How does it work? Say I want to be an engineer at USC. Do I have to apply to both the USC itself and to USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering?
How would I do so? Is there a box to check somewhere on the Common App, or is there some kind of separate application?
Also, how do you know which school inside a school to apply to? Is it just whichever one has your major?
I am speaking about undergraduate admissions by the way.
Yes you would choose the program you are applying to on the Common App. And yes you apply to what ever school has you major.
Every school is different. You need to look at their freshman admissions website.
At USC undergrad you apply directly to Viterbi. You can select a major, I believe, but they don’t hold you to it.
Many big research schools have their own engineering school. Almost all require you to apply to the engineering school. Some to a specific major. Some to the school only, with major to be determined later.
From what I recall:
At most UC’s you apply specifically to the major in the school of engineering. (Chem Eng, Mech Eng, EE, etc.) If you don’t get in the major you will generally not be admitted, although UCSD admits some students to “general engineering” or similar, I think.
At UWash you apply to the major, they admit some to the major and admit other to “engineering” and they have to get certain grade standards to get into the major as a soph or jr. (Can’t recall the exact details) Penn State is similar, IIRC.
Some schools (Princeton, Stanford, MIT, maybe Swarthmore? I think, among others, you just apply to the school. If you get in, you can choose to study engineering or something else.)
But don’t take my word for it. Make sure you check!