I can’t recall if I posted this earlier but a friend’s S planned a 3-2 and decided to do a 4-2+ instead. He did his 4 with a Physics major at the LAC now at a U for 2 years during which he will earn both a bachelor in Engineering and a masters in Physics. All funded.
The engineering door does not slam shut after undergrad.
Yes, but if the LAC awards the 4 year degree, financial aid changes for the second bachelor’s degree. I don’t think you can plan on that second degree being funded.
Also note that there are some fine LACs that also have engineering programs (ex. Bucknell, Lafayette, Union, Trinity as a few I know of offhand) which might be good options for students who want an LAC but also want to consider engineering.
Though it does get very, very hard to fully open, at least for some engineering fields.
A close family member of mine majored in physics as an undergrad, and then got a master’s in civil engineering, which requires getting a professional engineer license to remain viable professionally. The hoops she had to jump through to even be able to sit for the professional engineer exam (since her undergrad degree was, naturally enough, not ABET accredited) were pretty intense.
RPI has tech focus business education, not a LAC.
WPI has a bit more LA focus than RPI but not where one would attend outside STEM.
Both are focused on music (WPI more, RPI working on it).
For us, we visited one LAC with a small ENG program, and pretty much put it at the bottom
of our list and ultimately did not apply due to the tiny ENG program. Considered due to
some athletic recruiting interest, which was reason for the visit, but the city around Union College
is not that nice, the ENG program is so tiny. Did not even visit 3-2 schools, too many choices where
one can start off in engineering, why go into college PLANNING to transfer ? OK to transfer
but why intentionally ? Considered schools like Union because you could get LAC and ENG without
transfer but even then, not a preferred option for someone who may want to work (vs grad school) upon
undergrad graduation.
DD had only one LAC on her list. She visited it twice. Totally could see herself at this school. Until she attended admitted students event. She realized that campus culture, while is wonderful, is not something she is looking for her college experience. That is why I can’t stress enough how important it is to attend admitted students days.
^^^Second that. Same experience, after visiting a school 3 times (a tour, another tour while meeting with dept head, then a stop by on a trip) daughter got comfortable in its familiarity and thought it could work. Went to admitted student day and did all the events she was invited to wholeheartedly - frankly we wanted it to work, but she was totally a fish out of water. The misfit was clear on many levels. Thank goodness we went.
@Ballerina016 and @cadreamin What was the cause that made the colleges a misfit? Was it the students?
No. It was the campus culture. It was not something she was looking for. The school was great and very selective. It was just not her school. And she only learned it during overnight. Another factor might be that by then she already attended accepted students overnights at few other schools so she could compare.
@Ballerina016 What do you mean by “campus culture”?
@londondad campus culture means the vibe, what is important to the students, how do they gel, how much do they party, are they all about sports, is everyone in a Greek house, or all they super political, or is everyone into theater, or does every go to the poetry slam, or the acapella concerts, or are there 55 groups doing 55 differnt things but they are all happy to see each other in the one communal cafeteria? It’s the whole shebang, and what happens when it’s all put together in a way that a student can feel when they visit. The LAC experience I think probably doesn’t exist in the UK. My British husband certainly needed a lot of convincing before he was happy to let our D attend an LAC. Because the LACs are usually very small (I guess 2k students is typical) a student really should be sure they will be happy to spend four years at one. And the LACs would have a more noticeable campus culture, IMO, than a large university with many thousands of students. Of course, large unis have a campus culture too, and no doubt every kind of kid can find their niche at a large school.
@Lindagaf Thanks. What I really meant to ask Ballerina what is was specifically that turned the daughter off. (E.g., were the kids unfriendly, too nerdy, too superficial, etc). Also, how did this culture come out at the overnight stay compared to how it was not obvious during her previous campus visits. Thanks
@londondad , I am not sure if ballerina specified what college her kid visited and didn’t like. I will give you some feedback from my D, who crossed a number of colleges off her list after visiting, which fits the theme of this thread anyway.
Lafayette, too preppy and sporty. She is not sporty at all. Goucher, tooo punky/too “we are all outsiders/we are all nonconformist.” Hamilton, too isolated/too much greek-life vibe. Franklin& Marshall was a college she initally liked, applied, and was accepted to. As time went on, and she learned more about it, she decided it had too much sports culture and Greek life for her. Wesleyan University…I have no idea why she didn’t like this college. She just didn’t. Sometimes that happens too:-) Boston College, no way Jose. Way too preppy, didn’t like the idea of priests as teachers. Johns Hopkins, amazing school, but she wouldn’t have fit in. Felt alive with intellectual energy, but too much studying and intellectualism for her.
In terms of accepted students visits, she only did three. Eventually decided against Uni of Rochester because although she really liked what the school had to offer, she realized it ultimately felt too impersonal and too science-oriented for her. She didn’t feel any kind of connection with the other kids. Dickinson ultimately lost out because, although she did enjoy her visit and liked the people she met, she didn’t get any sense of a love of learning. Being a person who doesn’t want to be noticed, she felt she would be noticeable for wanting to learn. (I know, I know, but that’s how she felt.) Kenyon College, she did an overnight, liked the vibe, felt like the kids were interested in learning, liked the somewhat quirky, but also normal kids she met, loved the communal dining hall, and ultimately chose it.
Thanks. Very helpful
@londondad My son attended an overnight at a school that he had visited on no less than 3 occasions. The overnight was during an accepted student event. As the night progressed, the party culture , as well as the area surrounding the school made it clear to my son that this school was not one to remain on his list.
Could posters list the schools they are referring to? It would be really helpful.
@desie1 I agree!
@desie1 I won’t list the school , because school choice is a personal one and what makes one feel uncomfortable is not uncomfortable for someone else. I don’t feel comfortable swaying someone’s decision based on my son’s comfort level. It’s important to visit schools at different times to determine on a personal level if that is a school that your child feels comfortable attending. There are thousands of schools out there. No one school is perfect for every student that’s why it’s important to evaluate for oneself .
I agree that everyone needs to figure out fit for themselves. For example my D had an amazing four years at a college that @Lindagaf’s D took off her list as being too preppy. My D (who is not preppy) was involved in theater and music at the college. loved the academics, had great friends etc. But what worked for my D cannot and should not be imposed on another person. My D took plenty of schools off our list after a visit for various reasons (she found another LAC too preppy for her tastes, one was too artsy, one felt too isolated etc). But I have no doubt at all that people attended and loved each of these colleges.
Bottom line is that there is no right or wrong college, no good or bad choice – it is a matter of doing the legwork and finding what works best for each person.
This whole thread was started to name schools that moved on or off the list. No one is saying that Yale or Chicago or Harvey Mudd aren’t great schools, just that they moved up or down a list for that particular student or family. I can understand why a student likes Reed or Goucher or Mississippi State, but those were never on our lists.
Many threads on CC include posts by people who say that Georgetown or BC or even ND aren’t really catholic, just catholic in name only, and then you’ll read a post by another that can’t believe how many priests there are at Georgetown or that there is a big old cathedral in the middle of U of San Diego!
I knew as we drove into the town that my daughter would not go to Presbyterian. By the time we hit the driveway of the administration building, she was also sure that she wouldn’t be going there. Doesn’t mean we think it is a terrible choice for others, just wasn’t for her. She really tried to like Smith, but again it just wasn’t right for her. Florida Southern has been named the most beautiful campus several times, has 7 Frank Lloyd Wright structures and I thought it was just okay. Sorry Frank.