Ga Tech or dual degree at Oglethorpe

G.P.Burdell
Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:51:23 +0000

Personally, I’m not a big fan of the dual degree programs for a few reasons. First, the dual-degree programs tend to take longer than a typical Tech degree (5 to 6 years instead of 4 to 5 years). At the shorter end of their length (5 years), students often have a very difficult time at Tech because the major courses (which are normally spread over 4 or 5 years) are jammed together in the last two years. Since major courses tend to be the most difficult and time consuming, students really suffer having them together like that. That format also leads to a substantially lower GPA for dual-degree students (remember, his Oglethorpe GPA won’t count at Tech - only the GPA that comes from Tech counts).

In addition, you have to worry about whether or not your student will have time for internships. Tech has a great internship / co-op department that can get him placed in a well paying job in his major starting in his freshman year. That’s the biggest value Tech gives to it’s students, and these days, a good internship is a requirement to hire at most companies. As a recruiting manager for a Fortune 100 company, I can tell you that unless he has 1 to 2 semesters of actual internship experience in his major field, he is absolutely at the “bottom of the barrel” when it comes to full time hiring, even with a 4.0 GPA (in actuality, experience is much more important than GPA unless he wants to apply for grad school). If your son goes to Oglethorpe, he won’t have those internship opportunities until his 3rd year. If he plans to finish in 5 years, then he won’t have an opportunity to intern at Tech at all. If he finishes Tech without an internship, he’ll likely graduate and make the same money he would have with a UCF degree, even with a 3.0 or higher GPA (if he graduates with no experience and a GPA below 3.0, he’ll be moving back home with you).

Another issue with dual-degree students is that they often have a difficult time adjusting to Tech. At Tech, nearly all students live on campus their freshman year, then either move off campus or into a fraternity house. If he waits until his 3rd or 4th year to start attending Tech, it’s going to be more difficult to make friends. Many of the dual degree students I knew would live on campus during the week then head back to their old school during the weekends to see their friends.

The additional degree that comes from the other school is usually pretty worthless. It’s typically something like a B.S. Math that’s added to a B.S. Electrical Engineering or a B.S. Chemistry added to a B.S. Chemical Engineering. Companies and grad schools don’t care about the second degree - just the degree in the field for which they are hiring. The only way I could see a second degree being useful is if it’s in a substantially different field (e.g. a business degree and an engineering degree).

I’ve spent a combined 10 years in degrees at Tech (BS, MS, PhD), have degrees from other major schools outside of Tech, worked in industry for a while, served as a college recruiter for a Fortune 100 company for 4 years, and am on staff as an instructor at Tech. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.