Engineering path at a liberal arts college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a junior, not sure what he wants to do yet. Possible interests have been business and IR, but now he's realizing he may want to explore engineering. He likes and is good in math and sciences, likes building things too. We have been targeting liberal arts colleges for him, both because the smaller size would suit him well, and also to allow some time for exploration before declaring a major. Most of these schools have some type of path for engineering, such as a 3-2 program, or a pre-engineering advisor, and some say that students major in a field like physics then apply to a master's program in engineering.

Does anyone have experience with engineering or pre-engineering at a liberal arts college?

And yes, I'm aware that there are more traditional engineering programs, but DS is just starting to explore this. He's not going to be in a position to lock in and apply to an engineering program in less than a year. We just want it as a viable option in college.

Generally, an engineering major isn't something you dip your toe in and explore. It's a pretty rigid and demanding major. Like if you dilly dally freshman year and don't take the pre-reqs and weed out classes, you probably will have to add an extra semester or two to graduate with an engineering degree. You should be ready freshman year to get going with the Chemistry and Calculus pre-reqs. Better to start as an engineering major and then drop it and change majors if it's not for them. I don't know about the SLACs, but generally engineering programs are super competitive. Make sure they get through at least Calculus BC in high school if considering an engineering major.

Well that is the thing. How are these high school kids supposed to be so sure that they want to major in engineering before they even graduate from high school? And yes he's taking Calc BC and AP Chem now so that part won't be a problem.

Maybe try an summer internship first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many mid-size universities offer ABET-accredited engineering.

how important is ABET? What does it do? Explain it to me like I'm 5 please, this is all new.

ABET is the accrediting body for Engineering Schools in the USA. It defines minimum standards for engineering curricula. One really ought to be getting one’s engineering degree from an ABET accredited E School in almost all cases.

The exceptions to this “ought” are the top-10 E Schools, places such as MIT or Caltech, which might not bother with obtaining ABET accreditation. Their curricula still follow the ABET guidance in general, but possibly vary by requiring more rigor than ABET requires.

Note that one wants an ABET accredited school for any sort of engineering, even for engineering degrees (e.g., Computer Engineering) which will not later require a PE license to be employed.

MIT is ABET accredited for all engineering degrees, unlike Caltech, which has ABET accredited for only their mechanical engineering degree. ABET is important if you want to be a professional engineer. Yes, the brand name of Caltech may help, but they are also theoretical (not much hands-on). Make sure to research the schools on your radar.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like op’s child should just not go to a liberal arts college. They hardly sound interested in liberal arts at all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a junior, not sure what he wants to do yet. Possible interests have been business and IR, but now he's realizing he may want to explore engineering. He likes and is good in math and sciences, likes building things too. We have been targeting liberal arts colleges for him, both because the smaller size would suit him well, and also to allow some time for exploration before declaring a major. Most of these schools have some type of path for engineering, such as a 3-2 program, or a pre-engineering advisor, and some say that students major in a field like physics then apply to a master's program in engineering.

Does anyone have experience with engineering or pre-engineering at a liberal arts college?

And yes, I'm aware that there are more traditional engineering programs, but DS is just starting to explore this. He's not going to be in a position to lock in and apply to an engineering program in less than a year. We just want it as a viable option in college.

Generally, an engineering major isn't something you dip your toe in and explore. It's a pretty rigid and demanding major. Like if you dilly dally freshman year and don't take the pre-reqs and weed out classes, you probably will have to add an extra semester or two to graduate with an engineering degree. You should be ready freshman year to get going with the Chemistry and Calculus pre-reqs. Better to start as an engineering major and then drop it and change majors if it's not for them. I don't know about the SLACs, but generally engineering programs are super competitive. Make sure they get through at least Calculus BC in high school if considering an engineering major.

Well that is the thing. How are these high school kids supposed to be so sure that they want to major in engineering before they even graduate from high school? And yes he's taking Calc BC and AP Chem now so that part won't be a problem.

They don't they either apply to E schools and switch to arts and sciences if they do not like it, or they apply to the few top ones that have engineering and are ABET but do not require applying to Engineering. Then they still start with typical freshman engineering courses [whatever calc they place in, physics and or chem, intro to engineering, and elective: 5 classes is pretty standard for E]and just take different classes the next semester if they hate it. Half the Ivies and Hopkins besides BME work this way. The other Ivies(penn, cornell, columbia)/Duke/etc that have separate E school application and acceptance allow easy and immediate swaps to arts and sciences after the first semester, no huge deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like op’s child should just not go to a liberal arts college. They hardly sound interested in liberal arts at all

I am OP. How did you get that impression? DS wants a smaller environment, he will do better in one. He also wants room and time to explore different interests in college before committing. He has a variety of them! International relations, business/econ, and also maybe engineering.

[Anonymous]

Here is a link to UMCP’s EE curriculum (PDF). This is pretty typical for a semester-based ABET EE curriculum. Note that there is no room to “explore” non-engineering fields. Engineering curricula are chock full of mandatory engineering classes which need to be taken in sequence.

“https://ece.umd.edu/sites/ece.umd.edu/files/Four%20Year%20EE%20Sample%20Plan%20Effective%20Fall%202024.pdf”

Maybe this will help OP understand why Engineering students decide on Engineering in high school, not later on.