Hey y’all!
I’ve been accepted to Swarthmore College and Wesleyan University.
Considering different aspects (reputation and ranking, academic rigor, location), I’d prefer Swarthmore; however, Wesleyan having dual degrees in engineering with Dartmouth and Columbia (which isn’t guaranteed since the coming year) attracts me. (my interested majors are engineering and CS; CS more!) Do you think dual degrees are a big factor to be considered in deciding between colleges?
Thanks!
Just wondering why you aren’t attracted to the fact that you can do a dual CS/Engineering at Swarthmore without going to a different school. (My son did just that; he graduated last year).
Check the participation numbers with the dual degree engineering programs. At some schools, they are rarely used.
You can transfer to a lot of schools to get the engineering degree, but very few people do it. If you want to double major in engineering and CS (assuming you don’t want a CS engineering degree?) you can do that.
Pick a school that offers what you want. Don’t try to change the school. If Swathmore doesn’t have the degree you want, pick a different school. If you really want Wesleyan, pick one of the majors it has. Ask how many students have transferred to Dartmouth and Columbia for the 2+3 program, and I bet the answer if fewer than 5 in the last year.
@AnxiouselyHappy - congrats on having this choice to make.
In the summer of 2013, we were looking at the programs you describe. We were looking at some of the NESCAC schools and were evaluating 3/2 and 2/1/1/1 programs for engineering (and Physics I guess at the NESCAC’s).
That summer I was in Vermont for a series of meetings, and my family was staying with relatives in another part of the state. They visited Dartmouth without me. On the way home early one Saturday morning, we decided to take a drive through Hanover and see the campus (again for them). We stopped at the Engineering building, and to our surprise it was unlocked. As we wandered, we ran into the professor who runs the Engineering exchange program. He spent 15-20 mins with us, gave us a quick tour, and answered our questions. Amazingly nice man.
What he told us is that the programs are more of a selling tool for the sending schools than a program used frequently. He says that 1 or 2 kids per school will have someone at Dartmouth using that program (agreeing wtih @twoinanddone about the limited use). He explained that the emotional barriers to applying and moving in the middle of college keep most kids from doing it.
In the end, we decided to ignore the transfer programs.
The CS program at Swat isn’t very large, but they have done fairly well at Hack-a-thons and other coding challenges the past couple of years. I think the difference in choosing a school like Swat is the non-CS classes. Good luck.
@donnaleighg Swat is a great school between liberal arts colleges but not at engineering. I thought I need more course offerings to get proficient in for example Electrical Engineering. Also, research opportunities are more and better at research universities; as an international student, it’s hard for me to find an REU in other universities.
By the way, I’m attracted to double majoring in CS and Eng in Swat, but here are my worries!
@EyeVeee thank you for the information!
Engineering is not easy. Those guys take at least a 0.5 hit on their GPA. Swat offers pass/fail the first freshman semester. You can elect to take a total of three, or four (?), additional classes pass fail. The Swat engineers that I know went into finance. Dual engineering-CS will get you anywhere. Go to Swat, get immersed in the alumni network. Swat is 90 minutes from DC and NYC via Amtrak. The airport is a 10 minute cab ride and you will arrive at your job interviews in Austin or SFO in no time.
I knew of quite a few dual CS/Engineering grads at Swat (my son and his friends). They are all working at tech-firm-names-you-know in the Bay Area or Pacific Northwest, or going to PhD programs at the best schools in the country. As @Burgermeister says, you can go anywhere. My son did summer research with a prof in the CS department and had published papers as a result. He also worked in industry/gov’t labs two other summers.
I think it’s better to get a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in 5 years than two bachelor’s degrees. Haverford College offers a 4+1 Program with the University of Pennsylvania. (https://www.haverford.edu/engineering/41-program-university-pennsylvania)
As others have mentioned:1) It’s feasible to double major in CS and engineering at Swarthmore. 2) The 3/2 liberal arts + engineering programs are rarely pursued by LAC students due to various reasons. @AnxiouselyHappy, I would like to point out that the schools that offer the 2 year engineering track, like Columbia and Dartmouth, do NOT guarantee to meet full financial need for the students in the 3/2 program, even though they meet 100% financial need for their own undergraduates.
I know one student who did finish the 3/2 engineering program from a top 5 LAC with Columbia. He went on to a PhD program, which could accept him on his liberal arts degree only.
According to the info from College Navigator, in 2017-2018, 26% of Swarthmore graduates majored in Engineering (40), CS (54) and Math (21); 6% of Wesleyan graduates majored in CS (25) and Math (23). Swat has less students than Wes but more students studying in CS/Math/Engineering, not counting students in biological and physical sciences. Both schools seem to prepare students well for jobs or graduate schools.
It’s always important to consider academic, social, and financial fit in college decision. Dual degrees should not be a major factor in choosing which college to attend. On academic fit, it’s more relevant to consider the course offerings, degree requirements, and faculty research specialties.
@mochi12 thank you for the useful information! I think having more students in STEM majors especially the ones I’m interested in shows both a social and academic fit!
Does anyone know about the safety of Swarthmore location?
I would consider Swarthmore’s campus very safe. It has a natural boundary on the back half of the property (Crum Creek/hills), and there is no way to drive across campus (there are roads in, but you always have to go out where you entered).
Some of the housing is on the other side of the Athletic Fields (off-campus per se) …Mary Lyon being the furthermost dorm. There are shuttles that run all hours. I haven’t heard of safety incidents in the past 5 years, but don’t follow it very closely.
Safety? It’s in a leafy, affluent suburb, surrounded by charming professor’s homes. No need for concern there. You can walk to a typical suburban mall from there, or take in the couple of restaurants or shops in the tiny Swarthmore “downtown.” Of course it’s a half hour train ride to a real city from the train station which is essentially on-campus.