<p>Columbia has this 3-2 Combined Plan agreement with over 100 LACs. Admission to Fu is supposedly guaranteed if you meet certain requirements. The requirements don't look that difficult and all you need to do is to maintain an average GPA of 3.0 or better.</p>
<p>So what is the catch?</p>
<p>How many transfers get into Fu Engineering via this progran each year? I know a student who gave up a better school for a mediocre LAC just because of the guaranteed admission to Columbia Fu. Is he making a mistake?</p>
<p>There is not catch. It’s that actually finishing the program can be difficult: it involves completely your home college’s GenEd reqs, your home college’s major reqs and Columbia’s pre-combined reqs; and as most LACs have twice as many GE requirements as the typical college…it can become tedious. </p>
<p>Then there’s the onslaught of math and science courses Columbia requires, which is necessary anyway to do engineering. Most students drop out of the program. As one of my robotics professors explained it, many engineering colleges have a high drop out rate, so they try to fill those seats with other students - hence the 3-2. Several engineering colleges have this program.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is too hard to complete all the requirements at the home college in 3 years. After all, many of these affiliated colleges are mediocre LACs and not very selective. The common major is Physics or Chemistry which in general will include all of Columbia’s pre-combined reqs. I am more concerned about fitting all your engineering requirements in the last 2 years, as many engineering courses are sequenced.</p>
<p>Cal Tech and WUSTL are the other schools I know with 3+2 programs but only Columbia SEAS guarantees admission. I’m surprised with more than 100 affiliated LACs, only 75 students a year choose to join SEAS. I’d think that more would jump at the opportunity.</p>