<p>Hey guys. I've really been looking at colleges lately, and I've come across liberal arts colleges that offer this 3/2 Engineering program. For those of you who don't know, this 3/2 program allows a student to attend a liberal arts college for the first 3 years and transfer to a partner engineering school for ths last two years, which will give the student a degree in engineering and a degree in math or chemistry or physics.<br>
I've been wondering how this is viewed and if this is something that students actually follow through with. I know I want to go into engineering for college, but I want to be able to go to college and learn for the sake of learning. If you have been through one of these programs or know someone who has, your help will be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Think about why you would want to do this over just spending 4 years studying engineering (and some math and physics as well) at an engineering school. There are a lot of people who “learn for learning’s sake” along with other purposes at engineering schools though learning only for the sake of learning isn’t engineering is about. Do you really want to become an engineer?</p>
<p>The reason I would do this over going straight into an engineering school is because during my first three years I would be able to take more classes in different fields and explore more than if I started off in engineering. I understand that’s not what engineering is about and I do want to become an engineer, which is why I am really stuck in the middle. I think I will end up going straight into an engineering school, but I don’t want to automatically make this decision and just ignore opportunities I could have at a liberal arts school.</p>
<p>But is it really 3/2?</p>
<p>You do need to be careful with these and find out what kind of a pipeline of students there are in front of you and how many really finished in 5 year. If the LA school doesn’t have strong math and at least some engineering classes, finishing in 2 years might be impossible. You’re generally looking at ~60 credits in engineering classes. And while it might seem possible to take 15 credits a term and be done, that’s often impossible due to workload, prereqs issues as well as limited offerings (only once a year courses).</p>
<p>Mark</p>
<p>Also, when I visited a LAC and talked to them about 3/2 programs they say that most don’t finish with the program and do the 2 years because they 1. dont want to leave campus for their senior year and 2. dont want another 2 years of school.</p>
<p>If you really want to be an engineer, go to a bigger school that has both great engineering programs and humanities departments and decide later.</p>
<p>If you unsure about engineering, then go the the LAC, major in a hard science and if you still want to be an engineer, go to engineering grad school.</p>
<p>Bump This Thread.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1012452-loyola-university-chicago-3-2-dual-degree-northwestern-university-m-e.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1012452-loyola-university-chicago-3-2-dual-degree-northwestern-university-m-e.html</a></p>
<p>Read the last post I wrote.</p>
<p>True that you might not have enough time exploring different things if you were an engineering student. But a double degree in science and engineering makes sense if and only if you know why you need those double majors.</p>
<p>60~ in two years? I think that’s a lot in two years, consider you have just set yourself at a new environment.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>FWIW, my thoughts on this are here:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/oberlin-college/859076-engineering.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/oberlin-college/859076-engineering.html?</a></p>
<p>It is really just something that makes the schools more money.</p>
<p>5pencer, I too, have investigated 3/2 programs for my young nephew, who will be a college freshman the year after next. Monydad’s perspective is very informative. While I agree that many prospective 3/2 students eventually change their minds for the reasons stated by Monydad, I’ve come to the opinion that success or failure in a 3/2 program depends on the particular partner schools.</p>
<p>As someone already pointed out, if the liberal arts partner doesn’t offer sufficient engineering equivalent courses in its own Physics or Chemistry Department, attempting to make up for lost time for these courses at the partner Engineering College may become more burdensome than the student anticipated. Again it depends on the Engineering College. For example, Nephew wants to study Aerospace Engineering, but sees much advantage to the liberal arts college environment. At some Engineering Colleges the AE program is a concentration [subset of the Mechanical Engineering major] rather than a stand-alone major. Therefore the concentration may consist of just a half-dozen or fewer specific courses at such departments. Whereas at other schools the AE requirements alone are at least a dozen AE courses. Clearly, the more requirements there are at the Engineering College, the more time a 3/2 student will spend satisfying said requirements. Another consideration is that a 3/2 may not have the time to participate in an Engineering Co-op job, which generally occurs during the school year [plus the summer]. A student interested in a 3/2 program needs to check and double check with both partners to see if the program will suit his/her needs and interests.</p>
<p>You live at a school for 3 years, know the system, make friends, etc. Then a year before everyone else, you leave the school. While your friends go on to enjoy senior year together, you become a transfer student at a new school. Now you have to learn your way around the new place and make all new friends, just when the intense engineering courses kick in. </p>
<p>Why would anyone knowingly pre-decide this path?</p>
<p>The 3/2 program is just a marketing gimmick for LAC’s to say they can provide engineering. In the real world, it has very limited appeal. I suspect most who try it end up staying and graduating the LAC, then maybe do grad school for engineering.</p>
<p>I am kind of torn on the 3/2 programs. I do see the point with partnering up with a bigger school to get the B.S. Engineering degree. Then again part of me says just do 4 years at the LAC and get a Math or Physics degree and then do the Engineering in grad school.</p>
<p>I would definitely NOT DO computer science in this format. You can basically create a CS degree from a Math degree program.</p>
<p>Chardo, let’s not forget that many U.S. college students transfer and receive their BA/BS from a school other than where they began as a member of the freshman class. Also keep in mind that at many Engineering Colleges, the undergraduate course of study is a 5-year endeavor [including a Co-op or internship away from the campus]. Thus, a 3/2 student won’t have the company of his non-engineering classmates (as well as some fellow engineering students on the 4-year plan) in the 5th year because they have already graduated.</p>
<p>Here is a course sequence for an ABET accredited engineering program,in this case Purdue. Note the # engineering courses taken years 1 & 2. I count eight (or nine) engineering department courses offered or required in the first two years, many of which are prerequisites for later courses, and which are not available at a typical LAC. This has obvious implications for the depth you can go into higher level courses, and the engineering electives and design courses you can take senior year.
<a href=“Undergraduate Program at Purdue ME - Mechanical Engineering - Purdue University”>Undergraduate Program at Purdue ME - Mechanical Engineering - Purdue University;
<p>IMO there is a penalty on the engineering side from cramming as much as you can of this into 2 years, when these courses are prereqs to what you have to, or may want to, subsequently take. Even best case, cramming five engineering courses at a time in a semester might slay many people, they are hard. </p>
<p>Then there is the question of: what if you take your very first engineering courses- five of them at a time, no less- in a year that would be your senior year if you’d stayed put, and at that point conclude, based on the courses that you are taking for the first time, that actually you don’t want to be an engineer?</p>
<p>Choosing a major without first having taken so much as a single course in the subject is a fairly risky enterprise, seems to me. Considering how many students drop out of engineering in the early years, after having the opportunity to take those first few courses and determining it is not for them.</p>