<p>I applied for Mechanical Engineering at the Swanson School of Engineering. I was recently notified that I had the option of either accepting admission to the School of Arts and Sciences and transferring after two semesters to Swanson (If I got a good GPA) OR placing myself on a wait list for Swanson. I was wondering if anyone knew how selective and how tough it is to transfer out of A&S to Swanson and what the applicant pool to Swanson looked like, both transfer for second year and incoming freshman. Also, how are the freshman year engineering courses different at the two schools?</p>
<p>Absolutely start out in A&S. My son intends to go into engineering but didn’t want the pressure of starting out there so he only applied to A&S. Call Swanson and they’ll give you all the info about transferring in but as long as your GPA is okay then I think it’s pretty automatic. When you want to take introductory engineering from A&S, you need to get permission from Swanson and then you take the same engineering class that the Swanson students take. My daughter’s at Pitt and she did take that engineering, also scientific calc - both from A&S (she wound up transferring into the business school instead of Swanson). </p>
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<p>Like @nascarnewyork said, the courses are basically the same. You’ll take Chem 1/2, Physics 1/2 (calc based, not algebra based), Calc 1/2/3/whatever math you’re at, and then Engineering 1/2 (which is the only class you’ll need permission for). Then whatever elective you feel like (I would make sure that SSOE will accept it though, they don’t accept all electives). At the end of the year if you have a good GPA you’ll just declare into a department like everyone else and be on your way without being behind.</p>
<p>You can try to challenge the decision if your credentials are close to those of the accepted students. My son was initially rejected at Swanson and offered acceptance at A&S. We challenged the decision because his SAT scores and GPA were similar to accepted students. He was rejected apparently because he didn’t have enough Chemistry and Physics units in high school. But because he offered to take Chemistry at a community college and took SAT2 in Physics (score of 720) they changed the decision and accepted him in the Engineering program.</p>
<p>Anyone know what the acceptance rate is into Engineering off the wait list?</p>
<p>Hi, I have a small query regarding the transfer. I got into Pitt A&S (pre-med), and I wanted to know how difficult it could be to transfer to SSoE? I want to do medicine later, but in the events I do not get into med school, I think engineering would have more career prospects. </p>
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<p>Contact OAFA now. Getting into SSOE is harder than getting into A&S so there is no guarantee that you can transfer in, however, if it’s possible, I would definitely start out in SSOE instead of A&S (the credit transfer from SSOE to A&S is easier than A&S into SSOE). </p>
<p>If you cannot transfer in before term, you’ll want to take the typical freshman courseload; Chem 1&2, Physics 1&2, Calc 1&2 (or whatever level of math you are starting at, you’ll eventually Need Calc 1/2/3, DiffEq, and Linear Algebra), some engineering approved elective, and if you can get in as an A&S student, Engineering 1&2 (if not, you can take the 1-term transfer class in fall of your sophomore year). Provided you maintain a decent GPA (I think 3.0?) you can apply to transfer into SSOE at the end of your freshman year and basically not be behind.</p>
<p>BTW, I called the school and found out that the acceptance rate off the waitlist for Engineering into the Engineering school has been 0% over the last few years. Hence, my son switched his response to “Accepted into A&S”.</p>
<p>Wait, @tweetymommy, how many chemistry and physics classes did he need? in other words, I will be taking Physics in my senior year, and I have already taken Chem in my sophomore year, is that enough?</p>
<p>Sorry for late reply. They wanted chemistry, physics and biology with lab classes. They weren’t as strict with biology since they accepted DS without him taking it. But they really wanted him to take physics and chemistry and I heard from his guidance counsellor that they really asked about these classes in his transcript.</p>