Our daughter is admitted to the 2019 class. She’s very committed to studying engineering, possibly as preparation for med school. All of the other schools to which she’s applied have full engineering schools with specialized majors; Smith is the only LAC, and the only one with a general engineering degree. Could those of you who know something about Smith’s engineering program provide some feedback, e.g. as to the quality of the engineering education, opportunities for research and experience with placement for summer internships? Thanks!
We looking into the Engineering program because my D was considering it. It’s rigorous, especially the B.S. track. Decently ranked too (#15 for schools w/o a doctorate aka mainly Liberal Arts Colleges and military schools).
From talking to staff, there’s a good alumnae network, although the program is only 20ish (?) years old, so the first sets of graduate are now in management positions and bring Smithies into their companies.
@odannyboySF Thanks! Any current engineering students, parents or recent grads who can offer insight based on their experiences?
@RustyTrowel - believe you have a daughter there now who is in this field of study; could you share your impressions of her experiences thus far? Thanks!
Some impressions on Smith’s engineering program:
– Curriculum. I look at Smith’s program as being very close to a traditional mechanical engineering degree from a curriculum perspective. The student has some discretion to choose electives, and she plans to use that flexibility to closely mirror a traditional mechanical engineering degree curriculum. At graduation, a BSME at, say, UMass would have taken more engineering elective courses than a Smith student would, no question. However, I have no concern that she will somehow not be prepared to take and handily pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam senior year.
– Rigor. Come prepared to work hard. The first two years have been 19-20 credits/semester load with all the labs.
– Teaching quality. Smith is just chock full of great professors. Yes, there are a few duds here and there. But on the whole, it makes me jealous when I think back to my own large university collegiate experience.
– Liberal arts. At Smith, the engineering student gets to take full advantage of all the liberal arts aspects of the Smith student experience, beginning with the wonderful First Year Seminars, continuing on to the music ensembles, the small classes, the residential campus.
– Study abroad. You can, in fact, study abroad as an engineering B.S. major at Smith, if you are able to arrive with at least two AP credits from high school. You need to use those credits for placement into the next higher courses in the standard course sequence. It’s still a tight schedule squeeze, and you must plan very carefully. But it is possible.
– Summer job. She was basically handed a well-paid summer job by a large engineering firm after one on-campus interview. Not sure how common that is.
– The Boston University – Smith engineering announcement. This one deserves a close look. Recently, Smith and Boston University announced an arrangement where Smith engineering students can get admitted early to BU’s engineering grad school should they desire to pursue a graduate engineering degree. BU has baked-in research experiences and a tuition discount into the pie. Smart move by both schools.
– Overall: It’s a great program.