<p>One nice thing about engineering is that freshman year is pretty much the same for all degrees. Here’s an example that works for both CompE and ChE:</p>
<p>English 1101 - 3
CS 1371 - 3
Math 1501 - 4
HIST 2111 - 3
Chem 1310 - 4
Total: 17 hours</p>
<p>English 1102 - 3
Math 1502 - 4
Physics 2211 - 3
Chem 1311 - 3
Chem 1312 - 1
Econ 2100 - 3
Total: 17 hours</p>
<p>That would keep him in good shape for the first year until he made a decision.</p>
<p>Now, if he wants to go into programming with “Game Design and Cyber Security”, then his courses will be different. He’ll need to take CS-major computer science courses both semesters of his freshman year, or else he’ll be behind. So, in summary, he’ll have to decide “engineer” or “programmer” pretty early, at least by the end of the first semester. </p>
<p>There are mostly cons to co-oping before declaring a major. If I’m Intel, I want to hire a student that I know will work for me for 3-5 terms, then work for me full-time (after all, an internship is just a long interview process and freshman interns add no value to my company). Would I really risk hiring an undecided engineering student? Probably not.</p>
<p>To get around this, he can register as an undecided major, but when he goes to interview with a company, put a specific major on his resume that fits what he wants to do at that company. That’s not lying, because he is at Georgia Tech and very well could pursue that degree by just filling out a form (similar to students listing an anticipated graduation rate).</p>