<p>Hi. Wondering if any current student or parent can fill me regarding the engineering program. S wants to attend a LAC with engineering, or "smaller school" with engineering (not technical school), so his search is limiting. Does the lack of facilities compared to a state university's engineering dept lessen the strength of the engineering dept at Union? How many students typically in engineering / year? What about job prospects?</p>
<p>Also - How big is Greek life on campus? Can you describe the Minerva House, and how the students use it? (Is it something they are heavily involved in, to replace Greek life? This is how is was described on the tour, however, it was a little bit vague in terms of if this is the school's goal or reality?)</p>
<p>Any answers to above info. would be very helpful. Thank you.</p>
<p>My S didn’t end up there but while he was being recruited for a sport we visited several times as a family and he spent the weekend so I think we got a pretty decent feel for the school. I’d say about 1/3 of students are Greek, maybe a little more, which I think is pretty high for a small school. Kids aren’t allowed to pledge until sophomore year. I think that’s a great idea because it gives kids their whole first year to make friends and settle in before the whole greek vs independent thing comes into play. I’ve heard mixed things about the Greek presence at Union. It’s a small school so the negative tends to ring pretty loud…but the greek party culture is frequently at the ground zero of that “party school” conversation. Personally, I loved the Minerva houses. Im not sure exactly how it works, but usually, according to dorm, the kids are randomly assigned a social house and then that becomes their “home base” for social activity. Each Minerva is open to everyone and they all come up with different themed activities and stuff to “lure” kids to their parties…free food. The Minerva parties and activities are school sanctioned so they often tend to be where the party starts, and then kids go off for “less sanctioned” fun. As for Engineering, if it’s at all possible, I would HIGHLY recommend going to their Engineering open house. It’s usually in February and it went a LONG way in answering our questions about engineering in the context of a liberal arts school. They offer more than electrical but I’m not 100% sure which programs are ABET stamped. We got a hand-held tour of the engineering program from one of the directors (?) of the department and they really couldn’t have been nicer or more informative.</p>
<p>This is probably a little late reply. But I want to add that Union offers Comp Engineering, Bioengineering and MechE as well. And all of them are accredited.</p>
<p>I am a mechanical engineer at Union. I love being at a small school with a diverse student body. The engineering department is small, but dedicated, and even as a freshmen I can converse with professors and even go to lunch with them. I am involved in 3 engineering groups on campus and am a contributing member on the SAE Baja team. It is a great environment for the engineer that wants a more holistic education than that offered at a tech school, but also wants to be in a place where the opportunity to do cutting edge research is available as early as freshmen year.</p>
<p>Thanks to “UnionAdmissions”… I’m a little bit confused - do you work for Union? (You mention that you are an ME, yet your name is UnionAdmissions)?</p>
<p>Can you tell me a little bit more about your 3 engineering groups and the SAE Baja team? My S is interested because he believes a small LAC has many advantages, however he has been given advice by his GC as well as others that a LAC typically will not offer the engineering experience that can best prepare him for a career in engineering. (State-of-the-art facilities, abundance of engineering professors, research opportunities, internships, etc… STEM clubs…) I believe a LAC will have some of these opportunities, for example an alum may offer an internship position to 1 student… as opposed to a large school where a large number of firms seek students. Thanks for your help. </p>
<p>Also - if you don’t mind… how would you say the social atmosphere is for engineering students? Do they tend to live together? Thank you.</p>
<p>I work in admissions as a work study and answer questions for people interested in engineering here at Union. In baja we design and build a car to bring to competition in the spring. I am also a part of the engineering student forum, where the representatives for all engineering clubs/teams come together and brainstorm ideas/show off progress to other groups. I am also a part of the bio-engineering society and American Society of Mechanical Engineers. These groups get together and bring brilliant researchers in from around the country to talk to us about their research. I love being at a liberal arts college and being an engineer, there are not alot of us, so with hard work it is very easy to get the professors attention and they will know you by name. We do not live together and I prefer it that way. Part of being at a liberal arts college is meeting and socializing with a diverse group of people, and while the engineers have a heavy course load, we can still have a social life.</p>
<p>Thanks for your info. Can you tell me the size of your engineering classes? Other classes? Do you have difficulty getting the classes you wish to take? </p>
<p>Also - how are the study abroad opportunities for engineering students? At many schools it seems like study abroad does not quite work for engineering students?</p>
<p>My biggest class I’ve had is chem 101 and it has 30 kids and I’ve never been taught by a TA, only professors, and every professor I’ve had knows me by name, its a great feeling when a professor says hi to you by name just passing in the halls</p>
<p>Classes are easy to get into as an engineering major, and my Baja captain just returned from Prague, there is also a trip for engineers in Vietnam, and I’m sure there are some smaller trips as well.</p>
<p>I see in one of the replies that the Engineering program is describes as “small”. Can you please tell me how many students (per year) are in engineering? And what is the “weed out” or “transfer out” rate? (By transfer out I mean from engineering to another program, not out of Union.) Thanks.</p>
<p>@modernmomclaire, my son’s GC really encouraged him to apply to Union because he think’s it a real gem for the rare student looking for engineering in an LAC environment. Fiske Guide (my family’s go-to resource for the college search process) says their mechanical engineering department is one of the school’s standouts. </p>
<p>If you look at the school’s most recent common data set, you can see how many students graduate from each department within the college. Last year it looks like 10% of the class graduated with an engineering degree (~50 students). Assuming that’s representative of the school overall, it sounds like there are about 200 kids in engineering. This doesn’t include computer & information sciences (1%), BTW.</p>
<p>Hoping someone who knows about the engineering program at Union can reply. S would like information about the profs, the workload, the level of competition among students. Do the engineering students form study groups and work together? Unlike other schools he is considering, the trimester schedule concerns him in terms of completing rigorous engineering classes in a short time span. Yes, there are less classes per semester, but engineering students take 10 per year, whereas others take 9. </p>
<p>S knows 2 students who were in Union’s engineering program and switched out, (he doesn’t feel like he can ask them for details because it did not work out for them, and they are “acquaintances” - not friends). He does however know that they are very bright and did very well academically in high school. From what he heard, they were doing poorly so they had to switch majors.</p>
<p>The other schools he is considering are pretty much on par with Union in many ways - however they have traditional semesters. Is there a way to get in touch with students at Union? (When we toured he asked the tour guide about this but he was not an engineering student, so he was taking 9 classes/year).</p>
<p>^ I am sure if you contact the admissions office they will get you in touch with some students. It’s so tough to gauge how your student will do in comparison with others. I have seen very good students struggle in college because they had never had to study before and just didn’t have the work ethics required. Others worked well but were memorizers. You have to learn your material in college. Many times those not so high top notch students do better in college. Tough to gauge.
I think about the same situation for my son for the trimesters. </p>
<p>@modermomclaire I’m a current student at Union I’m not an engineering major but many of my friends are in the engineering program. Many of the students form study groups and work together here, it’s a big thing at Union actually. For most classes here you will probably study with other students because it is encouraged. Additionally, freshman engineers have an intro seminar their first term here and they have to do design a group project in order to pass the class. This class is where most students drop the major because they decide engineering is not what they actually wanted. Also the extra class the engineer take isn’t as bad as it may sound. Having 4 courses is very manageable here and I know I’m not an engineer but I have to take 4 classes during a few terms here because I’m in a certain program. So I would tell your son to not worry about the trimester system…most students love it!</p>
<p>If you would like for your son to speak to an actual engineering student, I suggest calling admissions and/or come to an accepted students day this month! </p>