<p>What about Cornell, which is ranked in the top 10?</p>
<p>Iām currently doing a 3-2 program. I went to a lac for 3 years, got my degree in math, and now I go to Columbia. I just finished my first semester as a computer engineering major. I donāt think its for everyone.</p>
<p>Some kids in the program are having a hard time adjusting to Columbia. They just donāt like it as much as their old schools, and in fact go back to their old schools A LOT (they went to school in CT). </p>
<p>Academically, I think I did ok this semester. The classes I take are much more difficult. One thing that was a big shock for me is having all my homework collected and graded. At my old school for all my math classes, my grade came from tests and finals. Homework was assigned, but it was optional, and never collected or graded. </p>
<p>One good thing about going to Columbia, is that a I feel like a lot more doors have opened up for me. Just yesterday I was browsing the Columbia career services site. There are companies like JP Morgan, Barclays, Citi, and so on all with listings for summer internships. I tried applying last year to many of them and didnāt even get an interview. I feel like if I decide to apply again this year, my chances will be much better, simply because Iām a Columbia student now.</p>
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<p>broken_symlink,
Many thanks for your input. It is very valuable. I understand they group the 3-2ās together, so youāre with people of similar experiences. You mentioned others. How do you find yourself fitting into the culture/environment? Do you feel welcome by the 4 year studentsā¦ how about the professors? </p>
<p>Lakemom and ucbalumnus,
My son has great grades and is in AP. From what we see of the requirements, he would probably have a good shot at Cornell, but Iām sure a lot of people think they have a good shot and Cornell and still get passed. </p>
<p>But there is a bigger fly in the ointment. He is a competitive tennis player and wants very much to play college tennis. He is in the top 400 in the nation. Good enough to play D1 tennis at a lot of schools, but not good enough for Cornell, Georgia Tech, etcā¦ Those schools are getting 4 star, 5 star and blue chip players. My son would be lost in the sauce, relegated to low doubles ā¦ or worse: warm up for the other guys. </p>
<p>We thought his tennis would get him into a school a bit better than he qualified for. Who knew heād be smart and tennis would hold him back!? :-p</p>
<p>Some people might think āJust give up the tennis.ā Itās not so simple. Tennis is one of those all year sports that suck you into the culture. He lives and breaths tennis. He is on court six days a week, about three hours per day on average. If you ask him about himself, first and foremost, he is a tennis player. He has no delusions of being a pro. He knows the closest he will ever get is college tennis and he wants that.</p>
<p>He wants a career as a physicist or possibly an engineer. So weāre looking for a school that can both satisfy his desire to play tennis (and be a major contributor to the team) and offer him the career path in science that he wants. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the good advice.</p>
<p>maikai, I donāt know what the requirements are but you might also look into whether a student who has a straight BS in Physics can get their MS in engineering as another alternative. This way you are not limited to school that only offer 3/2s.</p>
<p>I would like to add a comment to some of the remarks made above. Moving into an engineering program at a second school is a BIG transition. Students who start in the Engineering school already are accustomed to the kind of workload that is expected and we find here at Illinois Tech that transfer students expecting to complete the Engineering portion in 2 years canāt do it. It ends up being 2+3 (or 3+3!) unless there is a well-articulated program where students have started taking our courses before the third year.</p>
<p>As a physics professor, I would agree with the comment made by @Lakemom. A physics degree can open doors to engineering graduate school and LACs often have very good physics programs.</p>
<p>@xraymancs
āA physics degree can open doors to engineering graduate schoolā</p>
<p>how does the transition from a physics degree in undergrad to engineering in grad school work?</p>
<p>My concern though it may not be founded is that if son could not get into engineering school in the first place, what happens if he is not accepted for the transfer? Transfer to other engineering schools? Cost of 5 years vs 4? If son likes school #1, he may not want to transfer to school #2.</p>
<p>My son ended up applying directly into engineering program as freshmen. Excelling. Summer internship between soph and jr years and has one lined up for this summer (between jr and sr years). Has done research on campus (paid) soph year through now. Resume building!!</p>
<p>Lotsā to think about.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Best way is to take and M.S./M.Eng in Engineering Physics (not many schools have this program) where you pretty much take 9-12 credits of graduate physics courses and the rest in one of the engineering areas or computer science.</p>
<p>Well here is one example of an engineering grad program without an undergrad in engineering at CMU. I know there are others but you would have to hunt. </p>
<p>[Requierments</a> for Graduate Students without B.S. in Engineering-Civil and Environmental Engineering - Carnegie Mellon University](<a href=āWelcome to Civil and Environmental Engineering at CMU - Civil and Environmental Engineering - Carnegie Mellon Universityā>Welcome to Civil and Environmental Engineering at CMU - Civil and Environmental Engineering - Carnegie Mellon University)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>@gemsgrad
Sorry about the delay, Iāve been away for a bit. If you are talking about a professional masters in engineering, then that is probably best entered through an engineering degree. i was referring to a Ph.D. where there are many, many examples of students who study physics who enter a materials, mechanical, electrical or aerospace engineering Ph.D. program. Not only have a number of my advisees gone on to do this but I just met a physics major this afternoon from Cal Tech who has just started in our materials Engineering Ph.D. program at Illinois Tech.</p>
<p>My field is physics but i do materials science and I have colleagues who are in the Materials Engineering department who do substantially the same kind of research I do. At this level the differences in disciplines really arenāt that great.</p>
<p>@xraymancs
Thanks for the info. I really appreciate your advice.</p>
<p>crazed,
Your concern is warranted, but I think the assumption needs to be any student considering a 3-2 with a good university would have to be bright and have a good shot a being accepted at these schools straight out (or maybe just miss, but not by much). If thatās not the case, the student is being set up to struggle and very possibly fail at the attempt.</p>
<p>xraymancs,
Many thanks for your comments on this thread!</p>
<p>
Thatās a very valid point. Many of the dual degrees I know would have been qualified to get into a ātopā school right out of high school. But there are definitely ones who would not have been, and used the dual degree program to get into WashU (and boy are they struggling). Note - Iām not making assumptions; several people have said this directly to me (I tutor for the eng. math class that the dual degrees generally start with).</p>
<p>That being said, I still think itās a huge risk because for the most part youāre waiting until your 4th year to find out if you even like engineering.</p>
<p>While itās a great opportunity for many, you wonāt really know if itās for you until you get to that point.</p>
<p>I repeat, 3-2 programs are a risk and should be exhaustively evaluated by a prospective applicant prior making the decision to participate. As has been said, quite a few 3/2 participants take additional terms to complete the program or donāt finish the program at all because they find they are happiest at their original college. Keep in mind also that the financial aid package which one receives from the LAC is not guaranteed at the engineering college. For some students, a more practical route is a B.S. in Physics or Math, (4 years on the same campus), then an M.S. in Engineering, where thereās a good possibility that an employer might fully fund the graduate degree, depending on the industry. Iāve been told that a Physics major who has taken Calc III & IV, Linear Algebra, Statistics or Numerical Methods, and Thermal Physics shouldnāt have much of a problem being admitted to a M.S. program in Materials or Mechanical Engineering.</p>