<p>I know a number of kids who went to ASU on one of those honors scholarships and loved the experience. I agree with TheDad about the chances of him sticking to his original plans, since few freshmen do. Hopefully he has checked to see if it is even possible to get take decent music courses while in the engineering program. My son was trying to cobble together a performing arts program at some schools that had all the pieces he wanted, but when he talked to the departments after admissions assured him that this was indeed possible, he found out that it was not the case at all. The departments all had nasty gatekeepers so that unless you were majoring in a subject, you could forget about taking any courses there. </p>
<p>An example is CMU. Forget about taking drama, music from their Fine Arts School unless you were accepted in that program. There may be some offerings for the general university, but most of the courses and opportunities are jealously guarded. A student would be better off at a college without such tight departmental barriers. I don’t know what Arizona or USC has regarding those policies.</p>
<p>Congrats to you & your S. I’m sure the decision will work well for him (he can always transfer back to in-state U if he decides it’s not really where he wants to be).</p>
<p>My S is getting his EE degree at USC in a few weeks. I forced him to send in his transcript & completed application to U of Az, where he was offered a NMF full-ride but he refused to visit and really wasn’t interested. He didn’t feel it was a good fit but has been VERY HAPPY at USC, where he has spent all 4 years (without any terms abroad–no interest, despite our encouragement).
Their internship & placement office in the school of engineering is very helpful. S has had great internships and is looking forward to his job, as soon as he completes his physical & they finish all the other paperwork processing. </p>
<p>S has had his hands full with his EE courses (even tho he entered USC with the maximum 32 credit hours from his APs & one college course). He is only able to take a lot of fun courses this last semseter (sailing, building a stereo receiver, and a few other things he is finding fun).</p>
<p>USC is pretty good about allowing students to take courses outside of their major. I know a student who is undeclared & has been allowed to take MANY cinema courses (which is a highly selective school) despite her undeclared status (she’s hoping to major or at least minor in cinema). USC really does encourage kids to take a wide spectrum of courses. The undeclared student is also taking architecture for non-architecture majors. </p>
<p>Have not heard of students being denied ability to take courses at USC because they were not accepted into the particular program.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse,
Yes, we talked to representatives in both Engineering and Music and were assured that it is possible (with very careful planning) to do the music minor, or take music classes as a non-major. We also talked to students who are doing both these things. So this was one of the factors that led to choosing USC. There is even a little catalog with information on music minors and music electives at USC. At the same time, we found out that ASU’s school of music has VERY limited options for non-majors.
Again, it’s no big deal if my son’s plans change, but this way many opportunities to study and/or participate in music are available.
HImom, thanks and congratulations to your son!</p>
<p>My nephew wanted to do both engineering and music, but was talked out of it by his freshman advisor. He is now in a school jazz group which will also fulfill his fine arts requirement and has allowed him to meet a great group of kids outside the world of engineering.</p>