<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?
Any replies would be appreciated - thanks!</p>
<p>I don’t have direct knowledge of URI’s International Engineering Program, but it’s website does answer some of your questions. It appears that the language program is concurrent with engineering coursework, so it definitely starts before the fourth year. In fact, since it’s a 5 year-program, the students graduate with both a BS in engineering and a BA in their chosen language. The fourth year abroad seems to be a required component of the program with the first semester at a foreign institution taking engineering courses in the chosen language and the second semester in an internship with a foreign company. Since there is dedicated housing for the students in the program, so how much they mix with students outside the program isn’t entirely clear, but many of their general education, language, and engineering courses necessarily would be taken with students who are not in the program. The program claims a near 100% employment rate for its grads. I’d encourage you to email the program directly to ask your questions.</p>
<p>There are many other schools that offer international engineering programs, but few of them seem to integrate the language/cultural and engineering components to the same extent as URI. Some other schools that offer international engineering programs are listed in my post in this thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1201485-should-i-consider-different-major-if-i-want-work-abroad.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1201485-should-i-consider-different-major-if-i-want-work-abroad.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks for your reply zapfino… My son is planning to gather more infomation directly from the school. I asked the question here because my experience is that the “best” information comes from current students/parents.</p>