<p>My son is just beginning his college search, so please forgive me if I ask some pretty basic questions, but this is new to us. My understanding is that he can attend a LAC and take "Pre-Engineering" or an Engineering program. Or he can got to a LAC that has an Engineering College. Or he can go to an Engineering/Tech school. We have already ruled out 3/2 programs. So what are the pros/cons of these three options? Will he eventually need his Master's degree anyway? So if he attends an LAC for Pre-Engineering and then goes to a grad program at a great Engineering school, will he be in good shape for employment?</p>
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<p>No. You can get a great job with just a bachelor’s degree in engineering. There are some fields (civil engineering comes to mind) where it is all but required to get your master’s, but that is not the general rule.</p>
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<p>It isn’t like the choice is between LAC with limited engineering or technical institute with a solely engineering focus. He could always go to a school that offers a fully-featured engineering program as well as all of the other major programs you expect to see at a university. Most state schools fit that bill, for example.</p>
<p>Personally, I would steer clear of “pre-engineering” programs or anything that doesn’t lead to an accredited BS in engineering. There is no guarantee that your son will even be interested in graduate school after he graduates, and if he doesn’t, then going to one of those programs could be a major setback for getting an engineering position out in industry. Going to a LAC is fine, just make sure it is one that has an actual engineering program.</p>
<p>You can find extensive lists of pros and cons by searching the forums, but the short answer is that at a small LAC-type school, you will generally have smaller classes and guaranteed personal attention but there usually aren’t as many research opportunities, the elective course offerings are sometimes less diverse since the faculty is smaller and they may or may not have the same relationship with employers that the bigger programs do.</p>
<p>On the other end of things, the bigger programs tend to have a wider array of electives to select from due to the larger, more diverse faculty; they usually have more research options available for those that are interested; and, as a result of the large amounts of research, tend to have great relationships with employers. They do have the reputation for being impersonal, however, since many times the early classes are large. You can still get personal attention from most professors, but you have to actually seek it out rather than it just falling in your lap.</p>
<p>That’s the short answer, anyway.</p>
<p>This is super helpful! Yes, I’ll continue to search other threads for information, which I have just started doing. My son has wanted to go into Engineering since he was a little kid, but I read about all the students who change from Engineering, so don’t want him in the predicament where he can’t change majors. Plus we are from a small town (Ely, MN) and I know his personality fits a smaller college rather than a larger university. I think he also wants to enjoy more of a “typical” college rather than just be around science-types all of the time. He’s very smart, but also social, so doesn’t want to just sit around and do engineering projects all weekend. Does this make sense then for us to look at LACs with accredited engineering programs? Or would some of the polytechs fit him?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t rule out larger schools just because he grew up in a small town. It sounds like other than size, you could get everything you are concerned about at a place like the University of Minnesota, which has excellent engineering programs plus every other type of major you could want. You just have to deal with the size. For what it’s worth, I know many, many people who grew up in small corn farming towns in central Illinois and did just fine in the large school atmosphere of the University of Illinois. Just don’t let the small-town upbringing make you him away from something that otherwise would hit on every want on his list, particularly the “typical college experience” issue.</p>
<p>Of course, maybe it just isn’t right for him, in which case sure, look into LACs with engineering programs. I am not really that familiar with them to be honest, so you will need to hope someone comments on here with more experience with them than myself. My entire academic career has been spent at large state schools.</p>
<p>Thanks! I really do appreciate your perspective. My other son is all about going to a large school in a big city, but my younger son - not so much. He’d be totally lost at the U, although I recognize what a great university it is. P.S. My brother-in-law is in Champaign and went to U of I. : )</p>
<p>Some good examples of LAC-style schools with engineering in the East are Bucknell, Lafayette, and Union.
Also look into small and medium sized universities where the engineering/science students are not the majority - Tufts, U.Rochester etc. These I think are a great compromise solution. CMU,Lehigh, and Case Western are a nice size but more engineering/science focused. Bigger mpore diverse schools include BU, Northeastern etc.
You should take him to visit schools of each type if possible.
For STEM schools consider RPI, WPI.
I don’t know that much about the midwest schools, Case Western and CMU were as far west as we looked!</p>
<p>Cindy, going to a university to be an engineer doesn’t mean you’ll be only around science types and work on engineering projects every weekend. “Typical” college is what you make of it. You can have a diverse group of friends even if you’re in engineering. That’s a stereotype about engineers that really bothers me. We aren’t all antisocial, hermit crabs that study 24/7.</p>
<p>Now that I said that, I agree with boneh3ad about staying away from pre-engineering. It is always best to attend an accredited program to leave his options open in case he wants to become a licensed professional engineer some day.</p>
<p>You might wish to look at some of the other [Association</a> of Independent Technological Universities: AITU](<a href=“http://theaitu.org%5DAssociation”>http://theaitu.org) schools. Many of them are of the smaller tech school type.</p>
<p>I think if someone is interested in engineering, they should attend a school that offers an engineering major, rather than studying pre-engineering somewhere. </p>
<p>What are his SAT/ACT test scores and GPA and rank? Many of the LACs that offer engineering are rather selective, so the stats are important to know if they are realistic options to consider.</p>
<p>Tech school vs LAC with engineering is really a very personal choice. Tech schools will be male dominated, and LACs w/engineering tend to have pretty balanced male-female ratios (while LACs w/o engineering tend to have more women then men.)</p>
<p>Given what you said above (“I think he also wants to enjoy more of a “typical” college rather than just be around science-types all of the time.”), I would probably avoid a tech school. Still, it is worth visiting one to get an idea of what it is like. I also think that larger schools (e.g. state flagship) should also be considered for engineering. </p>
<p>Master’s degrees aren’t required in engineering to get jobs, but do open up some different types of engineering jobs.</p>
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<p>These two desires sort of go against each other. If the school has large enough engineering departments to provide a good selection of advanced course work and research opportunities, it may be engineering-heavy if it is a small school, while at a large school, it would just be a small part of a school with a “typical” distribution of students.</p>
<p>Some suggestions regionally:</p>
<p>Large schools: University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Small schools: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Case Western Reserve, Illinois Institute of Technology, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology</p>
<p>Do not forget to consider cost and financial aid considerations. Check the net price calculators at schools under consideration for need-based financial aid estimates, and check for merit scholarship opportunities.</p>
<p>I’m sorta piggy-backing off this question to ask…</p>
<p>What about something like Biomedical Engineering? I’m 90% sure attending Georgia Tech for BioMed Engineering, so I’m not sure if solely a Bachelor’s will suffice? Maybe?</p>
<p>Thank you, and great thread!</p>
<p>I just wanted to thank everyone for your advice, suggestions, and wisdom. I come back to this thread every time we talk about this at home. It has really been invaluable! Thank you so much!</p>