Reply to Did your kid not pursue engineering because they chose to attend a college that doesn't have an engineering major?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My daughter thinks she wants to pursue engineering, mainly because STEM classes are her strongest subjects (particularly physics--she loved the E&M part of physics C.)
However, she really doesn't know what an engineer does in any concrete sense (she's never shadowed one at work and we don't have any in our family).

As we tour colleges she's loved a number that don't have engineering programs and her reply is always "well then I'll study physics or biology."
Case in point: Emory (which has a 5-6 year engineering program with GT but she has zero interest in doing 5-6 years of undergrad and I'm not paying for 5-6.)
Now I have no idea what she'd do with a physics or biology degree (she has no desire to pursue a straight PhD.)
[b]
I guess what I'm asking is, if your child thought they wanted to study engineering but then for other reasons chose a school that didn't offer
engineering, what did they study and how did this work out?[/b]

Thank you so much. [/quote]

Mine thought they wanted Engineering, but was not certain. Also loved Chem or Physics or both, and/or maybe math as a minor. They decided best to have all options available: they applied to schools with direct-admit Engineering (only those with interdisciplinary emphasis allowing minors or other studies in the other schools, & easy to transfer into Arts/Sci college if hate it) and also to colleges that do not have direct admission to Engineering but anyone can start taking Engineering classes then see what you think. There are lots of schools that fit: Almost all ivies(Cornell is too divided/not interdisciplinary, Dartmouth is designed to be 5 yrs for the ABET accredited program), Notre Dame, Duke, Rice, Northwestern WashU, UVA, many more. 
All of them have outstanding Chem and Physics, easy access to undergraduate research, and have excellent phD and MD placement(both options being considered), and many of them have top access to start-up tech possibilities. They picked one of the ivies and are happy with the incredible Engineering education. 
It is far better to start with the option for Engineering rather than go to an undergraduate school where it is not possible, or not feasible in 4 yrs.

[/quote]

Highly recommend applying to several schools where you can choose your own major, even engineering or CS.  Many kids do change majors, and it would suck to be at a school and not "allowed" to major in what you want.  Hence why my kid choose schools where engineering was NOT direct admit.  There are plenty of excellent ones in the 20-70 range, where a kid can major in literally anything they want.  Only restrictions are typically direct admit nursing programs, as those have limited space and you need to start freshman year to finish in 4
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