What can I study in an LAC that will allow me to pursue engineering? Is it possible?

College Search & Selection
1

Hello CC’ers,

I am a high school senior that is currently looking at several liberal arts colleges due to their generous financial aid and student support; although I do feel that the operation and mission behind LAC’s is perfect for me, I can’t help but notice that very few offer any engineering programs–which is quite understandable.

I am aware that LAC’s are not designed to provide explicitly vocational education.

That being said, I would like to ask you all if it is possible to continue on a path towards civil and environmental engineering in postgraduate education. Would the undergraduate education provided by an LAC be utterly inadequate for pursuing this?

Thank you all in advance; I appreciate the comprehensive knowledge that many of you can contribute. :slight_smile:

2

It would be better to choose school that has ABET accredited civil engineering and/or environmental engineering degree programs. Civil engineering is the engineering field where ABET accreditation is most important, since Professional Engineer licensing is more common in that field.

For graduate study, you may be able to be admitted with course work that can be found at schools without civil engineering for some subarea, but not for other subareas. See http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/grad/degrees/requirements for undergraduate prerequisites from an example civil and environmental engineering graduate program.

What are your cost constraints, academic credentials, and other criteria for choosing a school?

3

Thank you for the reply, ucbalumnus.

Cost constraints are quite limiting, as I qualify for low income status programs such as QuestBridge (which was why LAC’s were of interest in the first place!). In fact, community college is a somewhat real (but last ditch) option for me.

As for more criteria, I’m not entirely sure if I want to pursue civ/enviro engineering, so I’d like a school with other options such as ChemE or MechE (i.e. not a school that specializes in a few majors). However, I have settled for civE/enviroE as a solid option to pursue if I don’t find out what I truly want to do by junior year of college.

I’m a southern Californian and ideally would like to go out of state, but I have no issue with local schools. I’d generally like smaller campuses with strong internship opportunities as well.

Stats/Credentials:

Most recent SAT: 720 CR, 750 M, 670 W (2140); superscore is 720/750/690 (2160)

SAT II: 760 on both Bio E and USH, 780 on both Chem and Math 2

PSAT: 72 CR, 68 M, 72 W (Pre 2015) and 750 Reading/740 Math for post 2015; 224 NMSC index (didn’t receive any offer for scholarship)

GPA: 4.0 uw, 4.8 w

AP tests: Received 5 on Calc BC, Chem, APUSH, and Euro and 4 on Bio. AP Scholar w/ Distinction (if that matters?)

IB: Will be taking IB English HL assessment

Current schedule: Orchestra (first chair cellist for 4 years), IB English, AP Gov/Econ, AP Phys C E+M and Mechanics, AP Statistics

Other ec’s and plans for this year: Secretary of Science Olympiad (will be participating for 3 years, medaled 3rd for a few events, team placed 3rd regionals), President/coordinator/secretary of poetry club (participated in this for 3 yrs), President/Secretary of Model UN (4 years), worked as private music teacher and volunteered in music-related activities for 1.5 years. This year I have less classes, so I will be either working, volunteering at a public library, doing Toastmasters, tutoring/mentoring a neighbor (paid) or going to therapy (haven’t decided yet).

I may also self study for AP Literature, Language, or Psych.

4

There are some LACs with engineering. Look at Trinity (CT), Swarthmore, Lafayette, Union, Bucknell, Trinity (TX) and probably a few others I am missing.

Smith if female.

5

If you are a low income California resident, there should be many UCs and CSUs with civil engineering and sufficient financial aid that you can afford to attend them. They won’t be LACs, but they offer plenty of liberal arts courses, including humanities and social studies courses which you can choose from to satisfy humanities and social studies breadth requirements.

Civil Engineering B.S. (CPSLO, CSUC, CSUFRES, CSUFULL, CSULA, CSULB, CSUN, CSUS, SDSU, SFSU, SJSU, UCB, UCD, UCLA)
Civil Engineering B.S. with Architectural Engineering Emphasis (CSUFULL)
Civil Engineering B.S. with Environmental Engineering Option (CPP)
Civil Engineering B.S. with General Civil Engineering Option (CPP)
Civil Engineering B.S. with Geospatial Engineering Option (CPP)
Civil Engineering, B.S. (UCI)
Civil Engineering B.S. with Environmental Engineering Option (CPP)
Environmental Engineering B.S. (CPSLO, SDSU, UCM, UCR)
Environmental Engineering B.S. Air Pollution Control Technology Option (UCR)
Environmental Engineering B.S. Water Pollution Control Technology Option (UCR)
Environmental Engineering, B.S. (UCI)
Environmental Resources Engineering B.S. (HSU)

You can also find automatic full tuition to full ride merit scholarships at some out-of-state schools (but verify on school web sites both the scholarships and your desired majors): http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

If you make National Merit, here is another list of large scholarships (again verify on school web sites): http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/

There should be a number of schools on Questbridge National College Match that have your desired majors.

6

Okay, thank you so much @doschicos and @ucbalumnus. This was very helpful! Gathering from your responses, I guess LAC’s would probably not be an ideal option for me, but I will see what happens with the QuestBridge application. I think I will only rank Stanford (unlikely dream school) as a single choice so that I won’t be tied down to an LAC.

Some questions:

  1. @ucbalumnus: Would you by any chance know any resources I can reference to assess the quality of the programs of each college? US News seems to only rank the colleges as a whole rather than comparing specific programs.

