General Engineering

Dear Sarah,

I'm so excited that you’re ready to become an engineer!  General engineering means different things at different schools, but usually the first two years of courses at any institution are roughly the same for all engineering majors, so taking the physics, chemistry, and calculus courses while you’re at community college is the right first step.   Some schools accept transfer students into a “general engineering” major and then give students time to sample classes over a semester/quarter or two and choose a major from there.  Others require students to declare a major when students apply.   Talk to the transfer advisor(s) at the schools to which you’re considering applying, and they can provide some more school-specific advice.  They can also help you to plan your curriculum so that the transition between community college and your new institution is a positive and smooth one.  You can also ask them to refer you to other transfer students who have followed a similar path to yours.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions and get as much as information as you need.  Finally, since each school is different, you can always apply differently to them – if a school has a general engineering major, great – apply for that to start, and move to another engineering major if you find one that you like better.  If it doesn’t, talk to the advisors there, do some homework about the different kinds of engineering, and choose a major that you think is the coolest and most interesting.  Good luck!!!

Prof. Bernhard