<p>The top LAC in the country produces some engineers, but to get the proper training they still need to pursue graduate study. You take an engineer from Swarthmore and place him next to an engineer from a middle of the road engineering school like Northeastern and the guy from Northeastern will get the job. </p>
<p>Career and employment services, research opportunities, and co-ops are simply paralleled for an engineering student at an LAC. I have a feeling that Boeing doesn't exactly send many representatives to career fairs at a school like Bates.</p>
<p>The number of Engineering PhDs you cite is irrelevant. A very high number of engineers either go straight into industry or get an MBA or an M.Eng (a terminal degree that prepares you for industry). The fact that Swarthmore sends a relatively high number of engineers through doctoral programs is indicative of the amount of further schooling you need just to compete for jobs with your fellow engineers from notable programs.</p>
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I think that, in most cases, a student who is absolutely, positively, beyond a shadow of a doubt sure at age 17 that they want to study science and engineering and nothing but science and engineering would probably be best served by a specialized engineering undergrad program.
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<p>What if someone wants to keep all their options open? National research U's are also great at social sciences. If someone is seriously even considering going into engineering, I don't understand why he or she would consider an LAC. They'll be shooting themselves in the foot if they go to one. Their liberal arts education might be all hunky dory and useful when they have to write up a technical paper, but they'll regret it when they go through another 3 years of schooling just to catch up with their peers on the job market.</p>