<p>Does anyone know anything about this program? If a student were to do the 3+2 program in Civil Engineering, for instance, would he get a BS and BA in Civil Engineering or a BS in Civil Engineering and a BA in a subject at CC?</p>
<p>You'd get the latter -- "a BS in Civil Engineering and a BA in a subject at CC"</p>
<p>What advantage would two Bachelors degrees give you as opposed to a BA and a Masters?</p>
<p>a more diverse background? A girl I dated for a while did a 3-2 between Barnard and SEAS, got her BA in English and then a BS in Mechanical Eng. She wanted the experience of doing a liberal arts education and taking all those classes (And getting something to show for it), but the job opportunities of an engineer.</p>
<p>Put simply, a 3 + 2 program gives you a greater depth and breadth of college level material, the two degrees earned through this option bolster your chances for acceptance at prestigious grad schools.</p>
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a more diverse background? A girl I dated for a while did a 3-2 between Barnard and SEAS, got her BA in English and then a BS in Mechanical Eng. She wanted the experience of doing a liberal arts education and taking all those classes (And getting something to show for it), but the job opportunities of an engineer.
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<p>She also got a bona fide Columbia degree out of it.</p>
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Put simply, a 3 + 2 program gives you a greater depth and breadth of college level material, the two degrees earned through this option bolster your chances for acceptance at prestigious grad schools.
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<p>Put simply, you're wrong. The only way it improves your chances for grad school is if you want to get a PhD in the 2nd subject, since you'd otherwise not be able to major in it. That is, Denzera's ex likely wouldn't be able to get into an engineering PhD program with any degree from Barnard since Barnard doesn't offer engineering. </p>
<p>You can major in anything for professional schools, and you can bolster your chances more by having good grades, doing well on the standardized tests, and having other good experiences rather than wasting a 5th year in college collecting degrees.</p>
<p>"That is, Denzera's ex likely wouldn't be able to get into an engineering PhD program with any degree from Barnard since Barnard doesn't offer engineering."</p>
<p>I think it's unlikely that she went on to get a phd in engineering after getting a degree in the liberal arts. If she wanted to get a phd in engineering, she could just as easily have transferred to seas and forsaken the barnard degree. From the seas admissions point of view it makes no difference whether she comes in for a second or for her only degree, the standard is maintained. Denzera can confirm this. But I think you miss the point of getting a second degree. It isn't so you can go get a graduate degree in your new feild, if that was the case why the hll wouldn't you just switch colleges or switch majors. I know from a bunch of friends that it's easier to switch to columbia college than it is to do the 4-1 program - i.e. if you're bright and hard working enough to get 2 degrees in 5 years you'll also be able to transfer colleges without much of a problem (cc-seas, barnard-seas, seas-cc). </p>
<p>People get 2 degrees necessarily because they're deeply interested in both fields and want a broader base. this broad base serves them well both job placement and gradschool placement wise. I've seen profiles of people on the 2 degree tracks, citrus paribus they get better jobs with a worse gpa. If it serves them well for job placement I have little doubt that it serves them well for professional school placement. And it makes sense - you aren't double minoring you're comprehensively completing the requirements for 2 seperate degrees.</p>
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I think it's unlikely that she went on to get a phd in engineering after getting a degree in the liberal arts. If she wanted to get a phd in engineering, she could just as easily have transferred to seas and forsaken the barnard degree. From the seas admissions point of view it makes no difference whether she comes in for a second or for her only degree, the standard is maintained. Denzera can confirm this. But I think you miss the point of getting a second degree. It isn't so you can go get a graduate degree in your new feild, if that was the case why the hll wouldn't you just switch colleges or switch majors.
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<p>You missed the point of my post. I wasn't opining on why this girl got in or why she chose to do it. So let's try this again --- I'm discussing how her grad school prospects have changed as a result of the seas engineering degree, and that's it.</p>
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People get 2 degrees necessarily because they're deeply interested in both fields and want a broader base. this broad base serves them well both job placement and gradschool placement wise. I've seen profiles of people on the 2 degree tracks, citrus paribus they get better jobs with a worse gpa. If it serves them well for job placement I have little doubt that it serves them well for professional school placement. And it makes sense - you aren't double minoring you're comprehensively completing the requirements for 2 seperate degrees.
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<p>Fine, some employers will give you a bump <em>at the margins</em> if you have a harder / more intense courseload -- whether you double major, major in something really tough, or do a double degree program. Putting aside the people who do it because they're actually interested in both fields and have $50k to burn, it doesn't make sense for one to do the joint program for the sole purpose of trying to get an edge in the job / grad school market.</p>
<p>Your college major hardly matters as it is (unless you do something that requires a specific degree -- engineering for engineers, art history for curators, etc.), so having two majors doesn't add much.</p>
<p>And people outside of Columbia won't particularly care what the difference is between a dual degree and a dual major.</p>