Which school is better for an undeclared student?

Hello CC!
Since I’m almost done with high school, I have focused my college choices on these three schools: York College of Pennsylvania, Rutgers (NB), and Rowan University.

The thing is though is that I am undeclared, and when people ask me what area of interest I am leaning towards I’m not sure how to answer as I have been making wide leaps between computer sciences, art, and a lot of liberal arts. For the longest time I’d thought I’d major in history or English, but after taking some introductory classes to CS this year, the more I think about programming as another option (though I’m not sure what specific path I’d take from there). I am from central New Jersey by the way.

I know that York is really proud of how they give one-on-one attention to students (especially undeclared), but they don’t have a computer programming major if I finally settle for that, and transferring, although an option, is a long and complicated process from what I hear. Professors seem really passionate, but it’d also be great if the school were more diverse like where I’m from.

Rutgers on the other hand is a much larger campus. Lot’s of things to do, and the idea that I can minor in something almost completely different from my major is enticing (I’d love to minor in art at least), but without that same personal attention. There’s also the issue that I didn’t qualify for any of their scholarships. My parents say they “have money” but I want to keep in mind that my younger sibling will be applying to colleges too in about three years.

And then there’s Rowan. I originally applied here because they have a pretty good liberal arts/ education department, and earlier in the year I thought for sure history would be the right path for me. Obviously I’ve been throwing myself in loops since then but the students here seem very nice, and the facilities look amazing. Clearly there’s a lot of room to explore here as well. However, my doubts come from the open house I went to back in autumn; they said their curriculum makes it more difficult for students to transfer in or out if I remember correctly. And at this point some people still scoff at me for applying here, saying I could “do better” despite it being one of the more affable schools I’ve visited, so I keep wondering about the kind of education I’d be getting.

In any case, any advice would be sincerely appreciated!

  1. How much does each cost?
  2. For any of the majors you may be interested in doing, check the catalogs and schedules to see that each college offers sufficient upper level courses frequently enough.
  3. For any of the majors you may be interested in doing, check to see if they are selective or restricted, meaning that you may need a high college GPA or otherwise go through a selective admission process to get into the major. You may want to prefer a school where your majors of potential interest are open majors that anyone who passes (C or higher grade) the prerequisites can declare. (CS is commonly a selective or restricted major.)

Rowan’s list of restricted majors is at http://www.rowan.edu/home/sites/default/files/Academic%20Advising%20%26%20Support/declare_your_major_1.pdf .

York’s list of restricted majors is at https://www.ycp.edu/about-us/offices-and-departments/student-success/academic-advising-center/declaring-changing-your-major/ .

Rutgers allows entering the CS major with a C or higher grade in prerequisites, according to https://www.cs.rutgers.edu/undergraduate/admission-major .

It’s pretty common to be undeclared. Engineering majors typically declare in sometime in sophomore year, Literature/ Science majors a semester later. Just make sure you take sufficient introductory course to allow flexibility in the general area you are interested in (e.g. Calculus for science/engineering) and overall college distribution requirements (freshman writing) . You will have plenty of time to explore what you like.

@SandDoll

DS, from Northern NJ just outside NYC, researched York and liked it, but ultimately did not apply because they did not use the Common App and it was the farthest of all the schools he considered applying to. Plus, he had to cut the list off somewhere and York just missed it. He is interested in majoring in some type of art. York was very intriguing in that their tuition probably would have been lower than most public colleges in NJ. It had the typical “campus” environment that he was looking for as well. We never made it to York’s campus but was concerned that it was in the middle of nowhere. Does York have a CS Minor?

Regarding Rowan, I get the sense that HS students in NJ look down upon most public colleges in NJ, with the possible exception of TCNJ. Don’t let them deter you from going to Rowan if you think it would be a good match for you.

Find the place that you feel most comfortable with and you will succeed.

If you are undeclared, I think the most important thing (aside from cost… and more important than cost if no school has a huge advantage) is to go where there are the most available majors and classes. That way if you wake up one day and decide you want to study _______, you are at the place with the greatest likelihood that it is offered. It would suck pretty hard to want to major in something your school doesn’t offer.

