No, and I agree with you: I wish all of these Return On Investment (ROI) surveys would break their results out by major; it would make comparing apples to apples much simpler. Suffice it to say that a STEM major is going to have pretty much the same opportunities and drawbacks at any of the top 100 colleges or universities; grades and standardized tests are how you will distinguish yourself from the pack - not the college’s pedigree.
If you major in Bio or Chem you are probably going to have to go on to graduate school of some sort to make a decent living. Computer Science is still a very hot major and you can find a job as a programmer right out of the box. The same is true for Engineering except that a B.S degree by itself hits a salary wall about six years after graduation (at which point, a lot of Humanities and Social Science majors start catching up) and you will want to pursue at least a Masters.
IMO, Physics and Math are still the sweet spot as far as intellectual exploration and practical applications are concerned. Physics and Math majors have been known to land on Wall Street in various capacities.
Are there any other schools that you are still considering? I think you are having trouble deciding because none of these three ticks all of your boxes. I will add it’s not necessary to tick all of the boxes, nor does a college have to be “perfect” for you to have a good experience and meet your goals.
Are you interested in biomedical engineering primarily for the career prospects or would a science major available at a LAC suit you just as well?
If you are set on engineering, I would pick GA Tech as few people enrolled at LACs actually do 3+2 programs
@Chembiodad 's twin daughters are pursuing STEM disciplines at Hamilton. Maybe he will weigh in here and/or you can check out the Hamilton forum on CC for more information.
Wesleyan skews very left politically - if you want to avoid political extremes, you might want to investigate that angle a bit further.
It looks like the cost gap has narrowed among your options. Do you know what your costs are likely to be with your parents’ new salaries? Did you run the NPCs with the new amount?
These are three excellent but different choices. Good luck with your decision!
Here are the guidelines. You need a 3.3 GPA at the end of your Spring semester to renew for the following year. I have no idea how difficult that might be at GA Tech, probably depends on your course of study.
@waitwhatss, my daughter is in the same exact situation as you. She very interested in the STEM field but is considering med school. She is accepted into the BIOMED program at GT. The other school she is considering is UVA. She is still undecided and super stressed
@Waitwhatss I am only deciding between GT and Wesleyan now. I am interested in studying physics. Wesleyan seems to give more individual attention, but GT seems better overall for math/science.
It should come down to fit at these levels. Wes is a bit quirky but could be perfect for you. Gtech will be s more traditional experience with d1 sports and really hard classes.
For my d. We simply removed wes because of the longish walk from freshman dorms down the hill to the dining halls. She thought it would be cold and dark during the winter in the am for breakfast and at night for dinner. It was as small a detail as that for her. You could have the same fit concern with gtech. I don’t know anything about the campus or student life other the. Football
If you really want engineering, GATech is your better choice, unless you are okay with a 3-2 type of program. Otherwise, top small liberal arts colleges like Wesleyan provide a really wonderful educational experience for undergraduates, with small classes, lots of opportunities to interact and work closely with professors, and a tight community.
But you already have narrowed your decision to two fantastic options using all your criteria. For your final choice, don’t “overthink” the decision. Just pick whichever one feels best to you, commit, and do not look back! If unsure, imagine giving up one school, then imagine giving up the other. Which is harder to say goodbye to? Go there!
^Yes, it’s more expensive, but, in the long run he’s going to need more than a bachelor’s degree, if he expects to be promoted by an engineering firm. The OP can keep his career options open for a little while longer while he majors in physics and minors in applied sciences at Wes.
My son is currently a Hamilton / Dartmouth student. He is in the 3-2 engineering program and loves it. Unlike the typical 3-2 where you leave the liberal arts college at the end of the 3rd year, for the Dartmouth plan the student studies at their LAC for freshman and sophomore year, then move on to Dartmouth for their junior year, when most of their friends are studying abroad. For their senior year they go back to their LAC, graduate with their friends and get their BA degree, and return back to Dartmouth for a 5th year and get their BE degree in an engineering discipline.
What is nice about this program is that the student gets an excellent STEM education at the LAC with very small class sizes where they get to really know their professors and do research as an undergraduate. At Thayer (Dartmouth’s Engineering School) you get a very project oriented engineering education with a strong entrepreneurial focus. Dartmouth is on a quarter system so many professors have their own engineering / tech companies they are running, bringing current real-world challenges to class. Also, there is a certain camaraderie amongst all the 3-2 students from the various LAC’s.
Typically if you maintain a 3.5 or better at your LAC and take Calc I, II, III, Physics I, II, Chem, and CS, you get into Dartmouth. If I am not mistaken they get about 100 applicants a year, with about 40 or so getting accepted into the program each year.
There is no question that the 3-2 plan will require an extra year of education and the costs that go with that. However, that additional year provides you the ability to take the extensive math and science prereqs for an engineering degree, but also affords you the ability to take more humanities and social science courses. The part of the education you get at a LAC will be more discussion based (as opposed to a lecture based model), enabling you to become a more effective communicator and develop critical thinking skills. This is an investment that will make you a more marketable candidate with employers.
Some have said that getting an advanced degree in engineering can narrow rather than widen, job prospects due to the increased specialization. And there are many opportunities outside engineering firms for engineers. Not having an advanced degree is not going to hold back strong engineer employees.
@akin67 - Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the 3+2 program. I don’t mean to hijack the conversation, but may I ask, if you know, what the financial aid situation is like when a student does the 3-2 program? Is the tuition and financial aid decision made at the engineering school, or is it Hamilton rates and financial aid for the whole 5 years? I ask because I believe my son would be eligible for much more aid at one of the schools in the program, but I would like to see him get the writing/communications enrichment that Hamilton offers. Unfortunately, though, I think Hamilton is going to be unaffordable for us - definitely would be at 5 years.
@Trixy34 For the first 4 years it will be the FA from the LAC. The first year of Dartmouth gets treated as a study abroad year. In Hamilton’s case, the cost of attending Dartmouth was about $3K more, so we were responsible for the additional $3K. In the 5th year of the program the student becomes a Dartmouth student where they are then subject to Dartmouth FA. Just want to point out that the curriculum at Hamilton is definitely challenging and will prepare your son well to take on the challenges at Dartmouth, perhaps better than some of the other schools. My son was able to get waived out of two courses and ended up taking more advanced alternatives at Dartmouth. I don’t know the reason for this but it seems, at least for now, that more students pursue this program from Colby, Skidmore and Vassar than from Hamilton. Best of luck to your son.
These are three good schools, but IMHO good schools do not train for high paying jobs. They train your brain. The risk of going to a school that trains for a job is that the skills you learn will become obsolete in ten years.
Also no school is going to get you a job, let alone a high paying job. That is up to you. While there are certain majors that tend to pay more after graduation, the simple fact that you graduate in that major doesn’t mean you will get a high paying job.
I know it is difficult, but look at salary and compensation over the long run, not for the year after you graduate. Try to figure out what you like to do. Chances are you will make much more money over your career in a field that you love than in a relatively high paying field that you don’t care for.
This probably doesn’t help choose a school. Once you have determined the financial aid angle, how about choosing the school you like the best.