As the title says, I am debating between a 3 year program and a 5 year program. The 5 year program is a lot more interesting in terms of content, but 2 years is a long time - I could get a masters degree in that time! So given these points, which of these would you choose if you were me?
- I will not have to sacrifice any summers for the 3 year program, nor will I have to take a heavier course load.
- Both programs are honours programs
- The 5 year program at my school is well respected.
- I am 90% sure that I would end up working in the same field with either degree.
- The 5 year program would give me a broader range of skills. The three year would give a slightly deeper understanding of a single topic. Slightly.
- I am currently in my freshman year in the 5 year program. My credits are transferrable though.
- I have semi-relevant work experience. This does not mean I am confident in my ability to find a better internship/research position for next year or find a job after graduation.
- My grades would probably be higher in the 3 year program.
- I have no idea what I want in the long run. I know what subjects I like and am good at, but I don't know where I want to go with it.
I would what the real issue is for you. You chose to start the 5 year program: what has changed that you want to go to the 3 year program? (b/c you obviously are trying to justify the change). Guessing that you are getting some push-back on changing, which says that the two programs are not quite as equivalent as you are painting them here: what are the differences that you aren’t mentioning?
(and I am interested that your first point is not having to ‘sacrifice any summers’: what are you planning to do with those summers? b/c that is where you get your feet wet- test out the field by getting work/internship experience)
Sure u will. You’ll be sacrificing the opportunities to build a resume with WORK experience.
No employer is going to care that you have a “broader range of skills” after having paid for ANOTHER year of college for just a bachelor’s degree.
The bottom line is employers want to see work/internship experience on a resume, not more courses. And they could care less how many or few years it took you to get your degree.
@collegemom3717 I guess the real issue is that the 3 year program many doors for me. The 5 year program is a broad engineering program (Engineering Science), and the 3 year program is CS. If I do Eng. Sci, I can still have a career in CS. If I do CS, I will probably never get a PE licence. But do I really need one? Who knows.
This summer, I am continuing with my semi-relevant job and working on projects on my own. Next summer, I hope to get a better internship/research position. But I can’t guarantee that I will.
@GMTplus7 What I meant by not having to sacrifice any summers is that I won’t have to take summer courses. See above for my plans for the summer.
Well, the question is whether or not you want a PE license or not. If you want to leave the door open to engineering in the future then stay in engineering. If you know you want CS for sure and don’t care about the engineering than change. If you’re unsure, then I see no reason to change from the engineering program to the CS program - since as you pointed out the engineering program has flexibility that the CS program doesn’t have, and you are already in it.
Two years actually isn’t that long of a time in the grand scheme of things. You can always go back and get an MS later if you really want to.