<p>Though not a “back door program”, at my state flagship (University of Minnesota) many students who do not qualify to be admitted as a freshman to College of Science and Engineering or College of Biological Science or Carlson School of Management still qualify for College of Liberal Arts. At University of Minnesota you don’t have to be admitted to a particular college to take classes from that college (most of the programs). Once admitted to College of Liberal Arts students can either pursue a BA in whatever major they were planning to pursue at CSE or CBS or take two years worth of their chosen major courses and transfer to their college of choice (subject to minimum major gpa).</p>
<p>I’ve seen many students going this route back in my day at college. In fact, my sister had no idea “what she wanted to be when she grows up”, so she started at CLA, took a course in economics, liked it and decided that she wants to major in something related to business. She later transferred to Carlson School of Management. The trick is not to screw up your gpa (and take all pre-requisite classes). From what I remember, gpa requirements for transfer to one of those colleges are much higher than gpa requirements to graduate from one of those colleges.</p>