<p>Hi - question for students in this program or parents of these kids. Any information would be appreciated for my son. He wants to study Engineering and he's obsessed with the French language. How competitive is this program - preparation for the job market? What percentage of classes could be realistically less than 40 people? Does the foreign language start in the 5th year or is there any required courses earlier? Is the study-abroad guaranteed? Do the Eng. students tend to stick together (live together), or mix with the rest of the URI population? What's the social life here - the town?<br>
Any replies would be appreciated - thanks!</p>
<p>Hi I live up the road from URI and also am looking into this program, so I got to visit them and ask all these questions, so I’ll try to help you 
How you get into the program is by applying for the engineering college, which is quite competitive, but many people do get in if they have decent grades. The International part comes when you are signing up for classes, you’ll start taking the language right away In the fourth year (of five) in this program you actually go over to the country whose language you’re studying, and for half the year learn in that language, then have a paid internship for the other half. So theres plenty of experience, and also the program brags a 100% job placement rate upon graduation! The first few years of classes are larger, but as you go into your major more in depth the classes get smaller and smaller, to about 12 in your final year. As I mentioned before, the foreign language starts in your freshman year so that you are completely fluent when you head over to the country in your fourth year. For french, I suggest he look into Chemical engineering because that is the main source used in France. The study abroad is garunteed. The engineering students have their own LLC, which is a Living and Learning Community, where all the same major share dorms and can rely on each other as a freshman to learn together. Also, after your first semester at URI as a IEP member, you have the choice to move to the IEP house, which is an adorable little house across the path from most of the Engineering buildings. They have a live in chef, and also each floor is divided by language, and only that language is allowed to be spoken on that floor. This helps practice the language for when you’re over in say, France! Of course this is only an option, and students are more than welcome to live in regular dorms or in their junior and senior years, live “down the line” which means about 20 minutes off of campus, right near the beach. The social life is very active, with Boston and NY available by train and many concerts happening right at URI. Also there are malls very close and beaches literally 10 minutes away. URI is not specifically smack dab in the middle of a town, like Northeastern or BU, but it is accessable by RIPTA, the local buses, or by a friends car I promise your son won’t be bored here at URI! If you have more questions, I suggest you take a trip to URI and check it out, and stop in the IEP house if you have more questions, they’ll be glad to answer. I personally talked to a student who was graduating from the program who told me so many cool things and made me thrilled to apply!</p>
<p>Thanks for replying! I posted so long ago… and I check for a reply periodically - so I was thrilled to get some information. Plan to visit shortly. Do you have any idea of how many students are in this program? And I see on their website the 100% job placement - wondering how to confirm this. Thank you.</p>
<p>My daughter recently got accepted to the IEP program. She also will be studying engineering and has a passion for Spanish. She was accepted to WPI and RPI so we went to talk to the director of the IEP program at URI to make a decision where to go. We spent the entire day talking to the people who run the program and even met with the director who is great. You have to understand this is the only program of its kind in the nation. The engineering program at URI is OK but the IEP program at URI is at the MIT level (Best of the Best). I would encourage you to call the folks at the IEP program and meet with them. You and your son will be very impressed, it is a fantistic program.</p>
<p>The engineering program at URI is OK but the IEP program at URI is at the MIT level (Best of the Best).</p>
<p>I think you are overstating the program. It is good marriage of the 2 disciplines. The advantage that URI has is that they have been doing it for approx 20 years now. They have long term relationships with some of the German Universities. It is correct they are the only program in US doing that as a program… but it can be created by almost any school. As a matter of fact- [Global</a> E3](<a href=“http://www.iie.org/programs/globale3]Global”>http://www.iie.org/programs/globale3). </p>
<p>I too liked the program, but be a skeptic and ask the really hard questions because at the end of the day are you looking for a linguistics course or engineering? And to rebut the statement above about MIT. They are really not known to have a great language department Just an FYI. </p>
<p>On the 100% employment, --they really do not say what the organizations and average starting salary for the graduates are commanding. A lot of the schools do show that statistic so that is bothersome that it is not voluntarily disclosed.</p>
<p>Just as an FYI-UConn also has a similar program but it is for German only.</p>
<p>[EUROTECH</a> | UConn](<a href=“http://www.engr.uconn.edu/EUROTECH/]EUROTECH”>School of Engineering | EuroTech 30th Anniversary)</p>