Good Plan?

So hello everyone I am here on CC to ask for some opinions on my college plan. I plan to major in both engineering and mathematics. My plan is to enroll at a local Community College get both 2 years degrees in engineering and mathematics. Transfer to liberal arts school major in mathematics/pre-engineering graduate with a degree in mathematics. Also I plan to participate in Columbia combined plan program. So my question is this plan doable? I know it would be a lot of work and I am ready for it. Also I have read some people talk about how combined plan is really wise choice for most people. Is really that bad of a program? Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I’m confused – when are you going to actually do engineering? Not many liberal arts schools offer it. Are you planning to transfer twice?

Well at the community college they offer engineering as major so there it would the typical first 2 years engineering classes, then at I plan to transfer on “pre engineering track” at liberal art school where they offer more higher level classes and major specific engineering classes

Yes I plan to transfer twice

Why not transfer once to a research university where you will be able to go straight into ENGINEERING, not “pre”-engineering?

Any research universities that you have in mind that are same caliber as Columbia that I would have chance even though I started at a community college. I also wanted to get liberal arts experince maybe even study abroad

Transferring to Columbia is far fetched for 99% of the student population. Consider liberal arts colleges that have engineering: Union, Lafayette, and Trinity come quickly to mind…and ask them about your plan.

@Burgermeister I think I will go CC see what happens there then apply to those schools you mention and the school with the combined plan and then take it from there. I know it will be hard to get into Columbia but a part of me wants to try. Also combined plan guarantees admission if you meet the requirements here is the link http://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/learn/academiclife/engineering/combined-plan-program

  1. Why bother with community college if you are Columbia material? 2. Note research opportunities at LACs are targeted toward undergrads. Grad students will get the research jobs at large research universities. 3. Sorry to sound difficult but I we have similar experience.

Lastly, how do you fit two years of cc and a semester abroad into a 3-2 plan? Don’t forget Haverford because you can get a Penn masters in engineering in a combined five years. We were moving in the 3-2 direction with Vassar/Dartmouth, but chose Swarthmore instead.

What attracts you to Columbia? It’s not an engineering powerhouse.

As for your plan in general, my gut reaction is that it is too circuitous and thus fairly unlikely to end at your intended target. You’d be far better to just skip the middle step as it really adds no value to the final intended outcome.

@Burgermeister I don’t know if I am Columbia material but no matter what I will be starting at a CC there is no getting around that its a financial reason and its possible for study abroad and @eyemgh what attracts me is new York city mostly the diversity and the opportunities and just really living in the city and the name that comes with going to Columbia and doors it will open for me

@Burgermeister a Penn masters?

If you want to be an engineer, the name Columbia won’t open as many doors as the name Illinois. The Ivy league schools, with the exception of Cornell, aren’t well respected in engineering circles. There’s a reason. Their programs just aren’t that good.

If you have to be in the city and you want to hang out with majors in addition to engineers, Cooper Union is an option. It has a good reputation, but has struggled recently based on the funding from the endowment. They won’t have the toys of a major engineering program though.

Stevens would be a good option too. Although not in the city per se, it might as well be. It’s on the Hudson in Hoboken.

If it were me and I knew I wanted to be an engineer, I’d look somewhere outside the city.

@eyemgh why look somewhere outside the city? And more I guess networking would be better at Columbia and really engineering programs aren’t good at ivy leagues??

I’d look outside the city because there aren’t any top flight engineering programs in the city. And…yes, engineering programs aren’t good in the Ivy League. There are simply lots of better options. I mean LOTS.

@eyemgh why aren’t they that good? LOTS?? What can they LOTS other institutions offer that ivy league can’t?

One explanation I’ve heard is that the Ivies never prioritized engineering, considering it a “professional” field of study rather than an academic one and therefore not as important to them. In relatively recent times, a few have started to put more money and effort into these programs but they have a lot of catching up to do and in some schools, the engineering department is still sort of a black sheep.

On the other hand, many of the state schools around the country have long been centers of engineering research and teaching and that experience and history helps them remain in front of the relative newcomers.

However, both Cornell and Princeton have fairly well-known and well-respected engineering programs. Columbia is in the next tier of Ivies below them, though by most accounts it’s a pretty sizable gap.

What the Ivies do well is placing engineers in non-traditional (and high-dollar) jobs for engineers like finance and consulting. That’s not why most engineering students decide to study engineering, however.

I can’t really add anything substantive to what @boneh3ad said other than to say that I think there’s a fascination with the Ivy League in general. In some cases it is warranted it. In some cases it isn’t.

By all means, you should look if you are seriously interested, but you should also look at other schools in the neighborhood. Specifically, you want to look at the curricula, the course offerings within engineering and the facilities. It will become quickly obvious who has the strong programs and which ones are underfunded.

Take Cal Poly for example (I happen to know a lot about CP because my son goes there). In the college of engineering alone they have over 80 teaching labs, not lab classes, but physical laboratories purposed for things like vibrations, rotational dynamics, etc. In addition, they have multiple machine shops and labs solely for student projects and to incubate business ideas. Until you set foot in a powerhouse engineering program, especially one geared towards undergrads, it’s hard to comprehend. We did visit Brown and Dartmouth while on the east coast. They couldn’t hold a candle.

So, dig a little deeper, beyond the bumper sticker name. There are lots of programs out there. Lots of good ones.