monydad

If it's walking across the street, like Barnard and Columbia, then indeed it may not be that bad, at least from a time management perspective. It still might be bad in practice for other reasons. Like limitations on courses taken at the other school, lower priority in enrollment, class scheduling issues, different semester schedules, etc.

(Actually I'm not sure Barnard students can take Columbia SEAS engineering courses, but you get the idea; I'm sure they can take courses at Columbia College).

Many colleges that have cross-enrollment arrangements are not that close to each other though. If it means a half hour train or bus trip each way, then a 10 minute walk between the train station in, say, Philly to/from the actual class, then waiting for the bus up to a half hour at each end, then it can take a good chunk of your time to take a single course at the other school. This, IMO, becomes a lot less appealing to undertake on a steady basis. Engineering students at demanding schools are pretty busy. Then there are still the potential other issues from the first paragraph (scheduling, etc).

So how "that bad" it is really depends on all particulars. It might be just peachy, but it might not be. People who need to understand this should investigate each situation thoroughly. I'm sure there are substantial differences in how beneficial the various cross-enrollment situations are in practice.

Ultimately though, if you are relying on another school for your engineering education, and you are actually majoring in engineering, then in many cases you might consider just enrolling at the other school, if that is an option.

BTW, I agree generally people should check out the nuisance factor of getting around a large school. For example, my daughter was checking out NYU, and reportedly getting from courses in the Dance Department to some liberal arts courses can be a challenge, since the dance department is located many blocks away from the main campus.