<p>A different kind of hidden gem:</p>
<p>Michigan State has a residential school for the sciences: Lyman Briggs School. It is based in a residence hall, making it a true living/learning environment. One can have the best of both worlds: the intimacy of a smaller college combined with the resources of a major research university. </p>
<p>MSU also has James Madison College, a "interdisciplinary public policy college "</p>
<p>Newmassdad- I became aware of the living/learning community concept when we toured Temple U with d # 2. I was so intrigued with the idea, that I tried to find other schools who had similar learning communities. I actually did come across the Lyman Briggs school and was very impressed with the program. Though this wasn’t a program for my d as it was more geared to the natural sciences, I think it is good that we are bringing it up here. As you said it is a smaller living and learning environment within a large university setting. It does seem to have the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>wazzup, i’m not sure exactly how lehigh’s program works, however york has the engineering/business too…</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ycp.edu/academics/470.htm[/url]”>http://www.ycp.edu/academics/470.htm</a></p>
<p>The Plan II Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin is a gem: <a href=“Plan II Honors Program | Liberal Arts | UT - Austin”>Plan II Honors Program | Liberal Arts | UT - Austin. It’s a core corriculum program started in 1935 so they’ve been doing it awhile. Many Plan II students double-major in Plan II and another UT college, such as in the highly-ranked McCombs School of Business or one of the 130+ majors UT offers.</p>
<p>Some of UT’s best professors teach Plan II classes and most classes are small so students get a chance to learn from good teachers. As the website explains, “many Plan II students go on to graduate or professional school.” The profiles of graduating classes since 1995 are here: <a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/cola/plan2/students/profiles/[/url]”>http://www.utexas.edu/cola/plan2/students/profiles/</a>. As shown at this link, Plan II graduates are consistently admitted to the finest law, medical and graduate schools.</p>
<p>Bard’s dual-degree program in music and the liberal arts - the Bard Conservatory faculty, pulled primarily from Curtis and Julliard, is likely now the best in the country bar none, and its writing faculty, committed solely to teaching undergraduates can’t get close to being matched by any of the Ivies or other more prestigious LACs.</p>
<p>Wisconsin-Integrated Liberal Studies Program</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.wisc.edu/ils/program.html[/url]”>http://www.wisc.edu/ils/program.html</a></p>
<p>The College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. my son decied on UC Berkeley, but it was a tough decision.
<a href=“http://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/[/url]”>http://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/</a></p>
<p>The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at University of Redlands was the first college program I was interested in.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><a href=“The Page is Unavailable | University of Redlands”>http://www.redlands.edu/x2214.xml</a></p>
<p>Marny1,</p>
<p>Thanks for this thread. The responses are terrific.</p>
<p>can someone explain the 3/2s combo for engineering? i don’t get it. why is it called 3/2s? 0_o and are there any for schools in new york city?</p>
<p>Well, here are some hidden gems: Im going to second ohio university’s honors tutorial college and add Depauw universities programs of distinction(summer research fellows, media fellows, management fellows and ITAP)</p>
<p>romantik -</p>
<p>A “3/2” program allows you to get two degrees in 5 years, and while there may be other combos, the degrees are usually from LACs and Engineering Schools (BA/BS or BS/BS). The first 3 years are spent in the LAC, but with a strong emphasis on science and math. The last 2 years are at an Engineering school. The interesting thing about this program is that the engineering schools are very often quite selective. I’ve often wondered if this is a “back-door” for admissions.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has a fantastic 3/2 program with their Thayer School of Engineering.
The Thayer School is a fantastic place for an acclaimed “hands on” education. Students apply during their sophmore year- you don’t get accepted up front.</p>
<p>re post # 32: That’s what the LACs might like one to think, but please read my post #11 above. The couple programs I looked at, the kids were actually NOT admitted to the engineering college upfront. IF the kid was able to subsequently gain admission to the engineering college, based on applying and being accepted following criteria no different than applying to that engineering college as a transfer student- then, and only then, the schools had an agreeement where the schools could get both degrees in 5 years.</p>
<p>A huge downside of the 3-2 LAC/Engineering programs is having to transfer to another college one year from graduating with your classmates. Relatively few students are willing to make this sacrifice. I suspect that many choosing this option as a hs senior choose to opt out by junior year.</p>
<p>Other disadvantages include having to finance an additional year of college for a BSE degree and no guarantee of comparable finaid for the last 2 years of the program.</p>
<p>While I like 3-2 programs from an educational perspective, I am not a fan from the mort practical one.</p>
<p>My advice is to tread carefully if you desire to major in engineering.</p>
<p>i believe columbia has some type of 3/2 program with a lot of the LAC’s in the area.</p>
<p>University of Rochester may be an exception of having to transfer to another school. They seem to have a number of 3-2 programs in business, engineering and other areas. U of R has the Simon School of Business as well as a school of engineering so it appears you can get your BA and Masters at the same school. As I have said, I am not as familiar with U of R as I once was- but I think their programs are definitely worth checking out.</p>
<p>Its where you take 3 years of science at a school that doesn’t have an engineering program, then transfer to a school that does for 2 years. Don’t know about NYC</p>
<p>Ball State has an excellent Telecommunications program. For the second year in a row student filmmakers have won an emmy. OOS treated well with the right stats.</p>
<p>Just want to make sure that everyone knows that “telecommunications” does not mean telephony (as in Verizon or AT&T). It’s “tele” as in Television and usually encompasses video production, audio production, broadcast management, radio production, etc. And since much of the film industry is moving toward digital production, it has become a destination program for aspiring filmmakers as well (like my son). As a matter of fact, if you ask someone in telecommunications what they are majoring in, don’t be surprised if they respond by saying “Film” just so they don’t have to go into a long exposition on why they’re not studying to work for the phone company.</p>