3/2 Dual Degree Engineering

<p>I'd like to get feedback on any advantages or disadvantages to 3/2 Engineering programs where a student works toward Engineering pre-requisites and a related major at one school for three years and then transfers to an Engineering program at another school for two more years and ends up with a Bachelor's degree for both Engineering and the related major. This program opens up a lot of school options for students.</p>

<p>There’s been a lot of discussion on these before, and I think the general sentiment from most LACs is that most students which start the 3-2 programs never actually finish them. This can be due to all sorts of things such as not wanting to move to a new city, leave one’s friends, loss of interest in intended engineering major, fatigue with school, and probably many more.</p>

<p>I made calls, seeking specific data, to several 3/2 programs and found RacinReiver’s comment correct. The numbers of students who stick with the program is tiny. </p>

<p>Without the emotional support of other engineers, it is hard to maintain the drive to be an engineer, particularly with it requires that you leave your friends of three years and miss senior year. Engineers need an engineering culture, as fish need water. </p>

<p>Engineering school can be a drain, with the endless math/basic science. But more and more engineering school are spicing things up with hands on project in class, plus competitive teams. 3/2s have the fundamental slog, but no hands-on engineering or teams.</p>

<p>I got into the Dual Degree Program in Engineering at CAS in NYU</p>

<p>Will I still get to take all the other classes that CAS has to offer or am I only refined to attending the Engineering school?</p>

<p>I am a sophomore who will be doing a 3/2 engineering program in a year and a half. I never considered engineering before applying to colleges, and I made the mistake of going to one that doesn’t offer engineering. I’m too deep in, so I’d rather finish out this degree with the 3/2 program. I doubt the liberal arts degree (although mine is in Economics…) helps out all that much when looking for jobs later on.</p>

<p>It is nice to have the ability to gain a well-rounded education in subjects other than engineering. But I think it’s much easier to go to a school that has strong liberal arts AND engineering, like UMich, and just take classes in both the LA and engineering schools there.</p>

<p>There are two big issues that I’ve seen cause problems for 3/2 students: 1) you get hammered with engineering courses during the 2 years, and 2) you often don’t intern during the 3 years.</p>

<p>The first issue is that 3/2 students take all their engineering courses during the last two years. While a “regular” student would take 2 major courses a semester, a 3/2 student often has to take 4. Since major courses are often much more difficult, this leads to a lower GPA in the last two years as many students struggle to keep up with the material. Since the engineering schools’ GPA comes solely from the two years, this means that 3/2 students usually graduate with below average GPAs.</p>

<p>In addition, while most engineering students graduate with 2-3 internships in an engineering field, many 3/2 students don’t have the opportunity to intern in an engineering field during the first 3 years. So, most 3/2 students graduate with 0 or 1 semester of internship experience, and are behind the regular students (the competition) at graduation for jobs. A similar phenomenon occurs for research, where regular students have several years, while 3/2 students maybe have a year (if that, since their course load is so heavy) when it’s time to apply to graduate school.</p>

<p>If you go into a 3/2 program aware of these issues, it’s not that bad. First, try to find an engineering-related internship while at the LAC. You might have to contact the engineering school’s career services department for assistance (I’m not sure how willing they will be to assist a potential future student, though). Second, keep on top of coursework and try to take some major courses distance learning (as a transient student) if allowed.</p>

<p>I’m doing 3-2, and because I started ridiculously late (I was a year from graduating when I decided to switch my major and do the 3-2) I’ll probably be in college forever. But then recently I started doing research in robotics and it’s definitely pushing me to keep going.</p>

<p>Sometimes it helps to run into little reminders of why you’re doing all this work, it makes it seem well worth and to keep going.</p>