Many LACs have a 3-2. But note a few things - yes more time and money - not just tuition but lost income.
And there’s no assurance Columbia who will work with any LAC says, Guaranteed admission is not available for candidates who began college, whether at an affiliate school or not, in Fall 2019 or later . All applicants who began college in Fall 2019 or later will be considered under the competitive review process. Applicants who attend an affiliate institution will be prioritized in the admissions process. This is a holistic process that evaluates a candidate’s preparation for Columbia Engineering’s curriculum, fit for the university, character and recommendations, among other factors.
These are some of the requirements - 1. A pre-engineering GPA of 3.30 or higher, as calculated by Columbia. Additionally, the minimum grade for each pre-engineering science or math course must be a B (3.0) or better on the first attempt.
2. Three favorable recommendations: one each from your institution’s Combined Plan liaison, math instructor and science instructor
Then you have social cost. Are you going to leave your friends with a year to go and start new where others have friends?
Something to think about - especially when, if you want an LAC, there are very good ones with engineering.
Thanks for this very thoughtful reply. Definitely a lot to think about. My kiddo is not applying in engineering but is interested, and I can imagine them gravitating in that direction during their undergrad years. The flexibility to do so, either through combined programs or schools that do not impose barriers for changing to engineering majors, is a plus in my mind.
As examples, consider environmental policy, which can be approached through a combination of environmental studies and public policy programs, or environmental data science, which can be approached through a combination of environmental studies and data science programs.
Most would say - if you potentially want engineering - start there and then pivot out. It’s easier out than in as engineering is rigid. Obviously the 3-2 changes that - honestly not sure how many people do them but I imagine it’s few due to the cost - both financially and socially.
Just as an fyi - Columbia works with a lot of schools but will look at anyone from any school. I linked their list below.
LACs with engineering in blue states include Swarthmore, Lafayette, Bucknell, Union, and Trinity with only Bucknell ABET accredited but some others might be in civil with an Env focus.
As you travel - if you planned a trip to Colorado, it might be a lottery type trip where you can see all kinds of schools at once. CU and CSU are both known in the environmental area, School of Mines in Denver is a smaller school, well integrated in these type areas and Colorado College 90 mins south is a leader amongst LACs in the environmental area. They operate one class at a time.
When we visited Oregon State, we spoke with some students who had switched from environmental engineering to ecological engineering. They said they didn’t like the heavy emphasis on wastewater management in the environmental engineering program, and preferred the broader view of ecological engineering. So, your student might want to look into that option, too. We hadn’t heard of ecological engineering before that visit.
My daughter is also interested in civil engineering. Some universities link civil and environmental (like UCB which has a combined department). Within civil, my D is interested in transportation and sustainability; it seems to her that there are a lot of parts of civil that touch on protecting the environment.
For my son, engineering played a role in something he is developing for his field, but he was just able to access the right courses and right people to “DIY” it. That’s where being at a large university helps. His first love is conservation, engineering was just a means to the end and he doesn’t want to major in it. Same with coding.
Has your son looked into the Honors programs at different schools? Being in the Honors program is allowing my son to take more interdisciplinary courses and have access to things like meeting with engineering professors without being an engineering major.
I think this is key. There are so many ways into work related to climate science, sustainability, and the environment. Non-engineering enviro science/studies degrees can be “a mile wide and an inch deep,” which can be fine but can make grad school more of a necessity. Engineering or even more targeted physical-sciences majors like geology/earth sciences can provide more immediately-applicable skill-sets.
Does kiddo have any particular attraction to the marine/coastal aspects of climate science? These will become very very relevant in multiple ways: sea level rise, the health of marine ecosystems, and ocean-related renewable energy options, to name a few. The research areas in the Ocean Engineering department at URI are interesting to look at in this regard, as this is a less-common undergrad degree offering but one with huge potential for a climate-oriented STEM student: https://web.uri.edu/oce/research/ (If by any chance he’s interested in foreign languages and study abroad, URI’s International Engineering dual degree program is very cool too.) URI would be a safety where he’d get merit. Other schools of interest may have grad programs in this area and could make a sub-focus possible within a more common major like enviro engineering. But worth considering whether a coastal location/focus would be desirable.
If not doing engineering undergrad but wanting to keep that door open for grad school, a physics major or some variant thereof (biophysics for example) could be a good call.
Not sure about honors programs to be honest. The only one I’m familiar among the schools on the current list is Rutgers, which seems more honorific than functional?…
Thanks, will look at URI, not so familiar with it! As to grad school, definitely figure this is in cards and may help season this kid a bit more before entering the wide wide world!
Honors programs come in many flavors -so always best to study the curriculum, requirements, and housing.
Some require a defined curriculum where you need to keep pace, some have living requirements, some are a few classes and don’t offer much but early registration.
It’s why my son applied to some but not others - because some were too humanities based for a science kid.
I’d worry less about the rank as it’s subjective but you can see various ones.
One never knows - at 17, he might take to something else in school and not do climate or maybe get a job and then an MBA or MPA years later. But that’s the exciting thing. Life is unknown.
I just hope jobs exist in this arena as we seem to be killing the idea of climate change.
Thanks! Seems like there’s a lot to learn about honors colleges and honors programs, appreciate the link (and agree that ranking such programs seems arbitrary at best!)
Just gonna point out that a lot of the schools on this list are publics. Which maybe addresses the question of why pay for a public…
Maybe I missed it but I didn’t see anything from OP that they don’t want to pay full freight for an oos public, which of course many people do as a good number of publics do not provide much if any financial aid to oos, other than those intent on attracting them.
“We” being the current administration in the US. Still going full steam ahead elsewhere. And long trends overcome short term disturbances (like tech surviving the dotcom bubble/crash).
