Hi Everyone - I have a freshman at a SLAC in a rural area. She was undecided when applying to college and is now interested in engineering. She also wants a larger school in a more urban area. She has very good grades so far after midterms - all As and has been building her coursework around engineering. Is it possible to apply as a transfer to the college of arts and sciences and look to transfer internally into engineering or is she better off applying directly to the engineering school. For reference, she is looking at NYU, BU, Michigan, Northeastern, Tufts… What are some less competitive schools - though I feel like for engineering that doesn’t exist. Thanks.
Our daughter got into top 10s, but she was premed and she received a full scholarship offer from SUNY Buffalo with a guarantee to get into upstate medical schools of New York.
She began as premed but really liked engineering. She transferred into electrical engineering and she had a phenomenal experience being one of four females in that department at that time.
She received a phenomenal education there, in electrical engineering with computer software. It took her five years because she double majored.
She came back to California and did not have a problem finding a job.
She has a six figure income and she’s been headhunted and continues to escalate as a manager.
They specifically like how she is very good at training junior engineers. She’s known as an excellent communicator and instructor.
It’s a reasonably priced school and it’s very underrated. And my Stanford/ UC-educated EECS husband was really impressed with their program.
Good luck!
If the name Buffalo turns her off, just tell her to picture our SoCal daughter, in her Birkenstocks, (with her 4’ long surfboard memo board on her wall,) trudging along in the snow, with her waist-length hair blowing in the wind. That’s our daughter.
3 Likes
What classes?
Did she apply to any of the transfer list schools last year? If so, what was the outcome?
Are there any cost constraints?
I would suggest she apply directly to engineering schools. With that said, depending on her freshman year course work, she might not be able to graduate in four years and/or be a strong enough applicant for highly selective engineering schools. There are plenty of engineering schools with high admit rates, literally hundreds…Michigan State, U Delaware, Iowa, Iowa State, Arizona and Arizona state to name just a few.
A couple of other options, especially if it looks like she would have to go more than 4 years if she transfers, is to do one of the 3-2 programs, if her LAC participates in that, or major in physics at her LAC, and get a masters in engineering.
3 Likes
If you don’t want to add a lot of extra time, I think you need to transfer directly to engineering program from day 1 OR making sure to pick a school where switching majors is completely open - I would think a solid engineering school (say WPI, RPI, RIT, Stevens off hand) would take her if she has good grades in the early engineering core classes ( Calc 1 and 2 and Physics/Chem.) and test scores? They may be a shock with their male/female ratio though.
Does she know what kind of engineering?
I think BU makes it pretty easy to switch majors (even between engineering and not), not sure about Tufts. Northeastern is harder…I think MI would be very hard…
Also, does her school have a 3/2 program? Many LACs ahve them with Dartmouth or Wash U or Columbia or Case. Given her current path she may need an extra semester anyway? Not all that different?
Case Western doesn’t admit by major for first years, not sure about transfers - but has very good engineering, is in a city, too. Another thought…
2 Likes
Pitt, Ohio State, NC State or Georgia Tech? Good engineering programs in an urban environment.
I’d apply for engineering. Some intro to engineering classes and seminars are only available to engineering students. They can be helpful finding the correct path.
2 Likes
Q: Would you recommend to wcsohng that the student transfer from the current LAC to another LAC that offers a 3/2 program - could earn both the B.A. degree at the LAC & B.S. degree from the engineering partner university?
Generally, it is best for transfer applicants to apply to the major they intend to do.
If the desired major is more selective at transfer admission, it will also be more selective for those at the school trying to change into it, since majors are more selective because they have more interested students than they have space.
2 Likes
My guess is that her transfer application might be strongest if she applies directly to engineering. The case for transferring is then quite clear.
Does her current school have any arrangements with any other schools for a 5 year (3-2) dual degree? (DS’ LAC had this with Columbia and Dartmouth. ) That may be an option worth considering, especially if there are any issues with transferring credits and or fulfilling prerquisites that are going to require extra semesters at the new school.
