<p>Say, for example, we all know JHU is known for its medical department. What if I got into its engineering department (which is easier to get in than the medical department). Then I “decided” I don’t like engineer and then switched to the medical department. Is this possible, isn’t this cheating?</p>
<p>No, that’s not cheating. Your idea has serious flaws though.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What makes you think that you’ll be good at engineering?</p></li>
<li><p>What are you going to do if you CAN’T switch to the medical department?</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>That was just an example. It doesn’t have to be engineer, it could be any other department because all the other departments are easier to get in than their medical department. </p></li>
<li><p>Why can’t I? Do I have to pass a test to switch to the medical department or something?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You don’t get to transfer whenever you want. There are rules. So no, what you’re saying doesn’t work. If you couldn’t get into the major in the first place, you probably won’t be able to transfer into it.</p>
<p>transferring is significantly harder than getting in from high school.</p>
<p>Okay got it thanks!</p>
<p>With reference to this, what about majors in colleges that don’t have different schools for them? For example, if I’m an asian international, and I put in my prospective major as Literature. Since literature is not as common for asians as engineering or something, will I be less of an ORM/ will it give me diversity points as a non maths/science asian? And then can I switch to, say, economics?</p>
<p>probably…</p>
<p>you would be surprised at how many Asians actually go for lit/ english</p>
<p>Again, switching majors is not usually something you can do at the drop of a hat. Unless, that is, the major you put on your application is nonbinding, but in that case it also won’t affect your chances much.</p>
<p>Lots of misconceptions here about how universities work. Generally a major research university is divided into “schools” and “colleges,” e.g., a College of Liberal Arts, a College of Engineering, a School of Medicine, a Law School, etc. Some of these may be undergraduate only, others graduate only, others both. If you’re admitted as an undergraduate to the College of Liberal Arts, it’s usually very easy to change majors within that College. But it’s harder to switch to engineering, because that’s not just a change of major; it’s transferring to another school within the university, which means you need to meet that school’s admission requirements for transfer students. It’s often somewhat easier to transfer from another school within the same university than from a completely separate college or university, but there are no guarantees, and if you’re a student who wouldn’t have been admitted to the engineering school as a freshman your chances of transferring in later may not be great.</p>
<p>On the other hand, no one “changes majors” to medicine. That’s a graduate-level school with very demanding admissions standards. You don’t get to just transfer in as an undergraduate; you need to apply and be admitted at the appropriate time with the appropriate credentials in competition with all the other applicants to the medical school.</p>