<p>I’m interested in Purdue an Georgia Tech for undergrad engineering (environmental). Would these schools provide a well-rounded education in non-math and science areas? </p>
<p>Thanks for the replies in advance!</p>
<p>Well-rounded? I guess I don’t understand. You’ll take your prereqs, core classes, and a small handful of electives outside of your college (engineering) and a few within the college. I don’t think any college will really give you a well rounded degree unless you duel major with something from a separate college like letters and science or arts or something.</p>
<p>Oh, c’mon. You can be well-rounded, you just have to make an effort at it. It’s not built into your engineering curriculum. Your experience will be skewed towards engineering, sure, but that’s what a “major” is all about. There are plenty of opportunities for taking other courses, even at tech schools. If you can visit with a student there, ask them. They’ll let you know what non-engineering electives are reputably good.</p>
<p>Engineering schools generally have a certain number of hour requirements in gen ed areas such as writing, humanities and social studies. Whether that leaves you “well-rounded” is a matter of opinion. All engineering majors have course requirements in math, science, and engineering, that consume most of their 4 year schedule.</p>
<p>I found that I had a more “well rounded” education than most people simply because I read a lot more on my own time. A well rounded education isn’t something you need to pay for.</p>
<p>I didn’t know people went to college for a well-rounded education. I THOUGHT college was about getting a job in a particular area. In fact, that’s how college is set up elsewhere. I hate to be snarky but this question could have been worded differently.</p>
<p>Most schools do expect all their graduates to be well rounded. It kind of goes back to the Renaissance with da Vinci who was a “well rounded genius”. He studied anything and everything.</p>
<p>Most engineering schools will have you take gen ed classes ~ 15 hours. That includes english composition, social studies, literature etc.</p>
<p>Which by no means makes you well rounded.</p>
<p>But being well-rounded will, I promise, make you a better and more successful engineer. Remember that there’s more to engineering than just dealing with other engineers. You have to deal with clients eventually, too. Being well-read, musical, fluent in another language, artistic, articulate, a good writer… All these things will either directly or indirectly advance your career, and elevate your credibility with your colleagues and clients.</p>
<p>It’s worth the effort to go above and beyond the basic requirements of your degree program, but every good engineering program out there will have humanities courses available for you to take in order to achieve your goal of well-roundedness. You will, however, need to go above and beyond the basic humanities requirements in order to become a Renaissance Man or Woman, though, like Japher said… Psych 101 and Clapping for Credit will not get you there.</p>