<p>I’ve become interested in Engineering, and am going to be attending a LAC in Virginia. Their Engineering program is 3 years of courses, then you transfer and do 2 years at a different school. Either UVA or Old Dominion. </p>
<p>So how important would all that be to employers? I know in some fields it’s almost critical, but I would assume that for engineering it’s less so. Thanks for any help you can provide.</p>
<p>For the most part, pedigree only matters indirectly. The larger and more well-known schools attract more (and generally better regarded) employers to their career fairs, thus making it more likely to land a job at these places. However, the smaller, less-known schools still tend to do pretty well in their own geographic footprint, even (usually) among some good companies.</p>
<p>In other words, if your career goals after school include (in the short term) staying in the region, generally you will be fine at the smaller schools. If you plan to go to school in Virginia but get hired by JPL out in California, you better be at one of the big name schools like Virginia Tech rather than Old Dominion. Also note that since pedigree is most important in the form of recruiting, you can pretty much get most of the benefit even if you are only at the school for the last two years.</p>
<p>When it comes to graduate school admissions, pedigree is probably a larger, more direct factor. Going to a “good” school can take an otherwise borderline applicant and push him/her over the edge onto the accepted side of the line and also tends to lead to a better opportunity for letters of recommendation from top professors, which go a long way in the admissions process. However, I have worked with brilliant students from top programs that came from small schools, so the small school certainly won’t rule you out, it just won’t help you either.</p>
<p>Being at a school local to employers helps (they can come to the career center very conveniently). Being at a school with a high enough profile that employers that travel to recruit will come helps. But that is mainly for internships and the first job out of school; name of your school matters much less with subsequent jobs in most cases.</p>
<p>Note that internship recruiting may bypass the LACs, which are not on the radar screen of engineering recruiters. This is one disadvantage of 3-2 programs. Another is that using a LAC for the freshmen/sophomore level courses is much more expensive than using a community college for that purpose (unless you got a full ride or close to it at the LAC).</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. I would probably go with UVA, as after the fifth year you get a masters I believe. Also assume it’s more well known, to recruiters at least</p>
<p>I sure hope they aren’t handing out Masters Degrees at the end of 3+2 programs of that sort.</p>
<p>Under the “3:2 plan,” a student spends three years at LAC and two years at the engineering school and receives a bachelor’s degree from LAC in their primary major as well as a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the affiliated school. Students are guaranteed admission to these engineering programs if the prerequisites are met. </p>
<p>Typically, after completing year 5 you would have two bachelor degrees rather than a masters. I would strongly advise getting the engineering degree from UVA rather than ODU. I know of some recruiters that do not think highly of the ODU engineering program. Of course, if you plan on being in school for 5 years the other alternative would be to try to get admitted to VA Tech and major in engineering. It’s possible to get the Masters at VA Tech in year 5.</p>