<p>I am currently attending UC Davis as a social science major, and I was wondering if there was some way for me to attain an engineering degree after I graduate? I was planning on working/attending law school after graduation, but if I was working, I was hoping to be able to attend community college on the side, taking engineering classes, eventually transferring to a university to finish my degree. I’m not quite sure how something like this works.</p>
<p>I would like as my own personal goal to get a degree outside of my realm of expertise, without the pressures of getting axed by grades in my early college career. Is there any way to make this work? Or is it just crazy?</p>
<p>Taking classes at night, you can only really take 6 hours/semester. A typical engineering degree is 135-142 hours, and you should not be able to transfer in credit from your BA. So, at the end of the day, you would need roughly 23 semesters to graduate using the CC -> university route. This could be a problem if the university caps how long you have to finish your degree (at many schools it’s 7 years). In addition, you would need to find a university that offers undergraduate classes at night, which is not necessarily the easiest thing to find. </p>
<p>There are some programs, like Boston’s LEAP program, designed for people in your situation (BA -> engineering), but those programs are generally 3-years full-time, and cost somewhere in the range of $100,000.</p>
<p>I was intending to NOT use anything from my previous experience.</p>
<p>Let me explain. I was thinking that if by the time I graduate, and the best job I can find is working at Olive Garden (what a friend of mine has to do right now), then I’d work part time while going to CC. Then I was hoping to transfer to a university, most likely not the one I already attend (maybe something cheaper, IE a state school).</p>
<p>Why not try out some engineering classes now and see if you like them better than whatever social science you’re doing? If it turns out you don’t like engineering at all I imagine you’ll have a really hard time going through the degree via night school and a second degree.</p>
<p>Why not just double major in a second language or something that might complement your first degree instead?</p>
<p>Why not do a masters instead? Second Bachelors are really unnecessary when you can just talke about 10-12 undergrad classes (this can be done in less than two years part time) and then enrol in a masters program. And after taking all those classes you don’t get accepted into a masters program then take couple more classes and try again. All in all if you do get accepted then good if not you are still getting an engineering education. I am currently doing this (with CS tho not engineering) and I am about to apply to a masters program. Good Luck</p>
<p>An MS engineering program will not accept a social science major. The degrees are too different to allow for someone to make that jump; the BA graduate would need so many credits that it makes no sense. A BS science or CS major, on the other hand, is a completely different situation.</p>
<p>The exceptions are the programs specifically designed for BA students to enter engineering. However, those programs are 3 years (or more), so it’s almost like you’re getting a second undergraduate degree. </p>
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<p>So your plan would be to go to a CC get some credits, then to go to a school fulltime while working at night? That’s certainly doable. In my original post, I thought you planned to work full time and pick up the engineering degree on the side. That’s a different situation.</p>
<p>Before you plan to go back to school, I would take a hard look at the job market, though. Your friend’s job prospects might pick up in 6 months, or so.</p>
<p>That 3 years number you quote is for getting a masters so that is a good deal. I have seen the Boston Univeristy LEAP program and they say you take about one year or maybe two years worth of undergrad courses and then you take one and half years to get a masters.</p>