Going to College as a Sophomore

At the very least this can allow you to trim back your classload during the spring semester, when baseball takes the most of your time.

You need to ask some questions and get those answered before you move on.

1. If you take these classes at the University of Rochester, will they transfer to any other school or just if you attend there?

2. Are you good enough at baseball to play at the DI level where most of the engineering schools are?

3. If not, would you consider a school that has a 3-2 program where you take your first 3 years at one school and transfer to another for your last two years, realizing that you will only play baseball for the 3 years you are at the first school?

4. If not, you are in a class of colleges {DII and below] where you might play baseball but the selection of schools with its own engineering degree are very limited and you will need to really search them out. One possibility is here in West Virginia. West Virginia Institute of Technology is an NAIA sports school that has its own 5 year engineering program. You might look into that school. I am sure they will let you play baseball and work towards an engineering degree at the same time.

Good Luck

TW344

it's good to have some clear goals & smart to get your questions cleared up well in advance

my son played with engineering majors at GT, and also played with guys taking post-grad classes

note tw344's concern about credits & classes transfering -
to get an answer on that you'd almost have to know where you'll eventually end up playing.
even tho some state's "state universities" 'ought' to be pretty consistent, they often aren't


.

Undergrad and graduate school are two completely separate things. If you are looking at getting a PhD in Civil Engineering, that requires getting accepted into the PhD program at whatever university you are applying to. That doesn't happen until you are a senior in college. There is little incentive to take grad courses as an undergraduate because if you get into a PhD program, the department pays for your tuition and gives you a stipend to live off of. Grad courses don't transfer in many cases, so if you do your PhD at a different university than where you went for undergrad, those grad courses you took as and undergrad don't help you out much. The majority of students do not do their PhD at the same school they went to for their BS. If you are looking at getting an MS degree at the same school as your undergrad, then taking grad courses as an undergrad can save you some time.

Regarding taking college classing while in high school, you have to be careful. As others have mentioned, not everything will transfer. Each department in each university evaluates transfer credit. You want to make sure if you go anywhere besides Univ of Rochester that those credits will transfer. Engineering courses are iffy when it comes to transfer credit. On the other hand, Calculus, Physics and Chemistry courses tend to transfer well between schools.

rh...Post your comments in the Illinois forum.

We have a member whose son is a student at UR.

Might give you some good pointers.

Beenthere, Yes I have talked to him and pmed back and forth with him. I have been doing a lot of thinking, summer classes would be way to difficult with tournaments and games, so I decided to take courses during the fall and winter. I've also decided to change my major to either political science, economics, or history, or possibly a double major. After doing a job shadow with an engineer, it just didn't fit me right but politics, law, and economics interest me much more.

Relax a bit - continually work hard at academics and baseball. Exam your goals - at 15 they can change more than you think.

rhbaseball,
Going from a PhD in civil engineering to history is a big change. The point being, at 15 you have a lot of time to think about what you want to do, and you will probably change your mind again.

Before selecting a major, you need to do your homework and get an idea of what the job market is for someone with that degree if your baseball career ends in college. You mentioned you are considering a history major. In the last year, starting salaries for BS history degrees fell 4.8%. That means the job market is not good. At a minimum, one should expect starting salaries to remain flat from one year to the next. If you are seeing a decline, it means an over supply of students. Things may be (probably will be) different 7-8 years from now when you graduate, but this should give you an idea of some of the things you should consider when choosing a major.

Economics and political science majors seem to be doing ok in the job market. You might also want to consider a business degree.