<p>I think the safest bet is to research that question on a specific school by school basis. I suspect that it varies considerably. Googling a college’s website will probably uncover the answer.</p>
<p>For example, here’s a link to Wellesley’s 3/2 program with MIT. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/USStudy/mitdoubledegree.html[/url]”>http://www.wellesley.edu/USStudy/mitdoubledegree.html</a></p>
<p>Students are viewed as transfer students to MIT in the fourth year and MIT’s financial aid policies apply – not Wellesley’s. Neither school will provide financial aid to a 5th year student, so you are on your own for the final year.</p>
<p>As a practical matter, very few students actually take advantage of the 3/2 programs. For one thing, it is very difficult to hop into the third year at an engineering school without ever having taken engineering courses. Plus, you are spending five years to end up with a B.S. Engineering degree.</p>
<p>If you are sure you want an engineering career, then it probably makes more sense to go to a school that offers an Engineering degree.</p>
<p>If you are not sure, or if you want to include Engineering as part of a more wide-ranging liberal arts curriculum, then it might make sense to consider one of the liberal arts colleges or universities that offers a degree in General Engineering in the context of a liberal arts curriculum. Basically, you have the same curriculum as any other student, but you major in the Engineering department. The trade-off is less full-bore specialization in undergrad Engineering in exchange for a broader liberal arts education and/or the ability to shift gears easily if you find out that Engineering is just not your thing. </p>
<p>Swarthmore (B.S. degree), Smith (new program), and Lafayette (B.A. or B.S. in Engineering) would be examples of LACs offering these types of programs. </p>
<p>An example of a university offering something like this is Dartmouth, where there are options of a B.A. in Engineering Sciences and a B.S. in Engineering.</p>