<p>Thats interesting Lake. Examining particualr progams is improtant: persinancy, pre-reqs, finances, falculty, etc. I suppose differnt programs have differing outcomes. Can you point to any lists which evaluate 3/2 programs? Either by home LAC or partner U? </p>
<p>I understand that Dartmouth’s Thayer program is very popular. Haven’t heard much about the CAL TECH program–yet, hard to imagine that a degree from Cal Tech wouldn’t be an advantage in the job market.</p>
<p>Given that the OP Californian, she’s most likely spend 5 years persuing one undergraduate degree at any in-state school… </p>
<p>Of course in the engineering world, Dartmouth carries close to no weight whatsoever.</p>
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<p>While Caltech is an outstanding research institution and tends to mint some brilliant people, they intentionally focus heavily on the theory and mathematics underlying engineering. This is excellent for some jobs or for graduate school, but they are also well-known for this, and so it isn’t always an advantage for certain jobs. Given, that is not based on hard statistics, but anecdotal evidence, so take it with a grain of salt. I have a great deal of respect for Caltech and know a bunch of graduates (mostly PhD guys). It simply isn’t always the best choice for an undergraduate degree, however.</p>
<p>You can find several old threads discussing why families originally intrigued by 3/2 programs end up deciding No.</p>
<p>Although I am not a fan of 3/2, my thought is that it would be most practical when both schools are in the same town. Who wants to leave their college friends after 3 years and start over? </p>
<p>You may also want to consider Tufts - it has very strong programs in various humanities fields and a small but good engineering school. I was able to take language and philosophy classes at Tufts and had other friends in engineering who opted to take electives in creative writing or poetry or write for the school paper in their free time. Most of my friends have also gone on to become successful engineers or are in grad school on the path to becoming successful engineers.</p>
<p>I see someone finally mentioned the women’s colleges. I’ll note that Smith is the only one with an ABET accredited BS in Engineering Science, with a curriculum similar to Harvey Mudd’s. And as far as the liberal arts are concerned, in addition to the fact that the non-stem courses you take are amazing and fellow students a different sort than you’ll find at the big engineering schools, the engineering courses are also infused with more “this is how the tech-stuff affects the world” kind of content. Small classes, brand new building, successful grads who go to both industry and engineering grad school.</p>