1 Like
Name a random state school, odds are it has an ABET accredited engineering program.
Does her school have a 3-2 engineering program? Look at universities with 3-2 agreements and consider applying to them after researching their requirements and apply to the college of engineering.
I suggested the 3-2 possibility above, if the current LAC has it. But there are downsides to these, and the reality is not many students do them…
- Many students don’t want to leave their friends for senior year
- It for sure adds another year (so real cost is an additional year of college PLUS one year less of earning money in the workforce)
- 3-2 students get two bachelor’s degrees, yet they paid an extra year of college costs, lost a year’s worth of income in the workforce, and are interviewing for the same jobs that students with four year engineering degrees are.
If a transfer would add time (which I think is likely, but could just add a semester, not a full year), getting a physics undergrad and an engineering masters could make some sense.
For transferring, you will have to literally plan out courses by year/semester to see if the student would be able to graduate in four years at each potential transfer school. You have to pay attention to course requirements, and cyclicality of offerings.
That gets complicated when at many schools you won’t know what classes they will accept for transfer, and if they do accept the credits, whether they will apply towards the major and/or gen eds. Data show transfer students lose a significant proportion of their credits. Plus many schools won’t do the credit transfer analysis until you deposit, still others are now charging for the service. It’s common that transfers have to make multiple deposits (don’t @ me people!), and the process can take well into the summer.
2 Likes
I agree with the others that she should apply directly for transfer into her intended major. She doesn’t want to waste any more time or risk not being able to make the change at all.
If she’s taking all the calc, physics, chemistry, CS and English courses required for an ABET engineering degree, there really is no reason why it would take an extra year to graduate. Some schools do have specific first year engineering classes but one or two classes shouldn’t delay graduation.
More urban, easier admits than what’s already on the list - Pitt, Case Western, Rochester, etc…
Even smaller cities but definitely not rural - RPI, WPI, Lehigh, etc..
6 Likes
I would also recommend transferring straight into an engineering program.
As noted above, Pitt, Ohio State, NC State, and Georgia Tech are all great more urban options.
I would add Minnesota, Case Western, Rice, USC, Brown, Vandy, and WashU as possibles.
Trinity in San Antonio may also be worth a look. Generally classified as an LAC, it does have a pretty robust engineering program, although not as varied as you could get in a much larger program at a research university.
Obviously some of these are more selective than others, but you can check transfer rates to see which usually plan do more or fewer transfers (I have not done that).
1 Like
Another vote for transferring directly into engineering. At the very least you need to understand in advance if a pathway to engineering is possible as a transfer and exactly what it would take to make it happen.
I would look online and/or contact a transfer admissions rep at each college of interest to find out if a transfer into engineering with your background is possible, if prerequisites need to be met before such a transfer will be considered, if you can graduate in four years (some engineering classes are sequential in nature), etc.
2 Likes
There may be first/second year engineering courses that the transfer student has to catch up on after transfer because they were not available at the prior college. If these are important prerequisites, then that can delay graduation. If not, it can still be important for the student to get ahead on other courses like humanities and social science general education* before transfer in order to have more room for the catch up courses after transfer.
*Yes, pay attention to the general education requirements at the transfer targets, because the volume and nature of such can differ significantly.
5 Likes
As I have mentioned previously, both of my s’s transferred into engineering (though they did ot change schools, just majors) in their soph years and both graduated in 4 years. Younger s’s school wanted him to take an extra physics class (not sure why) which he die over the summer whild simultaneously doing an internship. Its doable.
First year engineering students are primarily taking math/science classes so she should not be missing too much prep. I suggest applying directly for engineering rather than arts and sciences or a 3:2 program. While the undergrad experience differs among colleges, from an employer point of view graduates of almost all ABET programs are viewed as similarly capable. The keys to a successful job hunt are good grades and internships. So she doesn’t need to only target selective colleges, State is perfectly fine and xfer admission may be easier.