business/engineering, am I allowed to go into the school undecided? My freshman/sophomore years, am I allowed to take a general variety of courses in all 3 areas and then decide which road to take later on? To put it clearly, can I apply to Columbia College and then move to the school of Engineering later on?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I believe you would have to apply for transfer admission, but it should not be too difficult to do once you are admitted to the university and have shown good academic performance for a year or more.</p>
<p>Wait a minute, what exactly is Columbia College?</p>
<p>I just want to get into the university itself and take a wide range of courses before selecting my major. Is this possible? It seems like the more I read about this, the more confused I become.</p>
<p>i believe it's difficult to transfer between the two schools. i think you apply for one or the other..</p>
<p>I believe Columbia College is the "Arts and Science" part of the university.</p>
<p>I think the ability to transfer between schools varies with different unversities. Transferring from Penn's CAS to Wharton would be difficult, for example, but Duke makes it fairly easy to transfer from Trinity (A&S) to Pratt (eng.). </p>
<p>That said, engineering programs usually have very rigid requirements for each year, so it's often kind of hard to transfer in. If you have a lot of AP credits to nullify the required chem/physics/math classes, it might be possible. </p>
<p>Also, it's often possible to combine an engineering major with a major from Arts & Sciences, so don't feel like you're limiting yourself if you apply to an engineering school.</p>