<p>Hi--
Can anyone list schools that offer what I believe is the 3/5 engineering option? That is, you go to a good LAC, with an option to choose an engineering major in the third year in partnership with a good engineering school, to finish up with an engineering degree in the fifth year.
I believe Grinnell has something like this ??
S has very strong stats with passion for chemistry but might not be ready to jump right into engineering major. I would like him to have a strong LA background, and the 3/5 hybrid might be great.
Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure most LAC’s advertise a 3/2 program. The consensus here is that they look good in theory, but in practice they don’t work out usually. Here are some of the reasons:</p>
<p>1) Your son will not want to leave all his friends
2) The last 2 years of engineering takes 2.5-3 for many. Most people start taking their upper division classes their sophomore year. Your son is looking at a 5.5-6 year BS.
3) Practically no engineering school is structured like a LAC in terms of personal attention, grading, etc.</p>
<p>If you want your son to get a good liberal arts background but think he wants to do engineering, fine, but choose a school that’s actually known for engineering and liberal arts.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.whitman.edu/content/catalog/combined-plans[/url]”>https://www.whitman.edu/content/catalog/combined-plans</a></p>
<p>A friend of mine settled for Hamilton when Columbia gave him the finger.
He’s in its 3-2 program, and, interestingly enough, he’s aiming for Columbia at the end of the 3.</p>
<p>If your son is sufficiently strong and competitive, he should look into Harvey Mudd.
He’ll have a superior LA background with the ease of cross-registration at Pomona, McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna (with Harvey Mudd)’
Probably easier to actually complete, because the schools are in the same consortium (easier to make sure you have the proper prereqs), and you won’t have to worry about leaving your friends after 3 years, because they’ll only be a few blocks away!</p>
<p>The biggest player in the 3-2 game is Columbia, which has arrangements with some ~100 LACs, listed [url=<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/engineering/combined/affils.php]here[/url”>http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/engineering/combined/affils.php]here[/url</a>]. </p>
<p>In practice, there is far more interest in 3-2 programs among prospective LAC undergraduates than among actual LAC undergraduates. At many of these participating LACs, the actual number of students who go to Columbia averages less than 1 per year. The 4-2 approach (LAC BS followed by engineering MS) is more popular.</p>
<p>Admission to Columbia SEAS is guaranteed in the 3-2 combined plan. However, according to a poster in the Columbia forum, only about 150 students actually enroll (75 per class). That is in line with your observation that “less than 1 per year” choose to complete the program at SEAS.</p>
<p>Why would LAC students prefer 4-2? I’d think that 3-2 at SEAS would give you a better chance at the top engineering grad schools. Besides, doing a 2-year master with no foundation engineering courses (e.g., engineering mechanics) and foundation courses in your engineering discipline can be tough as many engineering courses are sequenced.</p>
<p>If you are interested in engineering, then you really should attend a school that offers engineering. If you are not absolutely sure that you want to major in engineering and/or if you are absolutely sure that you want a liberal arts education combined with engineering, then you should consider schools that offer a engineering major in a liberal arts setting. These can be found among top universities (I believe that both Darthmouth’s and Harvard’s programs would fit this bill as well as among some top liberal arts colleges, such as Swarthmore (where Engineering is now the #1 potential major listed by accepted applicants).</p>
<p>In many cases, these programs offer a BS degree in general Engineering, instead of a specialized BS in something like Electrical Engineering. They are good platforms into tech oriented management tracks and superb platforms into Engineering Masters programs.</p>
<p>These types of programs are ideal for someone who might want to try engineering, but with an avenue to switch majors to a science, or economics, or linguistics major or who might want to combine engineering with a minor in another field altogether or for someone who simply wants the benefits of living and studying with students other than engineers.</p>
<p>There is no way to tell from the original post whether Swarthmore or Dartmouth would even be a possibility admissions-wise, but there are selected schools up and down the admissions food chain that offer these kids of engineering programs. The only real downside is that they aren’t ideal platforms to jump immediately into an entry-level engineering cubicle job as a Chemical Engineer or whatever because they trade-off more undergrade vocational specialization for a broader undergrad education (strong writing and critical thinking skills).</p>
<p>Here’s a link that provides a pretty good overview of who this kind of program might make sense for. </p>
<p>[Swarthmore</a> College - Department of Engineering](<a href=“http://engin.swarthmore.edu/]Swarthmore”>http://engin.swarthmore.edu/)</p>
<p><a href=“http://engin.swarthmore.edu/whyswat.php]Why”>http://engin.swarthmore.edu/whyswat.php]Why</a> Swarthmore Engineering</p>
<p>Swarthmore engineering majors tend to do some pretty fun independent projects. A pair of seniors who graduated last month were all over the science magazines and Discovery Channel for a hydrogen fuel cell powered motorcycle they built for their senior project.</p>
<p><a href=“http://engin.swarthmore.edu/?page_id=72]Fuel”>http://engin.swarthmore.edu/?page_id=72]Fuel</a> Cell Motorcycle</p>
<p>You might instead consider some of the LAC’s that have accredited engineering programs. Some of them only have general engineering degrees, which might require an advanced degree to up your job chances, while others have several disciplines of engineering where they are accredited, e.g. Electrical/Mechanical. You can check at [url=<a href=“http://www.abet.org%5DABET%5B/url”>http://www.abet.org]ABET[/url</a>].</p>
<p>Some that were on my son’s early list were Lehigh, Lafayette, and Union College.</p>