Corbett

And for another, even more relevant example, consider this: it's happening right now in architecture.

Historically, the first professional degree in architecture was the 5-year, NAAB-accredited B.Arch. You can still get the B.Arch. at many schools, but now there's an NAAB-accredited alternative: the M.Arch.

The M.Arch. route takes longer, but gives you far more flexibility in your studies. The M.Arch. route allows you to major in absolutely anything as an undergraduate -- math, French, accounting, ceramics -- whatever. Then you go to grad school, and get an professional M.Arch. degree in 2-3 years.

So a liberal arts B.A. becomes a perfectly valid route for entering the field. You don't have to commit to a professional career track as a freshman or sophomore, and you don't have to spend your undergraduate years focused on technical study. This opens up the field to a much broader range of people.

Furthermore, a lot of prestigious, research-oriented universities -- including Berkeley, UCLA, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Michigan, Illinois -- have embraced the M.Arch. route. They don't offer the B.Arch. anymore; they may offer "light" non-accredited degrees in Architectural Studies, but not true professional degrees. The professional B.Arch. is becoming associated with less prestigious, more trade-oriented schools. In the California public system, for example, the UC schools only offer the M.Arch. The B.Arch. is left to the Cal Polys.

Implications for engineering:

(1) Even if the MS is not required as a first professional degree for engineers, the liberal arts degree plus engineering MS may become an increasingly popular alternative to the engineering BS. Graduate engineering programs will increasingly be designed to accomodate people with undergraduate science, math, and even humanities degrees. This is exactly what law schools, medical schools, and architecture schools already do.

(2) The top schools may decide that they prefer the liberal arts + professional MS route over the traditional professional BS route. Some prestigous schools (e.g. Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth) already offer "light", non-accredited engineering B.A. degrees, as an alternative to the traditional ABET B.S. They may be quite happy to shift the accredited professional training to the graduate level, and leave the professional B.S. to less prestigious institutions. This is what is happening in architecture.