Recently discovered engineering as possible major, should I apply to LAC's still??

College Search & Selection
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<p>"Cobrat: they cannot spread sophomore year engineering courses into the “3” of the liberal arts college, because that college does not offer those engineering courses. Therefore all actual engineering courses, that generally would be spread over three years, at least, have to be compressed into 2 years. there are issues involved withe sequencing, changing your mind, etc that I find highly undesirable. I have addressed this more fully in a prior thread I linked, with detailed scenarios. "</p>

<p>First, my point was that the 3 years of the liberal arts college allowed them to get their engineering prereq requirements out of the way such as advanced math, chemistry, physics, biology, etc so they can get them out of the way first. Even at the most hardcore engineering schools have engineering prereq courses along with non-science distribution requirements that most hardcore undergrads I knew wanted to get out of the way so they can get right into the engineering courses. It was something even friends at hardcore engineering schools like MIT constantly complained about during our frosh year. </p>

<p>Second, I’ve known 4 people who have gone through the 3-2 engineering program from a LAC including 3 from Oberlin, my undergrad. Every one of them succeeded not only in fulfilling the requirements for getting into an engineering program, but also succeeded in graduating with two majors despite the fact many LACs do not require completing a major at their institutions during the first 3 years. </p>

<p>One ended up becoming a successful professional engineer for several decades before retiring a few years ago after graduating with a BS in Physics from Beloit and a BS in CivE from Columbia Engineering. Another was a college classmate who did a BA in Chemistry from Oberlin and a BS in MechE from Columbia Engineering, did well enough to be hired as an analyst at a large NYC bank, and surprisingly said the workload at both schools was “about the same” and “manageable enough to have a life”.</p>

<p>In short, you’re seriously underestimating the number of students who have a desire for a 3-2 program for a variety of educational and environmental reasons and more importantly, their ability to finish the program in the allotted time in good standing at a minimum.</p>

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<p>I’m very much a “to each his own” person and I figure if people want a 3-2 program, then good for them but not only do I have a freshman engineering son, I also have a junior son who is not in engineering, and I know he would not want to be heading for a new school next year. He loves where he is now, he’s dating a girl now pretty seriously who he wouldn’t want to leave and he’ll be ready to be done with school. He’ll need to go for an extra semester, not from changing his major but from adding an extra program to it, and I think even that will be a lot for him because he’ll be ready to get on with life, whether that’s working, getting married or just moving on to a graduate program.</p>

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It’s even worse than that. While a 3/2 student is considered a junior at the engineering school, its actually her/his 4th year of college! Lousy time in terms of money spent and lost opportunity to find out you don’t want to be an engineer after all…</p>

<p>The OP isn’t even responding in this thread anymore, BTW. It seems he was able to decide 3/2 weren’t a good fit for him. And I would strongly suggest anyone else reading this thread and considering a 3/2 program to be sure to find out how many students enter and actually transfer at the schools they are considering.</p>