Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One negative is that that 5th year will cost you another $100K.

Or, a student may be eligible for financial assistance.

Don't forget opportunity cost. That extra year is a year when they could be starting their career, so $90k of earned income and a year of experience. It literally will set you back financially for your whole career.

However, this extrapolation assumes no added value from the liberal arts component of a five-year education.

NP - So I am trying to figure out why our college counselor is recommending this for my DC. With so many disadvantages it doesn’t seem like the best option. Do counselors recommend these programs for weak STEM students who they think can’t get into or won’t be able to handle a traditional engineering school?

Anonymous wrote:At the LAC where I work, 3-2 is mostly international students who didn’t get in to actual strong US engineering programs, and vast majority do not carry through on the 3-2 plan. (They are still often stronger in STEM courses than most of our US students, which is so depressing, but that’s another thread I suppose.)

However, LACs participating in cooperative engineering programs, such as Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Hamilton and Vassar, may be much more selective than a school with top engineering programs such as, for example, Rose-Hulman.

Anonymous wrote:At the LAC where I work, 3-2 is mostly international students who didn’t get in to actual strong US engineering programs, and vast majority do not carry through on the 3-2 plan. (They are still often stronger in STEM courses than most of our US students, which is so depressing, but that’s another thread I suppose.)

+1

At the LAC where I work, 3-2 is mostly international students who didn’t get in to actual strong US engineering programs, and vast majority do not carry through on the 3-2 plan. (They are still often stronger in STEM courses than most of our US students, which is so depressing, but that’s another thread I suppose.)

Anonymous wrote:3+2 Occidental College/Caltech, followed by grad school at Caltech, Chicago and Harvard. Worked out great

Chicago and Harvard seem like odd schools to choose for Graduate Engineering. Harvard at #20 and Chicago unranked. Did you go to graduate school for something other than Engineering?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3+2 Occidental College/Caltech, followed by grad school at Caltech, Chicago and Harvard. Worked out great

Why did they go to 3 different grad schools?

I know right

Anonymous wrote:3+2 Occidental College/Caltech, followed by grad school at Caltech, Chicago and Harvard. Worked out great

Why did they go to 3 different grad schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One negative is that that 5th year will cost you another $100K.

Or, a student may be eligible for financial assistance.

Don't forget opportunity cost. That extra year is a year when they could be starting their career, so $90k of earned income and a year of experience. It literally will set you back financially for your whole career.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have a student that has experience with these programs ? Considering it for our DC current junior. Pros/ cons? TIA!

There are liberal arts colleges that have engineering programs: Swarthmore, Smith, Union (NY), Bucknell, Lafayette, Clarkson, Harvey Mudd… probably a better option

Harvey Mudd is a STEM school, it is not liberal arts like the others at Claremont.

Anonymous wrote:One negative is that that 5th year will cost you another $100K.

Or, a student may be eligible for financial assistance.

we looked at this for a while because a college counselor we were considering working with was very high on it. But DC researched and determined, as the PPs noted, that if they just really wanted engineering (which they do) then there really isn't a point. And you don't know if you will be accepted until you apply midway through college.

If you're going to do 5 years of school you'd be better off getting an M Eng on top of your four year degree. maybe do civil BA and specialize in environmental or something for Master's degree.

3+2 Occidental College/Caltech, followed by grad school at Caltech, Chicago and Harvard. Worked out great

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our college counselor says these programs are basically fake, as no kids actually do the dual degree. They are to say there is a pathway but the reality is that no kids do the program (and so there's a very high likelihood yours wouldn't either).

There are currently 7 of these students at DC’s LAC.

And all of them will probably decide to stay at their LAC and not continue with the 3+2 program because they won't want to start over socially, nor complete an extra year of school (with the extra cost).

It makes far far more sense to look for a BS/MS engineering program where you can get both degrees in 5 years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have a student that has experience with these programs ? Considering it for our DC current junior. Pros/ cons? TIA!

There are liberal arts colleges that have engineering programs: Swarthmore, Smith, Union (NY), Bucknell, Lafayette, Clarkson, Harvey Mudd… probably a better option

Clarkson is not a liberal arts college. Lol.