<p>3+2 engineering programs are commonly offered at LACs that do not have engineering. However, the transfer rate to the school with engineering tends to be low. In general, when looking at 3+2 programs, consider:</p>
<ul>
<li>Is admission to the “2” school automatic after completing the prerequisites with a specified GPA, or competitive like regular transfer admissions?</li>
<li>How is financial aid at the “2” school handled? If the NPCs at the “2” schools indicate that they are too expensive, then that particular 3+2 program may not be financially feasable. Note also that a 3+2 program requires an extra year of college and associated costs.</li>
<li>What restrictions on major does the “3” school have? Some “3” schools (e.g. Brandeis) allow the student to complete any major while taking the engineering prerequisites, but others limit the student’s major (e.g. Centre allows physics, chemistry, or math).</li>
</ul>
<p>Taking more than four (academic) years to graduate (not in a 3+2 program) is mostly based on the student’s ability and motivation. Delayed graduation is usually due to needing remedial courses, not taking full course loads, not paying attention to prerequisites and requirements when scheduling courses, changing major late, needing to repeat failed courses, etc…</p>
<p>I agree with “ucbalumnus” that prospective students need to carefully examine both the “2” school and the “3” school to determine how feasible this option is. Indeed, the schools should be directly asked about this. Reading the website would not be sufficient. </p>
<p>I will reemphasize that engineers typically take longer than do other majors. The following is from a 2004 study done at the University of California, Davis:</p>
<p>“In general, approximately 54% of new freshmen level students who graduated in the unit in which they started, did so in 4 years. Engineering majors are the exception to this pattern; only 38% graduated within 4 years. Because Engineering students typically have a large number of courses with tight prerequisite chains, it is difficult to maintain the schedule needed each year to graduate in 4 years. Furthermore, approximately 20% of Engineering students who graduated last year did so in majors that require more than the 180 units needed in most disciplines to graduate. Accordingly both the 4-year and 5-year rates for Engineering degree recipients are lower than the rates for the other colleges and divisions.”</p>
<p>Key statistic is that only 38% of engineering students graduated in four years if they begin as engineering students, compared to 54% of other majors who do not change majors. This is a 30% drop. The study explains this rather well. There is no reason to believe that this data is significantly different at most other universities.</p>
<p>85% of engineering majors graduate within five years if they begin as engineering students.</p>
<p>Centre, by the way, “guarantees” completion of a degree in four years. Obviously the 3+2 program would be an exception. But what is their “guarantee” for the “3+2” program? I would want to find out, before enrolling.</p>
<p>There are schools that do have such guarantees (in terms of registration priority and the like) if the student does not need remedial courses and follows the course plan for his/her major (e.g. CSUs in Pomona, Fresno, San Bernardino, Stanislaus), although relatively few students hold up their end of the bargain and actually graduate in four years at those schools.</p>
<p>In terms of needing an extra semester or few when majoring in engineering, that can be even more of an issue if one transfers (whether from a 3+2 program or starting from a community college), since the first school may not have offered all of the frosh/soph level courses that the student needs to “catch up” after transferring, delaying the ability to take the normal junior level courses in the major.</p>
<p>It says that they will even “provide up to an additional year of study tuition free” if this commitment is not met. Sounds relatively explicit, although it might not hold up in a court of law. </p>
<p>That page has a “learn more” that leads to the page that I linked, which has no real details. That page does not indicate that the guarantee requires the student to do anything in particular, like make progress in his/her major, take full course loads, and not fail any courses (like other four year guarantee or pledge programs). Wonder how many students tested the guarantee when changing major in their seventh semester, after taking light course loads and failing a few courses.</p>
<p>Well, his mom has taken a look at the list I sent and made some adjustments. Apparently, the NC/SC schools are out and all the schools are on the West Coast now except for Catholic Univ in DC and Univ. of Tulsa. LMU is on the list.</p>
<p>It seems a pretty well balanced list, though he needs to bring those SATs up as I don’t think being Cuban will give him any boost out West. I think they’ll pare it down once he retakes SATs and takes SAT II exams.</p>
<p>Here’s the list:</p>
<p>Cal Lutheran
Cal Poly SLO
Cal Fullerton
Catholic Univ.
Chapman Univ.
Gonzaga
LMU
Pacific Lutheran
Pepperdine
SJSU
Santa Clara
UCD
UCI
UCR
UCSD
Univ. of Redlands
Univ. of San Diego
Univ. of Tulsa
Whitworth</p>
<p>If he is going to stay in California, then I would recommend not paying much extra to go to a private college in California. I love the University of San Diego, for example, but if it was more than, oh… say, $5,000 or $6,000 higher per year than UC-Riverside, then I would choose Riverside. Even more true of UCSD and UCD.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, I have visited Spokane many times and it is merely an okay city. Gonzaga and Whitworth are both there, and appear to be equally good. Spokane is cold in the winter, and does get notable amounts of snow. Might not be best for a California resident. Actually, I would treat these two Spokane schools as though they were in California.</p>
<p>Also, Tulsa is colder than you might think. I have a friend who grew up in Tulsa. He says the winters were not much better than here in Ohio. I find that unbelievable, but that is what he says.</p>
</p>