Put Cornell on the list to explore. Students don’t need to apply to their major until second semester sophomore year. Other than transferring to Dyson, it’s very straight forward to change majors and colleges.
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Is it important to you that a general FYE curriculum is the norm for all engineering students at a given school, or only that an undeclared FYE path is available?
For example, Quinnipiac has this: Engineering 360 (Undeclared) | Quinnipiac University , but it’s also possible to commit to a specific engineering major right away.
Outside of your specified region (and the US) but not far from upstate NY so maybe of interest, here’s another example: https://discover.engineering.utoronto.ca/programs/engineering-programs/general-first-year/
A search for “undeclared engineering” may turn up additional possibilities.
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Not a huge deal.
Like all, budget will matter and maybe determine where can be considered. Best of luck.
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Great question-still figuring it out. I’ve found many schools where a student can enter as undeclared engineering; he’d like to be able to compare those to a few schools where everyone starts in undeclared engineering, if possible.
Just wanted to mention that Boston College has a Human-Centered Engineering program which is basically general engineering but geared towards health, energy, environmental concentrations. it would require specifically applying to the program to get in, but i could see a student who didn’t want to complete it switch out to another Arts&Science major fairly easily since they are in the same school (MCAS). however, you cannot transfer into the program.
It’s one to keep an eye on I suppose. It’s not accredited. They plan to apply for ABET accreditation but it doesn’t mean they get it.
Don’t know the student stats etc - if these are in range but Brown and Dartmouth have both BA (not accredited) and BS accredited.
At Brown, for those pursuing the BS, Students choose their degree option (‘Concentration’) at the end of their sophomore year. Please see the University Bulletin for degree requirements.
Dartmouth may also work - I can’t find it but it sounds like if you do the accredited degree, you’d choose later but they say it adds one to three terms.
At Dartmouth, completion of the BE requires a minimum of 9 courses beyond the engineering sciences major requirements for the Bachelor of Arts (AB). At least 6 courses must have significant engineering design content. Required courses and electives include mathematics, basic science, engineering sciences, and engineering design.
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If he’s open to schools where it’s easy to switch, look at University of Rochester it’s where my son ended up and switched 3 times. They have a flexible curriculum that he also really liked. Depending on scores, would be a likely or target.
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To the extent to which budget matters, Olin automatically discounts its cost for all students. Combined with its Phoenix “scholarship” which is granted to virtually all “middle class” families (SAI up to 105,000), cost is reduced to as low as $69,00 before other financial aid is considered.
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Where the college has first year undeclared engineering, is he concerned about secondary admission requirements or competitive admission to get into specific engineering majors?
As noted above, Brown might be a good option to look into because students (all of them, not just engineering) don’t have to declare their major (concentration) until end of sophomore year. Plus the Open curriculum helps with exploration, even within a heavily-structured program like ABET-accredited engineering.
Here is the link to Brown’s engineering programs . It looks like all disciplines take ENGN 30 and 40 in semesters 1 and 2, and then start to get more specific in sophomore year. But you can change to and from any major at Brown at any time, if you have the needed classes or the time to take them. And no secondary admittance requirements, which also helps with flexibility .
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If you end up interested in WPI and have additional questions, feel free to DM me. My older son is a current senior and we’ve been very happy with the school.
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I think Tufts has this option.