Which engineering programs is your DC applying to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undecided engineering major, BioE or chemE/materials; only applying to top schools that allow deciding later and easy to switch:

Penn ED
Princeton
Northwestern
Harvard
Hopkins
MIT
WashU
UVA(safety—100% accepted from past 6yrs with class rank and SAT, regardless of rigor and ours is top kid in everything)
Mich OOS(match from our private for top kids)

Is it difficult to switch between majors within engineering? So for example, switching from BioE to EE. My impression was that most kids take similar classes and that they can easily switch by 2nd year?

It depends very much on which 2 majors. BioMedE might require different courses from MechE starting as soon as 1st semester. Between AeroE and MechE probably one could switch as late as 4th semester.

DS was interested in Biomedical (still is) but is also considering EE. There is an overlap in what he wants to do between the two majors. He had applied for Biomedical, but depending on this year's summer internship might choose to switch. How easy is it to switch in the 1st or 2nd semester of freshman year?

[Anonymous]

UMD Mechatronics. DD really wants to be an architecture major with a robotics minor, but that's not an option at UMD. The minor is only open to certain engineering majors. She has found the combo that she wants at other schools(few and far between), but she's applying to UMD as an in-state option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undecided engineering major, BioE or chemE/materials; only applying to top schools that allow deciding later and easy to switch:

Penn ED
Princeton
Northwestern
Harvard
Hopkins
MIT
WashU
UVA(safety—100% accepted from past 6yrs with class rank and SAT, regardless of rigor and ours is top kid in everything)
Mich OOS(match from our private for top kids)

Is it difficult to switch between majors within engineering? So for example, switching from BioE to EE. My impression was that most kids take similar classes and that they can easily switch by 2nd year?

It depends very much on which 2 majors. BioMedE might require different courses from MechE starting as soon as 1st semester. Between AeroE and MechE probably one could switch as late as 4th semester.

DS was interested in Biomedical (still is) but is also considering EE. There is an overlap in what he wants to do between the two majors. He had applied for Biomedical, but depending on this year's summer internship might choose to switch. How easy is it to switch in the 1st or 2nd semester of freshman year?

Might be tricky. Probably possible in semester 1 or 2 -- if courses are chosen carefully.

EE usually wants 3 semesters Physics, little or no Bio/Chem. BioMedE usually leas Physics more Bio/Chem. Look at the course plans for specific engineering programs on the short list to figure it out b

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mechanical

Pitt (accepted honors $20K a year)
Alabama (accepted)
RIT
UVA
GT
VT
Purdue
JMU
Vanderbilt
Northeastern
UTK


Maybe depending on Dec results
Rice
Princeton

JMU?

[Anonymous]

Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GT is a great choice! The campus was the athletic village for the 1996 summer Olympics. So much has changed since I was there from 1998 to 2003. Lots of new buildings. And part of the movie Road Trip was filmed on campus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Trip_(2000_film)

And Tech Square!

And the crime!😀

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mechanical

Pitt (accepted honors $20K a year)
Alabama (accepted)
RIT
UVA
GT
VT
Purdue
JMU
Vanderbilt
Northeastern
UTK


Maybe depending on Dec results
Rice
Princeton

JMU?

I was skeptical. We toured their department & the pp whose kid can't decide between BioMed & EE, JMU would be the answer for that. We toured JMU Eng & our guide was a biomed concentration who is currently doing research with a prof & lead her to decide she wants a PhD. She started thinking she'd be an EE. JMU Engineers seem to have good employment outcomes: https://www.jmu.edu/career/careeroutcomes/_files/2024/2024-career-outcomes-cise.pdf

If your kid is into a happy, collaborative engineering program, especially if they want to be more of a generalist, it could be a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

US News 2026

#21 Engineering
#9 Biomedical
Not Top 20 for Aerospace

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GT is a great choice! The campus was the athletic village for the 1996 summer Olympics. So much has changed since I was there from 1998 to 2003. Lots of new buildings. And part of the movie Road Trip was filmed on campus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Trip_(2000_film)

And Tech Square!

