<p>Can we please stop perpetuating the University vs LAC myths?</p>
<p>If you are a hardworking student, you will have no trouble getting research experience as an undergrad at probably any top university. If anything there will be more options at a larger school. You will have big classes, but you won’t have only big classes. After freshmen year, and almost definitely after sophomore year, most of your classes will be small (less than 50 students). (and besides, some of the best classes are the BIG classes). The “professors are only there to do research” kind of talk is bologna. How much you like your professors will depend on personality differences-- you might be wishing some of your professors would focus more on their research.<br>
And if you’re worried about competition, advising, workload, etc-- welcome to college. </p>
<p>The environmental programs and academics in general between the three schools are about equal, so you shouldn’t base your decision on that. However I’m hesitant about any 3-2 engineering program. You’re not going to want to leave your group of friends and move to another college without any. And though I don’t know much about the programs, part of an engineering degree seems like it includes a lot of intro and foundation courses all the way through the 4 years. It at least gives you time to decide whether you want to continue with engineering-- what happens when you switch and decide you don’t want to be an engineer?</p>