<p>Any suggestions for LAC's offering a great General engineering major?
.... preferably a mechanical engg major.</p>
<p>Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Bucknell, Rice</p>
<p>Lafayette's great for engineering, too.</p>
<p>Olin's good, not LAC, but definitely small</p>
<p>Copper Union & Rose-Hulman</p>
<p>Uh.... Rice is a university, not an LAC. Sorry! =)</p>
<p>Olin, Cooper Union, Harvey Mudd, and Rose are all specialty school, not sure if that's what you meant with LAC, but they are nice and small.</p>
<p>If you're looking for a liberal arts college W/ a strong engineering program:</p>
<p>Bucknell
Lafeyette
Swarthmore
...those would be my first choices</p>
<p>Lehigh
Villanova
Clarkson
Though not LACs, these are fairly small schools with well recognized engineering programs, I'd think you'll love them.</p>
<p>Here are some other good options:
University of the Pacific
Manhattan College
Trinity College (CT)
Calvin College
Union College
Spelman & Smith, if you qualify ;)</p>
<p>Some other LACs have 3/2 progrmas where you graduate from MIT, Columbia, Cal Tech or similar. Google 3/2 Engineering.</p>
<p>if you are talking true LAC, then its Swarthmore, Smith & Bucknell. Bucknell has a well established, conventional program w/ mechanical, chem, civil, etc. (also at the masters level). Its a great program IMO & produces solid design engineers that can actually talk & write. Swarthmore & Smith have an old-school general eng program (although Smith just started theirs.......its still "classic" though), with, I believe, specialization later in the game, but I think one receives a general eng degree. Graduates of these programs are very, very sharp & often go onto graduate school.</p>
<p>Not yet mentioned: Union College (NY), Trinity College (CT) and Trinity University (Texas).</p>
<p>Swarthmore's engineering program has been around for more than 100 years. It's an ABET accredited department. You get a B.S. degree with a general Engineering major.</p>
<p>You start out with survey courses in all of the engineering fields -- electrical, chemical, materials, etc. Then, you concentrate in a specific area with elective courses culminating in a senior design project.</p>
<p>Engineering majors have the same distribution requirements as any other Swarthmore student: 20 out of 32 courses outside of the major. Three courses in humanities; 3 courses in social sciences.</p>
<p>yes, forgot the program at Trinity.....also in the same class as Swarthmore's. Old classmate of mine received a mechanical degree there & has worked in Detroit ever since. I don't know about Hamilton nor Trinity Texas.</p>
<p>aibarr- Rice is a university, but it only has about 3000 students, which is very LAC-like.</p>
<p>Thanks people,</p>
<p>So, i'm planning to look into:
Union
Lafayette
Lehigh
Trinity College
Bucknell
Clarkson</p>
<p>Being an international student, Olin is out of the question; and Rose-Hulman is stingy towards internationals. Smith is all girls right?</p>
<p>Swarthmore and Rice would be reaches i think. </p>
<p>Harvey Mudd and Villanova don't provide enough finaid to intls too but I have to recheck! same with manhattan college and U of the Pacific.</p>
<p>THanks again! :) off to some research then...</p>
<p>Trinity and Swarthmore are usually at or near the top of those lists. Here's Fiske's list of the best LACs and small universities for engineering:</p>
<p>Brown, Bucknell, Calvin, Clarkson (I've heard good things about their program), Dartmouth, Lafayette (same as Clarkson), Lehigh (same again), University of the Pacific, Redlands, Rice, Swarthmore, Trinity (CT), Tuskegee, Union.</p>
<p>Redlands does not have an engineering program, nor does it provide financial aid for internationals.</p>
<p>Fiske needs to update his list then.</p>
<p>For an international looking for financial aid, best choices in LACs are probably going to be Trinity College (CT), Swarthmore, and Clarkson. Bucknell, Union, Lafayette and Lehigh also offer limited financial aid for internationals but the emphasis is on limited, with significant aid typically going to top students only. Of the schools discussed so far, I think only Swarthmore is need blind for internationals.</p>
<p>LACs aren't the best choice for internationals interested in engineering who need significant financial aid. There aren't many LACs who offer engineering in the first place, and few of those that do offer financial aid to internationals.</p>
<p>An international seeking a small school for engineering who isn't a top student would be better served to either consider specialized engineering schools (the illinois institute of technology for instance) or smaller comprehensive universities with strong engineering programs.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Of the schools discussed so far, I think only Swarthmore is need blind for internationals.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Swarthmore is not need-blind for internationals. They can't be because there is a by-law (or otherwise binding obligation related to the endowment) that financial aid to international students not exceed a fixed percentage of the total financial aid expenditures. </p>
<p>They do provide a lot of financial aid to international students and approximately the same percentage of intl's receive financial aid as domestic students, but the binding provision means that they cannot be need-blind for iternational admissions. Being need-blind technically requires the authority to increase financial aid spending beyond an arbitrary limit. Swarthmore's board gives this authority to the financial aid office for domestic students, but not for intl because of the cap in the bylaws.</p>
<p>I've seen a reference to some discussion of trying to change this by-law, but nothing indicating this is imminent or whether it would be easy to do from a legal standpoint (i.e., it may be tied to a large endowment gift at some point in the school's history).</p>
<p>Seems like I should include some of my stats so that you have some idea about which colleges are out of my league and which are better matches...</p>
<p>SAT (June): 2140; 760m, 710wr, 670cr
A-levels: Phy, Chem, Math; and AS: Environment mgmt, Eng lang & lit
Grades (estimated): ABAAB (in order)
School doesn't rank
Reasonable amount of extracurriculars, volunteer work and work experience</p>
<p>So I don't have an extraordinary transcript and am looking at colleges just below the top ones for engg. And finaid is important but I could also go for student loans if the college is good enough.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>