Thanks everyone for all the replies!
Yeah, MechE was sort of a last minute major decision. I liked CS, math, physics, and building stuff so I applied mostly to top CS and math schools. Rejected from some and can’t attend other for financial reasons. Looking back, I definitely should’ve done more college research during my junior year before the application season, but I guess I deserve that for procrastinating.
Right now, my plans are to
- Try to transfer to a diff school after my first year
- Try to work with the people at Pomona to possibly allow me to major at HMC. I know Pomona doesn’t usually allow that but I remember reading somewhere that in very rare instances they allow you to major at a different school if you go talk to them and they approve it. Speaking of which, why is Pomona the only 5C that doesn’t allow you to major at other schools in the consortium? Smh.
- Just give up the engineering path and stay at Pomona. MechE definitely isn’t the only thing I’m interested in and I would be glad to major in CS, math, physics, or astronomy. Just not too sure how the job prospects for them (besides CS) are. I know astronomy doesn’t pay too well so I’d probably go w/ physics or applied math.
I’m aware of the uncertainty of financial aid w/ transfer students but at least it’s more stable than the 3/2 program. Probably will apply to schools like MIT, Caltech, and Cornell and hope for the best (yes, I’m aware of the fact that “prestige” doesn’t matter too much for eng but I’m applying to them because top schools are richer and thus are more likely to provide a better financial package to someone with -1500 EFC).
Not saying that UAH is a bad school, but I honestly just feel a lot more comfortable with Pomona right now especially since that’s all I’ve researched about the past couple of weeks. Small, tight community, lots of connections, close to Silicon Valley, close to LA, and probably good job prospects too. Can’t really pass that up.