nicholjs

I am currently majoring in philosophy and minoring in math at a school with no engineering major and no 3-2 engineering connection. But recently, after filling my science core requirment with physics, I have become very interested in a research career as an engineer/scientist. I know that the career will require a phd in some science or engineering, but after looking into many programs, it seems that they all require an engineering or science bachelors. I can't even complete a major in math because I dont have enough time. Is it to late for me to make the switch to engineering? Does anyone know of any programs that help liberal arts majors become more familiar with engineering/science before graduate school?

jessiehl

I have no idea where you live, but Boston University has exactly what you are looking for - the LEAP program. And you'll get a master's as part of the program.

The Late Entry Accelerated Program at Boston University

Some places also have post-bac programs in various fields that are designed to get people who didn't do that major into the field or prepare them for grad school in the field. I majored in neuroscience, work as a software engineer, and am doing a post-bac in computer science at Tufts University in the hopes of eventually getting into a grad degree CS program.

nicholjs

Thanks jessiehl!! I'm actually in boston. The LEAP program sounds like it's exactly what I'm looking for. Is there any other programs like this? The LEAP program doesn't specify how difficult it is to gain admission, but I'm sure it's tough. I dont want to put all my eggs in one basket.

I'm also interested in neuroscience, as my concentration within philosophy is philosophy of the mind. Do you know of any post-bac programs that prepare students for graduate school in neuroscience?

jessiehl

I do not know of any post-bac/bridge programs for neuroscience offhand...the closest thing I know of are post-bac premed programs, like the one at Tufts. You could probably take classes as a special student somewhere. In fact, Harvard Extension is open-enrollment, pretty cheap, and has a bunch of neuroscience courses among their bio options, taught by Harvard Medical School Faculty. If you do well in your courses there, you can even qualify to earn a master's of liberal arts in biology or psychology.

Biology : Harvard Extension School

red sox 7327

3-2 programs accept students even if the student's school is not affiliated with the engineering school. The one caveat is that admission is not guaranteed but you could check that out. It would also depend what year you are currently in at college and whether or not your adviser will help you work out a plan of attack.

splenium

For what it's worth, I finished a PhD in neuroscience about a year ago, and I was a student member of the admissions committee for one year.

We admitted plenty of excellent students with non-neuroscience and even non-science degrees, although pretty much everyone had some basic background (calculus, basic biology, chem, physics).

We almost never admitted anyone without significant research experience in neuroscience or a related field. The rationale was that grades and classes are for showing that you have some baseline level of knowledge/aptitude. The thing that separates good from bad graduate students is the ability to think clearly about a difficult and new scientific problem, to design and carry out experiments, and to stick with it when things get rough. The best evidence that you can do that is an excellent letter of recommendation from a research supervisor.

If you're thinking of switching fields and going for a science or engineering PhD, my sense is that you're much better off getting a job as a lab technician (where you do serious research as a component of the job) than taking additional classes or getting a degree.

jessiehl

Yeah, if you go for a science degree, you want research experience. But you probably can't get a lab tech job without some solid bio background.

If you work full-time at Harvard (as, for example, a lab technician) you can take classes at Harvard Extension for $40 each, gaining research experience from work and knowledge of the subject matter from part-time classes. MIT full-time employees can take one class per term free (I assume that they have to be admitted as special students first). Other Boston-area universities - and any university with a life science research program needs lab techs - may have similar arrangements.