<p>I want to major in computer science and it seems like it’s just one of few liberal arts schools that offers a good engineerng education? Do you think their CS department/engineering department is comparable to UWashington, Tech, Northeastern or James Madison?</p>
<p>I don’t know that much about it, but I’ve heard that it’s a good school. They have very nice people, and I think they give a pretty good amount of aid to students they want. I’ve heard it’s not a very nice campus, though. Sorry I don’t know the specifics you’re looking for.</p>
<p>Union has a very good reputation for engineering. It’s a college with alot of tradtion and history. Used to be all male but not anymore.</p>
<p>Swarthmore and Trinity College in Hartford are LACs that offer engineering majors. You might want to look at Lafayette and Lehigh, too.</p>
<p>I don’t know too much about the engineering program per se, but we looked at Union closely for my son who plans to major in biology. The campus was definitely attractive. Fraternities and sororities are fairly prominent but the administration tries to “downplay” them slightly. As a result, each new student is assigned to a “house” where they can go for social activities, meeting friends, etc. These houses are gorgeous! For sophomores and up, you can reside there if you want to. Each house has a ** very ** ample budget that they can use for planning events and such.There are a lot of activities planned on campus. The surrounding town has limited resources. </p>
<p>A number of kids on the college tour were looking at the engin school. The facilities looked gorgeous and they talked a lot about the advantages of being in engineering but still having a lot of the benefits of a liberal arts college. </p>
<p>Son interviewed but did not apply. He was not into the fraternity thing and was looking for a different “feel” on campus. (For similar reasons, he discarded Muhlenberg.) But I think it could be a great place for some kids.</p>
<p>I have heard it said on here that, except for the few very TOP LAC engineering programs, you simply can not compare LAC engineering programs to the top engineering universities. </p>
<p>According to my old 2005 US NEWS list, the top 10 undergradutae engineering programs (at schools where the highest degree is a bachelors or masters) are: Rose-Hulman, Harvey-Mudd, Cooper Union, US Military Academy, US Naval Academy, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, US Air Force Academy, Bucknell, Villanova, Embry Riddle Aeronautical. Union College appears at #26 on the list. If you subscribe to the US News site you can read the report.</p>
<p>On a different list (schools that have a doctorate as their highest degree) U Washington ranks #27, Northeastern #66.</p>
<p>I don’t see an engineering program at James Madison, and I don’t know which Tech you are referring to.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I’m not sure you need an big engineering program to major in computer science.</p>
<p>Union College has a gorgeous campus—it has won awards for its landscape archictecture. Beautiful buildings and gardens! The campus is laid out to take advantage of panoramic views of the Adirondack foothills to the north. The campus was used as the set for the movie “The Way We Were” with Robert Redford and Barbra Steisand.</p>
<p>The surrounding city, Schenectady, has some lovely historic neighborhoods with beautifully-preserved mansions and townhouses, some dating back to Dutch colonial days and others built by turn-of-the century GE executives. It also has some more troubled neighborhoods. To its credit, Union College has done a remarkable job of outreach to the community, partnering with a number of strong and vibrant nonprofit organizations to turn the city around. Moody’s just raised the city’s bond rating by 2 notches. Schenectady has become much safer than it was a decade ago, and it offers many convenient opportunities for students interested in community service.</p>
<p>Union has also taken very proactive steps to supplant the previously dominant fraternity/drinking/party culture on campus. All students and faculty are now affiliated with one of eight “Minerva houses,” each of which sponsors a variety of cultural and social events. ( The Minerva houses are typically beautiful mansions, some of which were taken back from fraternities. Students do not live in their affiliated Minerva House as freshmen, though they do have the opportunity to live there as upperclassmen.) Needless to say, the Minerva House events are alcohol-free.</p>
<p>I graduated from Union back in the dark ages-one of the first classes after co-education arrived. I had a wonderful experience there. The campus is beautiful, and they have done a great job with the Minerva Houses from what I saw when my son and I toured last fall. I know that a number of CS majors in my class went on to IBM and other large companies and had no trouble getting good jobs. Union also has a “Converging Technologies” program that you might find interesting.</p>
<p>Oh, sorry, I didn’t make that clear. My friends said that the surrounding area wasn’t nice–not the campus itself. I’ve never seen it, myself.</p>
<p>My dad says their engineering department isn’t that great…</p>
<p>No first-hand info on the engineering program, but two family friends have attended Union recently and been very pleased with the experience. Union’s science offerings are varied and strong. One friend was selected for the Leadership in Medicine program, an 8-year BA/MD course of study in cooperation with Albany Medical School. Here’s the program’s website:
<a href=“http://www.union.edu/Academics/LIM/Welcome/[/url]”>http://www.union.edu/Academics/LIM/Welcome/</a>
Union is highly regarded in our school district, which each year sends a few very bright kids there.</p>