My son is interested in the 3-2 engineering program option available at tons of colleges currently. It’s a great way to have liberal arts interests and smaller class sizes for the first three years and then switch into the full blown engineering courses later on. I am concerned that once he starts at the liberal arts school he won’t want to leave it after the 3rd year. I see that the number of students who say they are interested as freshman DRASTICALLY reduces when it comes time to make the switch.
I just discovered that Butler University has this program with Purdue School of Engineering. However, at Butler the kids stay the whole five years and just switch to taking classes at Purdue which is 5 miles down the road. This seems like a perfect set up for my son. Has anyone has seen another school that has this option? Obviously it would be a liberal arts school located close to the Engineering partner school.
Various members of the Claremont Consortium have a 3-2 Engineering relationship with Harvey Mudd, and the C5/7 are so intertwined that it’s essentially one campus.
Emory has a 3-2 with GTech that’s a few miles away.
A few members of the Quaker Consortium have a 4-1 program with UPenn.
Some metro StL schools are 3-2 partners with WashU and some metro NYC schools are 3-2 partners with Columbia.
RPI and Clarkson may have 3-2 partners close to where they are as well. In fact, I believe Clarkson and SUNY Potsdam are very close together.
Students may have to transfer but it’s not exactly a big change. Fontbonne is adjacent to WashU, for instance.
Might he consider some LACs that have engineering programs? A few I can think of offhand include: Bucknell, Lafayette, Union, and Trinity.
I’m generally not a fan of the 3+2 programs because many don’t either meet the necessary requirements or want to leave their LAC and do not finish the engineering part of the program. It also cost an extra year for the degree which is not always covered by financial aid. Be sure 1) that the finances of a 3+2 program work for you and 2) ask how many people start and how many people complete the 3+2 program from each place you consider. The Butler/Purdue program does seem like a nice way to do it. I think Fordham and Columbia (both in NYC) have a program but they do have two distinct campuses.
I guess I should add that we need the home college to be pretty easy to get into. My son has off the chart test scores but has spent all of his time in the schools engineering lab and let his other classes fall by the wayside. So he will be gradual with a 3.1 or so. So now I’m thinking the 3-2 plans are better for him to get where he wants to be in the end. The consortiums mentioned above are all elite schools. Too hard to get into.
He would like a smaller liberal arts school to start. I was hoping there were other programs like Butler where they know he can stay the whole time.
Well, with the 3-2’s, HS only matters for getting in to the initial school. Then it’s all about how he does in college. So, for instance, Fontbonne isn’t very difficult to get in to at all.
But I would look for schools with multiple engineering 3-2 partners, so that if he doesn’t meet the criteria for one school, he still may for others.
Oh, and RPI also has 2+2 partnerships with some CC’s.
What state are you in? UIUC has Engineering Pathway 2+2 partnerships with several IL CC’s where you are in if you hit the requisite GPA in CC. But you have to get admitted in to that program from HS, though I think it’s easier than getting admitted in to UIUC directly.
Also, Butler’s partnership is with IUPUI, not main Purdue, right?
Are you looking for any financial aid? We were seeking merit aid, which knocked 3-2 programs out of the running. In most cases there is no guarantee of any aid once you transfer.
There are many schools where your student would be easily accepted that offer strong engineering programs. If graduating from a top school is a priority, then the 3-2 might be your best bet. Of the schools we looked at Butler was the only one we saw where you stayed at the home school all 5 years.
A school like Valparaiso might not be on your radar - but could be a good safety that might offer merit aid for those high test scores and your student could stay all 4 years.
Really? The low GPA doesn’t nock him out of almost everywhere? I really didn’t think he would be accepted anywhere at s school with a strong engineering program. That’s why I was thinking he had to do a 3-2.
Some good engineering focused schools (RIT, WPI to name a couple) may find his focus on engineering interesting and be wiling to cut him a break on other classes. I have no idea, but it may be worth looking into.
Good point by @happy1. Look in to IIT (the one in Chicago), Florida Tech, UCincy, and maybe Stevens as well. Actually, if you are in OH, you have a ton of good options.
One more unsolicited thought – keep in mind that for any 3+2 program that he would have to do very well in all academic subjects including liberal arts classes so he may run into the same problem down the road. If my S had your son’s profile, I’d try to find an engineering based school for him to start off in as: 1) he will probably find more like minded students and 2) he could excel in an area of interest from the start.
I would talk to the head of the program at both the 3 and the +2 schools. Find out the success rates of both schools in graduating engineers. On the whole the consensus here on CC seems to be that students tend not to complete the engineering portion of the degree. I agree that Butler/IUPUI seems like a better option than LAC/name elite university.