Students wanting to major in engineering but also wanting a liberal arts college experience are often directed toward the same handful of selective LACs: Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Smith, Trinity, Bucknell, Lafayette, and Union.
But in reality there appear to be a number of LACs with engineering. For example, I recently found out that Cornell College (the one-course-at-a-time LAC in Iowa, not Cornell University the Ivy league school) has an ABET-accredited major in general engineering!
Can anyone add other LACs with engineering to the list?
(I am looking for LACs with actual engineering majors, not 3+2 arrangements.)
Does anyone have any experience with any of these schools, or at least any second-hand knowledge? Does anyone know the career outcomes of getting a degree in engineering from one of these schools?
Back in the day (late 90s) Hope College had an engineering program, and a friend of mine double-majored in engineering and dance. She did a research project with her engineering degree one summer or one semester which involved her getting on a reduced gravity aircraft…also known as “The Vomit Comet.” I was impressed with that level of undergraduate research for our little liberal arts college.
And if you look at Hope, you could also look at Calvin University down the highway. They competed for a lot of engineering undergrads in the western Michigan area. Note that both are associated with churches.
What you define or I do as an LAC may be different.
There are small schools - for example U of Jacksonville, U of New Haven, Anderson U, U of Evansville, Valparaiso, St. Ambrose, U of St. Thomas, Mt. Union Point Park and more that have.
Or Engineering Physics - add a Baldwin Wallace, etc. Calvin, Carrolll
I’d download the list of the major of interest from ABET as a starting point.,
Off the top of my head In Pennsylvania: York College of PA, Wilkes, Widener, Messiah, Shippensburg, Grove City, Geneva, all of which offer ABET-accredited engineering majors. I’m sure there are others in Pennsylvania, which has dozens of LACs/small private colleges.
ETA: The ABET website lists 50 schools in PA with accredited engineering majors.
Just going through the first two letters of the alphabet, these are the schools with fewer than about 3500 undergrads that I saw that offer an ABET-accredited form of some form of engineering (I excluded engineering technology).
Abilene Christian (TX): About 3200 undergrads
Alfred U (NY): About 1300 undergrads plus about 3300 undergrads from SUNY Alfred
Anderson (IN): About 1100 undergrads
Andrews (MI): About 1300 undergrads
Azusa Pacific (CA): About 3300 undergrads
Baldwin Wallace (OH): About 2700 undergrads
Benedict (SC): About 1800 undergrads
Benedictine (KS): About 2300 undergrads
Bethel (MN): About 2600 undergrads
Bethune-Cookman (FL): About 2700 undergrads, HBCU
Bob Jones (SC): About 2700 undergrads
U. of Bridgeport (CT): About 1600 undergrads
Bryan (TN): About 1500 undergrads
Obviously, there are many more. Perhaps if I get more energy, I’ll continue to go through the alphabet.
With respect to a general engineering degree (vs. a specific form of engineering), there was a thread about it that may be helpful. Of course, I would love to hear more perspectives on the topic of this linked thread, too:
Davidson does not offer engineering. They are, like many schools, partnered with others - in their case W&L and Columbia - but that’s more time and a transfer.
Interesting! There are so many more than I would have expected. These are schools we almost never hear about on CC.
I looked into one (Bethel) that I am familiar with due to location. It was a surprise to me that they have ABET engineering, and I see that engineering is very new there; they just gained their ABET for EE a few months ago, and it looks like they are still waiting on the ME and CE. Cornell College’s program (general engineering) is also new within the last few years. Another 2 schools in my area, Carthage and Ripon, have just started engineering programs that they say they will be seeking ABET accreditation for.
So is this just a matter of LACs jumping on the STEM bandwagon, hoping to seem relevant and keep their doors open with the demographic cliff? Or is this in response to demand from employers? I note that a local trade school (Dunwoody) has also added 4 year ABET engineering programs within the last decade, and I know this school to work closely with local industry-- I do not think they would start programs in something that local employers were not seeking.
Anyway, wondering about experience and wondering about outcomes!
I second Clarkson. As long as you don’t mind the snow
TCNJ, the College of New Jersey, is fairly inexpensive ($40k OOS tuition+R&B) and well regarded regionally. It has the usual engineering majors except chemical (it does have biomed). Located near Princeton, NJ
Cooper Union in NYC has Art, Architecture and Engineering. If you can get in…everyone gets a 50% scholarship.
Outside the northeast…
JMU in VA
Miami of Ohio
Gonzaga
