Pre-Engineering at Williams

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

<p>Williams has a pre-engineering program where you study for Williams at 3 years for a BA and then transfer to Columbia for 2 years to get an engineering degree. Does anyone know anything about it? Has anyone done it? or is it just some program that few people do and is just meant as a way for admissions to attract engineering students? are there any other LACs that offer similar pre-engineering programs?</p>

<p>this link describes the program:
<a href="http://www.williams.edu/Physics/programs/eng.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.williams.edu/Physics/programs/eng.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>You should check out these previous discussions:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=336277%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=336277&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=216692%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=216692&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>My impression is that it's not a very popular program; most Williams students with engineering ambitions (and there aren't many of those) just stay here for four years and then go study engineering in grad school.</p>

3

<p>You dont need an engineering undergraduate degree for graduatre school engineering. I know an english major in the class of 2007 who is going to MIT for grad school engineering (he also majored in physics i think). </p>

<p>My opinion is that it's not the best idea to come to Williams if you want to do engineering as an undergrad. You should just apply to Columbia or MIT ...or some other tech school (i dont really know too many such schools..but you can easily find out i guess). I heard that in the last 10 years or so only a couple of students chose the 3-2 program..and it's not surprising at all...who would want to leave williams in his/her senior year to a school which is completely different from williams in every possible way.</p>

4

<p>Go on Ephblog (Google Ephblog.com) and I think you'll find some info on this program. Look for Lowell's postings and get in touch with him: he's the first Eph to do the 3/2 program in some years.</p>

<p>I think that Swarthmore has an undergraduate engineering program that you might want to explore. You might also look at Harvey Mudd (part of the Claremont consortium, so liberal arts courses are also quite available). Wash U may also have something that appeals to you.</p>

<p>And Williams might work for you as well.</p>

5

<p>Bowdoin has 3-2 engineering programs with Columbia, Caltech, and UMaine.</p>

<p><a href="http://academic.bowdoin.edu/physics/engineering/index.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://academic.bowdoin.edu/physics/engineering/index.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The UMaine 3-2 program is brand new and is discussed here:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bowdoin.edu/news/archives/1bowdoincampus/004131.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bowdoin.edu/news/archives/1bowdoincampus/004131.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>It's sort of cool to come into Williams as a pre-engineering student. It's just interesting to see how your tastes and interests may change as you sample other classes and subjects. If you manage to keep your physics major intact, you can still do an M.Eng. But really, most physics majors go for more physics...</p>

7

<p>thanks for all the info everyone and from what i''ve read I think I'll just apply to schools with engineering</p>