And the crime!😀

lol got rejected huh? Kid a freshman there loves it. Loves Tech Square.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undecided engineering major, BioE or chemE/materials; only applying to top schools that allow deciding later and easy to switch:

Penn ED
Princeton
Northwestern
Harvard
Hopkins
MIT
WashU
UVA(safety—100% accepted from past 6yrs with class rank and SAT, regardless of rigor and ours is top kid in everything)
Mich OOS(match from our private for top kids)

Is it difficult to switch between majors within engineering? So for example, switching from BioE to EE. My impression was that most kids take similar classes and that they can easily switch by 2nd year?

It depends very much on which 2 majors. BioMedE might require different courses from MechE starting as soon as 1st semester. Between AeroE and MechE probably one could switch as late as 4th semester.

DS was interested in Biomedical (still is) but is also considering EE. There is an overlap in what he wants to do between the two majors. He had applied for Biomedical, but depending on this year's summer internship might choose to switch. How easy is it to switch in the 1st or 2nd semester of freshman year?

All top schools (ivy-MIT-Stanford-et al) allow easy switching, and in fact you do not apply to the major, you apply to the E -school in general, and declare major after the first year. Some publics are the same. Other big state schools admit into the major, have caps on majors, restrict change, etc. Investigate each thoroughly, including "weedout" ness: how many freshman engineers continue engineering sophomore year? Persistence is 98% in top schools; other schools it can be 60-70%%. The atmosphere when 30-40% drop engineering is remarkably negative compared to schools in which almost no one drops. The latter creates a much more collaborative and supportive environment, despite the misery that comes with the courseload.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

My impression is that rice is a hard admit—is that right? So not as hard as mit, caltech but harder than Pitt, Delaware, WPI, Stevens, right?
Not sure if it’s too much of a reach for my kid who has mostly Bs in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undecided engineering major, BioE or chemE/materials; only applying to top schools that allow deciding later and easy to switch:

Penn ED
Princeton
Northwestern
Harvard
Hopkins
MIT
WashU
UVA(safety—100% accepted from past 6yrs with class rank and SAT, regardless of rigor and ours is top kid in everything)
Mich OOS(match from our private for top kids)

Is it difficult to switch between majors within engineering? So for example, switching from BioE to EE. My impression was that most kids take similar classes and that they can easily switch by 2nd year?

It depends very much on which 2 majors. BioMedE might require different courses from MechE starting as soon as 1st semester. Between AeroE and MechE probably one could switch as late as 4th semester.

DS was interested in Biomedical (still is) but is also considering EE. There is an overlap in what he wants to do between the two majors. He had applied for Biomedical, but depending on this year's summer internship might choose to switch. How easy is it to switch in the 1st or 2nd semester of freshman year?

All top schools (ivy-MIT-Stanford-et al) allow easy switching, and in fact you do not apply to the major, you apply to the E -school in general, and declare major after the first year. Some publics are the same. Other big state schools admit into the major, have caps on majors, restrict change, etc. Investigate each thoroughly, including "weedout" ness: how many freshman engineers continue engineering sophomore year? Persistence is 98% in top schools; other schools it can be 60-70%%. The atmosphere when 30-40% drop engineering is remarkably negative compared to schools in which almost no one drops. The latter creates a much more collaborative and supportive environment, despite the misery that comes with the courseload.

Not true for Georgia Tech. They allow for easy switching within the Engineering School. The trick is to be admitted first and from there it's very easy to switch among Engineering disciplines. In fact, you can switch once automatically before starting classes as a freshman then once automatically after your 1st year. Very collaborative and supportive.

[Anonymous]

DD applied to the following for civil engineering

Uiuc (in state)
Iowa
Michigan state
Minnesota
Pitt
Penn state

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

My impression is that rice is a hard admit—is that right? So not as hard as mit, caltech but harder than Pitt, Delaware, WPI, Stevens, right?
Not sure if it’s too much of a reach for my kid who has mostly Bs in math.

Rice is a big reach. Take a look at Clarkson.