My daughter is currently at a small liberal arts college, but wants to study engineering. She wants to transfer to an engineering program at another school. We are looking for engineering schools that are more transfer friendly. She is currently a freshman and is planning on staying at her current school through her sophomore year. She could do a 3-2 program, but the options are CalTech, Dartmouth, and Univ. of Mass (Amherst). She doesn’t want to stay 3 years at her current school, and CalTech and Dartmouth are very hard to get accepted into, so she would probably have to go to UMass. Right now, she is thinking of mechanical engineering. Any advice?
Perhaps the in-state publics that have the desired major? Depending on the state, they may be set up to take substantial numbers of transfer students.
For engineering, it’s all about the classes you need. Engineering programs should be ABET certified and there will be courses a mechanical needs and in the right sequence.
I’m not sure that transferring from liberal arts to engineering wouldn’t involve an extra year of school no matter how you do it. I wouldn’t spend another year at the liberal arts school
Sorry
I know a few students who transferred from LACs to Northeastern for engineering.
Try RPI. I know my son’s GF transferred there, and I know she was concerned about funding. I don’t know what amount of merit money she got though.
If she likes the small LAC feel, near UMass, how about Smith?
Is she currently taking all the engineering first year classes like calc (1, 2, 3), physics, chem, etc? If not, she won’t be transferring as a junior but probably as a ‘sophomore-ish’ junior. She can get all the ABET requirements done like a writing course, an econ, history,etc., but she still may have issues with sequencing of the engineering courses.
Others may be able to give better recommendations if you specify:
- State of residency.
- Cost constraints.
- Whether the student has been taking the frosh/soph math and physics courses suitable for engineering or physics majors.
- The student's college GPA.
- Any preferences with respect to the school beyond having the desired major.
She should talk to people at CalPoly San Luis Obispo. They have a ME degree program. http://www.academicprograms.calpoly.edu/content/degree-program-update
@mackinaw: SLO is not transfer friendly especially for OOS transfers.
She likely will be looking at another 3 years in college, if not more because of sequencing. And a smaller LAC will likely have more sequencing issues than a larger engineering school. Many engineering schools will not direct admit a transfer into a specific engineering major. Often they have to start out in general E and show they can handle the work with a decent GPA to get into their major. Do a lot of research on schools/programs ASAP looking particularly at the transfer info. See which classes are recommended/required at these school for transfer into engineering and compare those to classes available at her current campus. She will need to get the required classes done in order to transfer, and as many of the recommended classes as possible. That may well mean changing her class schedule for next fall - is that possible and can she enroll in those classes or are they restricted and available to her? If she can’t get a particular class there, consider CC this summer. Many schools show CC - University equivalent classes that transfer on their website. But you have to jump on this now as CC starts mid-late May, at least around here.
If she is planning on spending another year at her LAC I agree that it will probably take her an extra year to move through the required engineering curriculum at her transfer school. Once you narrow down the college choices those colleges should be more than willing to evaluate her transcript and let her know which classes have equivalency and whether she would be considered a first or second semester sophomore. I am a tad sceptical she would go in as a junior engineering major. For sure she should get her math going… Calc 1 and 2, multi variable and differential equations. Chemistry is another that would also have a higher probability of transferring.
There are a lot more schools that offer engineering than Caltech, MIT, and Univ of Mass. A lot of engineering majors who spend the whole time at the school they started out with freshman year end up taking 5 years to graduate because each successive class builds upon the next one, so if you fail one class, then your sequence of classes is off.
Wherever she ends up transferring to, make sure it’s an ABET certified program. Here’s their website → http://www.abet.org/
Your daughter should look up the freshman & sophomore class requirements for a couple of different schools (i.e., not Caltech or MIT) and start taking those classes next year at her liberal arts college.
Keep in mind re: Caltech that its culture on campus is such that ALL freshmen take the same classes regardless of major. You actually can’t declare a major until freshman year is done according to what I’ve read. Some schools are also really picky that they want you to take THEIR version of…oh let’s say…differential equations or physics. So it could very a bit based on where she’s applying and where she wants to go.
Her odds of being able to transfer into an Ivy League school are very slim. Heck, you have a <10% chance of getting in to an Ivy League institution as a freshman and the odds are worse for transfer students. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but maybe mention some of that to your student so she can go into this transfer process with reasonable expectations.
Engineering program at VT is transfer friendly and they have resources here. From networking here, Im currently taking grad courses in the biomedical engineering department, while an undergrad, and conducting my own research in the industrial systems engineering department. However, there is a con with the transfer of classes from point A to B.
One question: If she is sure that she wants to switch to engineering, and needs to change universities, why study another year at the LAC? The deadline for high school students to apply for September has passed at most universities, but I am pretty sure that the deadline for transfer students has not quite passed yet (at least at UMass Amherst).
Vanderbilt is more transfer-friendly than its peers.
But I agree that she’ll probably have to stay another year. Fall transfer deadlines are mostly over and fitting engineering courses into a 2-year (or even 2.5 year at places with spring transfers) could be difficult.
“Fall transfer deadlines are mostly over …”
I think that Caltech and Dartmouth college are past the deadline.
The transfer deadline for UMass Amherst, if I read the web page correctly, is April 15:
http://www.umass.edu/admissions/apply/dates-and-deadlines?_ga=1.245604487.2083940581.1489875599
U. of Vermont is also April 15:
http://www.uvm.edu/admissions/undergraduate/dates_and_deadlines
I did note on the UVM web page that the deadline for the student to respond to the successful transfer applicant appears to be “10 working days after acceptance”. Thus it would seem that you need to be very close to having decided that you want to do it before applying.
Her GPA is good… well above 3.0 (I’m not sure the exact number). Lowest grade was a b or b+. We live in Wisconsin, but are closer to Minnesota schools (reciprocity between the states), but are potentially moving south. She has been taking technical classes: Calc 1 and 2 and will complete the Calc sequence next fall. She has also taken Chem 1 and Statistics. She is hoping to take Physics 1 over the summer. She plans to continue taking math.
Part of the reason for staying is that it is late to try to research schools and make a change for next year. Another reason is so that she can complete the Calculus series which usually helps to transfer.
We realize that she probably will take longer to complete the program as a transfer. I don’t think she’s interested in UMass, but that would probably be her best option since they have a 3-2 agreement with Mt Holyoke. She can take courses at UMass right now as part of the 5 college consortium without being admitted to UMass. She is also not necessarily looking to stay in the Northeast.
I think she would prefer to stay away from the really large schools, but won’t rule that out.
What is SLO?
Look into WI and MN public schools with the desired major.
@oktazwi: SLO is California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo. SLO is a Cal state university so it gives in-state and local area applicants priority so not a good option for transferring as suggested by post #7.