BE at Dartmouth ? Dartmouth engineering doubts

rightnotleft
Mon, 24 Dec 2012 16:52:30 +0000

The BE is 9 courses beyond the AB degree, so it is effectively like a second major if you look to finish in 4 years. Something like 2/3 of the '11s graduated with a BE in 4 years, though that ratio is usually closer to 45-50%.

Companies don’t really care either way about the BE. What is important is you have an ABET-accredited degree, and can therefore sit for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam (and you’ll pass, given Thayer’s traditional near-100% pass rate).

How “seriously” companies take a Thayer degree depends on the company, the type of work you want to do, how well you did at Thayer, and the courses you took. As you’re getting an Engineering Sciences degree, it’s somewhat more broad than a BS at some other schools - on the other hand, you’re going to get significantly more design experience than at basically any other school (possible exception: Harvey Mudd). This puts you at a disadvantage if somebody is looking to hire a technical worker with a specialty, but at an advantage if they’re looking to hire someone with broader experience who can help the company on a larger scale over a longer timeframe.

I’ll put it this way. Everyone I know who graduated with a BE (and even almost all the people I know who just got their AB in engineering) who did reasonably well in classes has a job that they like, that pays well, and that will help their career (or they’re in grad school).