odysseyofcake

@Eigen: If you wouldn't mind asking, that would be appreciated! @especially: What do you mean by a 'qualifying year' exactly? Would this mean taking undergraduate courses before being taken on as a student, or is it more like a 'probationary' period where you take the courses in conjunction with research? I'll read into it; thanks.

@Eigen: It's reassuring to see examples of switches like that; do you by any chance know how difficult this switch was for him, though? Did he have to spend some time before applying taking undergraduate anthropology courses? And was it at the same school? I guess just about any kind of switch is 'possible' if you're willing to go through the required hoops, but it would also be interesting to know how relevant his science background was considered if you happen to know. Thanks.

Hi, This is a relatively general question at this point, since I'm a year and a half from graduating, but I'm curious if anyone can shed light on this. I am a 3rd year engineering student, with a pretty good academic record (~3.6 GPA with an upward trend). I have spent quite a lot of time trying to find my niche within engineering (I have research experience in several labs), but so far to no avail (i.e., I have generally been 'successful' in my positions but have not been very interested in the research). More and more I am seriously considering the possibility of applying to humanities graduate programs (specifically, equity studies or history). I've taken courses in the humanities and social sciences as electives and have done well in them; typically better than my engineering courses. I read a lot about these topics in my spare time, and although my formal humanities education would seem lacking from my academic record, I can hold my own in conversations with people who are actually studying what I'm interested in because of my extracurricular reading. My main question is - what would the reaction be of admissions committees seeing an applicant with a background like mine, especially competitive programs in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada? I know that applying to Law school from engineering is not unheard of, and is something I've considered as well, but what about M.A. or Ph.D programs? I feel like the 'analytical thinking skills' doing well in an engineering program supposedly shows might be a boon for me, but I'm not sure how favourably this would be looked upon in practice. I'd love to hear from people who've faced a similar dilemma in the past or can otherwise speak from personal experience. Thanks a lot.