{"103991":{"#nid":"103991","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Declaring a Major in the College of Engineering","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKay Kinard\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nActing Director of Communications, College of Engineering\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHas your student decided to come to Georgia Tech to become an engineer? One question they may have is \u00e2\u0080\u009cwhat kind of engineer?\u00e2\u0080\u009d With eight engineering schools on campus, there are a variety of choices so it is not uncommon for many students to begin their careers at Tech as an undeclared engineering major.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELike many choices students must make during the college years, making the decision of what to major in while at Tech can be a difficult one for many students, which is why the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.coe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E offers a Freshman Engineering Seminar. The seminar is designed to expose students to the engineering profession and undergraduate degree programs at Tech as well as to help them focus on career options. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring the first year, many of the classes are common core courses, so being an undeclared major is not an issue. However, for some majors, such as chemical and biomolecular engineering, students are required to take pre-requisite courses and students are strongly urged to declare as early as possible. To help ensure that students can take the needed courses toward their major, pre-requisite classes may be restricted or given preference to students in certain majors. \u00e2\u0080\u009cWhile we try to work it out for the students, there are times when a student may have to wait a semester or two to get a class if they have not declared a major, \u00e2\u0080\u009d says Larry Jacobs, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering. \u00e2\u0080\u009cIf a major looks interesting, we do encourage a student to go ahead and declare.\u00e2\u0080\u009d \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStudents can remain undeclared for up to two years or 60 hours. \u00e2\u0080\u009cThe best piece of advice I can give, is if you think you like a field, go ahead and declare your major. You can switch and many students do, but this may make a difference in getting a class that you want or need,\u00e2\u0080\u009d advises Jacobs. \u00e2\u0080\u009cIn the meantime, students looking for more information should take advantage of advisors on campus, talk to other engineering students or a faculty member, and explore several resources that can help match your interests to an engineering field.\u00e2\u0080\u009d\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo explore engineering fields and jobs go to: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.discoverengineering.org\u0022\u003Ewww.discoverengineering.org\u003C\/a\u003E; \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.careercornerstone.org\/\u0022\u003Ewww.careercornerstone.org\u003C\/a\u003E, or \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.asee.org\/\u0022\u003Ewww.asee.org\u003C\/a\u003E. To talk with an adviser contact Dr. Jane Weyant, \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jane.weyant@coe.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejane.weyant@coe.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor more information on the College of Engineering, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.coe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ewww.coe.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Has your student decided to come to Georgia Tech to become an engineer? One question they may have is \u00e2\u0080\u009cwhat kind of engineer?\u00e2\u0080\u009d With eight engineering schools on campus, there are a variety of choices so it is not uncommon for many students to begin their careers at Tech as an undeclared engineering major.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Students are encouraged to declare their major early."}],"uid":"27164","created_gmt":"2010-09-07 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:11:25","author":"Rachael Pocklington","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-09-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-09-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1298","name":"Parent and Family Programs"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"171165","name":"second-year students"},{"id":"167718","name":"sophomore programs"},{"id":"170961","name":"success programs"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ERachael Pocklington\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EParents Program\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=rpocklington3\u0022\u003EContact Rachael Pocklington\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-3920\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rachael.pocklington@vpss.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}