  2. How do I determine if the full scholarship is available or guaranteed for all 4 years? My brother received scholarships from UCR for his freshman year, but they continue to cut down on the funds every year.

7

If you make National Merit Semifinalist, you want to submit whatever is needed to move to National Merit Finalist. Then, most of the scholarships are awarded by the colleges themselves, if you choose to apply to them and get admitted.

Regarding Questbridge, there are other schools besides Stanford in the list at https://www.questbridge.org/college-partners which offer civil engineering and other kinds of engineering. You may want to look more carefully to find them and consider adding them to your Questbridge application.

8

http://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=424 indicates that you will be notified if you are a National Merit Semifinalist in September. You will then need to complete the application to become a Finalist.

9

@MurphyBrown Unfortunately I am male and Asian American, so I’m afraid that odds and stats are not in my favor for elite schools like MIT :))

I do understand that schools specializing in engineering are quite generous in financial aid, but I am unsure if it is a good choice to risk applying to a school that doesn’t offer quality “all around.” What I mean by this is that in case engineering is not right for me, I’d rather not end up dropping out from somewhere like MIT or Cal Tech! Correct me if I’m mistaken on this aspect.

@ucbalumnus I am considering multiple partner schools–but am committing only to Stanford because it has the perfect program (combines civil and environmental engineering) for me. I’m not sure if QuestBridge allows doing both the ranking option and regular decision though. What I mean by this is that if I choose to rank one school, will I be excluded from using QB’s regular nonbinding option?

10

I actually think LACs WOULD be great as long as you choose one that meets your areas of interest. Some have 3+2 programs with other schools. Haverford has a 4+1 with Penn.

11

MIT does offer a significant selection of other majors: http://mitadmissions.org/discover/majors

Caltech has plenty of sciences, but is somewhat more limited in humanities and social studies: https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/content/options-majors

You have to ask Questbridge directly about that.

12

Consider also Lehigh, which is very generous with need based financial aid. They are a stone’s throw from Lafayette, mid-sized school (about 4-5000 undergrad), also has a strong business program in addition to engineering. I enjoyed their program as a liberal arts major and had no problems getting a job after college. About 90 minutes from NYC and an hour from Philly.

13

ucbalumnus wrote:

Yes! Just to elaborate a bit, all states have a Professional Engineer (PE) licensing process, just like they have licensing for doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians, and hair stylists. Civil engineers often work on infrastructure projects, like roads, bridges, or large buildings, that require that a PE sign off on the design plans. A PE needs to understand good engineering practices, as well as ethics and legal requirements.

The most expeditious route to a PE license is a BS from an ABET accredited engineering program. (ABET = Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.) Near the completion of the undergraduate program the student takes the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam. After passing the FE exam, he or she works for several years in an engineering firm. Finally he or she prepares and takes the PE exam.

Anybody can take the FE exam, but ABET accredited BS programs in engineering specifically prepare students to take it. Most states allow one to take the PE exam without having an ABET accredited BS, but they required a longer period of work before taking the PE exam. Note that most graduate degrees in engineering are not ABET accredited. Someone with an ABET accredited BS has a more direct route to a PE license than someone with an MS or a PhD in engineering.

There are many areas of engineering that do not require a PE. For example many mechanical engineers and electrical engineers do not bother with PE licensing. Many technical companies hire lots of engineers without PE licenses. They might have a few PE’s on staff for those occasions when a government contract requires a PE’s oversight.

It is possible to earn a bachelors degree in physics, chemistry, or mathematics and then go to an engineering graduate program for an MS or a PhD. That path works best for someone who is interested in engineering research, rather than the work of a PE.

Nowadays many high school students who express interest in engineering want to work in computer software. Employment as a software engineer does not require an ABET accredited engineering degree. A bachelor’s degree in computer science is all that is needed. Many liberal arts colleges offer computer science degrees.

14

I highly recommend looking at Harvey Mudd College (even though you said you wanted to go out of state)! it’s an amazing LAC for STEM majors and while they don’t offer majors outside of STEM, they allow off-majors so you could major at any of the other colleges in the consortium (Pitzer, Claremont McKenna, Pomona, and Scripps, all fantastic schools, although Scripps is a women’s college so idk if you could off-major there). It’s also not like a lot of other consortiums because all of the colleges are within about one square mile of land so they are very accessible and it’s super easy to get from one campus to another. If you don’t mind staying in CA, Mudd is a fantastic option if you can get in!

15

@MurphyBrown @Fifty @Fangirl1999 Guess a normal U is a solid choice for me. The only thing is that, as an ORM and with not-too-outstanding stats, what kind of options do I have? I feel like Harvey Mudd might be out of the question…

16

I’d say Mudd is a better fit as a reach than MIT or CalTech. I’d say it is a reach, but not out of the question.

17

@intparent How about somewhere like Cal Poly SLO or Cal Poly Pomona? And should I even bother with Stanford?

18

@sparco2,
You mention that you are looking at Questbridge colleges. I believe that 18 of them offer ABET accredited bachelor’s degrees.
Your stats look pretty good to me. All of the Questbridge schools have competitive admissions, some more so than others. I believe you will be a contender. It is worth a try.

19

Run the net price calculators on all the Questbridge colleges that offer ABET accredited engineering. Then look at the colleges for other features that you like.

20

Some of the California public universities listed in reply #4 are not that selective. If you apply widely in the UC and CSU systems, it is unlikely that you will be shut out admission-wise.

You can check their net price calculators for financial aid estimates.