Add @ucbalumnus’s advice for gauging the ease of getting into a major and availability of classes.

Other factors are the usual fit variables, like environment, social scene, dorms/food, and other academic variables (aside from majors, course offerings, and the intricacies thereof).

York College has a great Undeclared program, focused on a personalized experience with support from professional and peer advisors.

To clarify, York DOES have a computer programming major – it’s called Computer Science. https://www.ycp.edu/academics/academic-departments/engineering-and-computer-science/programs/computer-science/

You could also minor in CS if you find another major that is a better fit.

Talk to your Admissions Counselor and have them connect you with the Undeclared program coordinator if you have further questions!

@TooOld4School Sorry. You are dead wrong, from my experience in Engineering. That’s a declared major from the jump, and 4-year curricula is pre-set. It is not a GenEd then gravitate type of major. From what I’ve seen, there’s only limited movement between engineering disciplines. Of course, some change their minds or find engineering too demanding. Some go from electrical to computer to mechanical. Some start at Computer/Electrical Engineering, then go to less-demanding Computer Science or from Civil Engineering to Urban Planning.

Look at it this way: At a good engineering school, if you’re not in the House to start with, you won’t get in the House. You can go between rooms if you are in the House. And you can leave the House. Or they can throw you out of the House. But you won’t get in.

@SpacemanEd , It completely depends on the type of school you attend. If you attend one where you are admitted to the university in general, you pretty much have to take the engineering prerequisites as soon as you start college. If you don’t they it is very difficult to catch up. You still don’t have to declare your major beyond general engineering until later.

If you are at a college where you are admitted directly to the engineering school - you enter as an undeclared engineer and still take the engineering prerequisites and specialize starting in late sophomore or junior year when you need to declare your specialty (chem, BME, EE, ME Etc.)

So you are speaking of the former type of school.

The OP only asked about entering with an Undeclared major and said nothing about engineering.

@TooOld4School and @SpacemanEd I see both of you esentially supporting the same side of the arguement.

Isn’t @TooOld4School saying in Post #7 that you need to start taking engineering courses right away if you want to declare as an engineering major later, which was the point of @SpacemanEd in Post #6?

Perhaps if the OP had said “undecided” rather than “undeclared” it would have meant something different?

@psfk2417: OP didn’t say anything about engineering, just asked about which of her (?) choices would be “better” if she were “undeclared”. I thought @ucbalumnus and @prezbucky gave solid answers and @YCPAdvising had a nice pitch.

My comment wasn’t really directed at OP, and I was going to pass. But I thought tooold’s answer would give other potential students on this site the idea that they could enter a college undeclared or undecided, take some general ed, then transfer to engineering for major classes. That is something that I just haven’t seen. I thought my house analogy was pretty good.

My daughter is a nice example. She kinda sorta knew her course. She was in the top 10% of her 400-student HS class, but her SATs were disappointing and subpar for her desired major. So, she applied “undeclared”, because she’d be compared to the whole barrel of apples rather than a selected batch. She got in. Once she proved her meddle and got some prereqs, she was accepted into the major she wouldn’t have qualified for when applying. And now she’s in grad school for clinical mental health, and practicing on me. I fill her notebooks.

So, there are some houses you can get into through either the front door or the back door. “Undeclared” is a way to a back door, but you can take some targeted classes from the jump. “Undecided” means you go to the neighborhood, look at a few general ed houses for a year or two, and you target after that. I could be wrong. There are a lot of colleges, all set up differently.

But, from my experience, engineering and medicine (and probably some others) require getting into their house through the front door, and you pick your bedroom later.

As far as the OP @SandDoll, she seems to have a clue for what she wants in the neighborhood, but not the specific house. So, the best bet seems to be looking at a diversified neighborhood rather than flipping a house she regrets buying. Renting and moving is expensive, too. So, if I were her, I’d not just tour the school and look at the course book, I’d take a good gander at the advisory staff, too. A good advocate to run stuff by and help you navigate is priceless, but the decisions ultimately are the student’s.

I understood you 100% the first time and was in full agreement. I would have said the same thing as you.