<p>"If an individual would need more than 4 years to complete the straight 4-year engineering BS program, then perhaps that same individual might need more than 5 years to complete it as part of a “3-2”. To actually complete the “2” in 2, the engineering program is quite (undesirably, IMO) compressed as is, for anyone. IMO, the risk of a 3-2 taking longer than 5 years ought to be greater than the risk of a 4 year BS engineering taking more than 4 years. Just too much stuff in too compressed a time schedule to be optimal. "</p>
<p>This was not the experience of my uncle or 3 undergrad classmates who did the 3-2 program. Since the planned academic program fulfilling engineering requirements must be created with and signed off by the first college’s 3-2 adviser, the engineering department at the second school already accounted for this, and the work is spread out over 5 years instead of 4, there has never been an issue of a student exceeding 5 years in completing the program. If anything, every one of them has raved about how this “eased the pressure” by spreading the requirements/load over a slightly longer period of time and gave them a greater exposure to a liberal arts education they may not have had otherwise.</p>
<p>With one college classmate who did his last two years at Columbia Engineering, he said the 3 years at Oberlin was a great way to fulfill the engineering requirements in a smaller liberal arts setting first so he could adjust and prepare himself for larger engineering classes at a research university. By the time he arrived at Columbia, he was already well-prepared for the workload and finished strongly and on-time. </p>
<p>His strong academic performance at both highly respected schools was a major factor in his landing an analyst position at some big NYC bank. </p>
<p>My uncle had a similar experience of having the pressure eased when he did his 3-2 program at Beloit college and Columbia Engineering graduating with a Physics BA and a BS in CivE. This program allowed him an easier pathway to starting a decades-long career as a professional engineer.</p>