What if I'm interested in engineering?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wellesley College
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<p>So I was accepted to both UW-Madison Chemical Engineering (which was actually my safety but I ended up really liking it) and Wellesley (which was among my top choices). I also am on the wait list at UChicago if that makes any difference.</p>

<p>My question was about engineering at Wellesley. I'm still a little on the fence about going into engineering, but I'm really considering it because (a) I am into women's equality and feel like if I even have a vague interest in STEM I owe it to my gender, (b) I'm really interested in the type of research I could do in [chemical] engineering, and (c) I would really like to have a job after I graduate, and [chemical] engineering seems to pretty much assure me a job. </p>

<p>I know that UW-Madison is a top school for engineering, and that the college of engineering is a pretty small division within the University, so I wouldn't feel overwhelmed. I really like the ChemE curriculum and the jobs people are getting coming out of the program. I also like that it seems a bit more flexible than some other engineering programs, in case I want to switch to computer science and engineering.</p>

<p>However, I also really love Wellesley. First of all, I am much more familiar with small, east coast schools being from New York. Neither I nor my parents really know anything about UW-Madison, let alone Wisconsin, and we don't know any alumni from Madison. However, some women at my father's work are from Wellesley and the school is very well-regarded, especially on the east coast. I am also still considering pre-med/MD-PHD because I love research but I also love working with people and being a doctor seems like something I would enjoy (I shadowed a physician). Wellesley seems more supportive and less of a sink or swim environment, probably due to its size. I also think that, in general, Wellesley Women are more intellectual than the general population at a state school. However, I'm not crazy about the idea of a women's college and I'm really worried that I have no options if I decide that I want to enter engineering.</p>

<p>I know that I can take classes at Olin and MIT if I want to, however, I still wouldn't have an engineering degree, so how could I get into a masters program/engineering company? </p>

<p>Any help is appreciated!</p>

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<p>If you look at the entrance requirements for graduate engineering programs, you’ll find that many of them accept students without undergrad engineering degrees and some who haven’t ever had any engineering classes. (I don’t know about getting hired by an engineering company.) If you look at MIT’s grad admissions page (<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/admissions/graduate/graduate/programs.html”>http://web.mit.edu/admissions/graduate/graduate/programs.html&lt;/a&gt;) you’ll see that for some departments, you need only take the GRE general test. With engineering courses on your transcript, that probably would give your application more weight.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thank you so much that made me feel much better! I totally did not think to check that!</p>