rubin95

My S is a sophomore in Engineering and has decided that his passion for the subject (as well as his grades) have gone south.

He will now head off to Art&Sci. How many sophomore students (or percentage of students) drop Engineering and switch to another program?

Should I be worried?!

palmalk

Well, my D, a freshman, dropped it the first day of class! I don't think you need to be "worried."

archiemom

My sophomore AE son talks about changing majors every other text or phone conversation. Then the next week, he's back to being happy with AE. I'm not worried. I just hope he ends up studying (and sticking with) a major that he really enjoys...and will find work in.

MidwestParent

D had a friend last year that was a BME major for all of about 2 weeks. She can still hear her sad voice saying, "I don't think I can be a BME major". REALLY HARD!

I wouldn't be worried - I would say a large majority of students at any college change their major. My nephew is a brainiac at Northwestern (2390 SAT in his one and only sitting, NMF, Pres Scholar semi, etc.) and just switched from chemistry to history. Had my sister in a tizzy for awhile, but she settled down after admitting that it really is what he loves. That's what it is all about - finding that area you are passionate about.

Wanted to mention something else - Art/Sci at WashU is no walk in the park. My D (99% in both SAT and ACT, NMF) is a WashU sophomore - so far has taken chem, orgo, bio, etc. and they have challenged like she has never been challenged before! I thought chem last year was going to do her in!

nngmm

College Math and Science is very different from HS (including AP classes). Many "math kids" discover in college that they are not nearly as good at math as they thought they were. And most HS students have very limited (if any) exposure to engineering, so many find that it's not what they were hoping for.

HartinGA

Should be fine. Do be aware that the two schools calculate GPA differently. In SEAS, an A is a 4.0, a B is a 3.0, and so on. In A&S, an A is a 4.0, an A- is a 3.7, a B+ is a 3.3, a B is a 3.0, and so on. For most people the two systems come out to the same end, but for some it does not.

Not sure how they handle transfer credits from SEAS to A&S.

curiousgeorge58

Truthfully - this is the beauty of WashU. The fact that our kids can easily transfer from one school/program to another instead of worrying about "applying/being accepted" to another program.

rubin95

Thanks for all your input. My S will next year transfer to A&S is a Poli Sci major but with a minor in Computer Science so as to take advantage of all the courses he has taken so far in engineering.

By the way - have your kids told you of any easy "A" courses at school?!

gprime

Rubin, there are definitely a few easy A courses, even at the 300 level in ArtSci. But they are the tiny minority. And for the record, PoliSci is a great department. He'll be very happy with it I'm sure.