<p>S wants to become an Engineer, but also considering LAC. Admitted to WashU and Bowdoin. The reason he applied to Bowdoin was for its 3-2 program with CalTech and Columbia. He will be studying Mechanical Engineering eventually.</p>
<p>Any comments on the program, any reference/feedback from 3-2 students? How does the experience compare with WashU?</p>
<p>I heard that recently CalTech is admitting less and less from the program.</p>
<p>What is a 3-2 program?</p>
<p>The Physics Department coordinates the 3-2 engineering option, in which Bowdoin has an arrangement with Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, the California Institute of Technology and the University of Maine.</p>
<p>[Engineering</a> Programs (Bowdoin, Physics and Astronomy)](<a href=“http://www.bowdoincollege.edu/physics/engineering/index.shtml]Engineering”>http://www.bowdoincollege.edu/physics/engineering/index.shtml)</p>
<p>Similar programs are available at almost every LAC that does not offer an Engineering program.</p>
<p>Interesting, my daughter was also accepted to washU and bowdoin. She was waitlisted at MIT. she is interested in bioengineering or biomedical engineering. she is considering the 3-2 program at bowdoin x washU. she has no clue what would be better.</p>
<p>haha, also deciding between Wash. U. and Bowdoin, except for art.</p>
<p>Really funny. S also was waitlisted at MIT for EA, but later rejected. To make things complicated, last nite he was also admitted to Duke. Still waiting to hear from Tufts, Cornell and … Princeton!</p>
<p>He wants a career in Biomedical, but rather than jumping right away, he wants to study MechEng first. </p>
<p>With Bowdoin choice, it will be (Physics+LA) >> ME BS (CalTech or Columbia) >> BME MS (JHU??)</p>
<p>Wow this is funny. MIT is still my daughter’s first choice, but as she is waitlisted she won’t hear from them until mid may. She is deciding between vandebilt, washU and bowdoin. Good luck to all</p>
<p>Feliz, do you have any information from Bowdoin about 3-2 program, other than what is on the web site? </p>
<p>We wrote to the professor in charge of the program twice, never heard back. It is difficult to communicate with them from Turkey.</p>
<p>I am concerned that after three years of Physics, Caltech may pull the plug, like they did for their EE program. Columbia seems to be a automatic, if the student meets the requirements. </p>
<p>Which school is your daughter interested for the second part of the 3-2?</p>
<p>Feliz, in case you are interested, I received some clarifications from WashU 3-2 coordinator, that may be helpful:</p>
<p>“The 3-2 program varies a little depending on the engineering school in which you are interested, and to some degree in which particular engineering discipline you are interested. Bowdoin has programs available to all students with CalTech, Columbia and Dartmouth. For the CalTech and Columbia programs you complete most of a physics major, plus some other required courses (spelled out in the college catalog - available online) in three years and then apply to transfer to CalTech or Columbia for the two years of the engineering program. Admission to CalTech is difficult – you have to be at the top of the class here at Bowdoin to have a chance. Admission to Columbia is guaranteed if you take the required Bowdoin courses and maintain a B average.”</p>
<p>So, apparently CalTech is not a “lock” by any means.</p>
<p>By the way, today my son got acceptance from Tufts also, to make life more complicated.</p>
<p>@ibagoren Thank you so much for the information, very helpful. Congrats to your Son on Tufts! my Daughter was wait listed at Tufts but we were expecting, due to sports recruiting (long story).
My Daughter will be visiting WashU April 15. I love the idea of Bowdoin/Columbia but she is the one who needs to love it :).</p>
<p>as a bowdoin student i can’t really imagine the type of person so set on a specific field to enjoy it here. bowdoin is about developing analytical skills, exploring your interests, and getting a well rounded education. the culture at a LAC emphasizes so much more than your average university major. I’m a religion and art double major and am going to med school next year. my room mate is an english major and got recruited by goldman sachs to do private wealth management.</p>
<p>to be honest, if you did do a 3-2 program you would probably not be benefiting from a Liberal Arts education because you would be stressing out about your requirements all the time.</p>
<p>the guaranteed admission to columbia is a pretty sweet deal though. i could definitely see that working out nicely</p>
<p>and wash u and bowdoin for…art? is that even a choice?</p>
<p>MercedesAMG - Thanks for the different perspective. </p>
<p>On the other hand:
“and wash u and bowdoin for…art? is that even a choice?”</p>
<p>I don’t really know. Is Bowdoin much better? Maybe. I am not qualified. I hope my son has a better idea. Sitting at my desk all the way from Turkey, both Bowdoin and WashU are big question marks. Don’t misunderstand, I know many US universities very well. I lived in Connecticut, US for 20 years, 14 of it as a businessman, hiring hundreds of BS/MS/BA titled employees. Not once I came across Bowdoin or WashU. We learned about Bowdoin only August 2009, WashU was probably a few months earlier, both from an American private college advisor/counselor living in Istanbul.</p>
<p>What I am trying to say is, they are not household names. My son also got accepted in Duke, and even half of the Turks in Istanbul streets know that name. I am not suggesting name recognition makes an institution better than the other. But what does?
As you suggest, Bowdoin may be much better than WashU, but only a small group of people have that insight. Check the Princeton review ratings:</p>
<p>Quality of life: B: 99/100, WashU 99/100
Academics: B: 98/100, WashU 95/100
Admission: B: 98/100, WashU 99/100
Financials: B: 98/100, WashU 99/100</p>
<p>SAT Mid Scores Average: B: 2115, WashU: 2190</p>
<p>Pretty close? They are quantitative, and what may make Bowdoin better is not in those numbers. But where are they? I am trying to vent my frustration, and picking on your “everybody knows” type question maybe unfairly. Sorry.</p>
<p>I was thinking more about this, and I don’t think it is a good idea to leave Bowdoin on your senior year to go to Columbia engineering or to any other engineering program. I think the student would miss out so much of the Bowdoin experience. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Ibageren, the prestige and name thing matters primarily for getting into grad school or for getting an elitist-type job (like at one of the big i-banks). Both Bowdoin and WashU would be well known and well regarded in both sectors. Otherwise, it really does not matter in terms of enhancing your son’s chances in life that the man in the street has heard of Duke (mostly because it is famous for its basketball program).</p>
<p>if you’re from turkey than you probably wouldn’t know about liberal arts traditions.</p>
<p>the nescac is a very new england thing. its a regional/cultural thing</p>
<p>torasee makes good comments. people from abroad don’t really know much about (no offense) the u.s. education system because it is so different from the rest of the world. they just know bigass universities like harvard</p>