Ventures Scholars Program | High School e-News

"I am a junior and I want to major in biomedical engineering. I was wondering what are the benefits of attending a 3-2 program at a college instead of going to an engineering school. All I know about the 3-2 program is that you go to a school for 3 years, and then go to an engineering school for 2 years. Why choose this program over an engineering school where you can graduate in 4 years??"

Responses were sent from:
Grinnell College, Brandeis University, Whitman College, St. Lawrence University, and Simon's Rock College of Bard.

I feel fortunate to be able to respond to the question about the benefits of the 3-2 program, since Grinnell was the first college to develop the program. We did so, years ago, in an effort to ensure that our students would have an opportunity to gain both a liberal arts education AND a training in a profession. Thankfully, it has served our students. I think, though, that the most effective means of telling you about the benefits of a 3-2 program is to share a true story...which just happens to be the story of my two brothers. It's slightly longer than most responses, but I think it's worth the effort to read:

Both Agustin and Andrew were the type of student who's always known what they wanted to do when they "grew up." Agustin had designs on being an architect, and Andrew had dreamed of nothing more than being an engineer. Both applied to universities that offered professional degrees in their intended fields. Agustin ultimately chose to attend an architecture school, but Andrew chose to attend Grinnell where he would pursue a degree in physics and then go on to an engineering school via the 3-2 program.

Two and a half years into Agustin's 5 year architecture program, he began having doubts about whether or not he really wanted to be an architect. So, he asked all the right questions about what he would need to do if he were to change fields - and learned that he would find it difficult to make that switch, requiring him to be in school at least a couple of extra years to fulfill all the requirements of a new major. Ultimately, he decided that he does love architecture -he'd just hit a rough patch halfway through- and he finished his degree, joined a firm, and loves his job. I often wonder, though, what life would have been like for him if he had realized that the "rough patch" was an epiphany, that he really didn't love the field as much as he always believed he would. And, while he was happy with his education, he does sometimes lament the fact that he could never find time in his schedule and amidst his architecture requirements to take a more diversified curriculum. Indeed, several years after graduating, he still finds himself supplementing his education by reading a wide variety of philosophers, theorists, and novelists. (Now, I advocate for people to be constant and life-long learners anyway, but he has told me that he wishes he'd had an opportunity to learn more about such things in a formal, academic setting.)

Andrew attended Grinnell, taking a wide variety of classes in so many different disciplines I couldn't even dream of naming them all. He majored in physics, spending a summer doing research and implementing the practical applications of the knowledge he'd gained in the classroom. After three years, he left Grinnell to pursue a BSE at a university, and has since graduated and is working as a structural engineer with a fairly large firm in our hometown. What he tells me often, though, is that he consistently felt more prepared for theoretical discussions in his engineering courses than his classmates who had begun their academic careers at the university. More than that, he truly believes that his writing is far stronger as a result of his Grinnell years than they would have been had he not attended a liberal arts institution, where he was required to write across the curriculum. He is certain that the skills he gained at Grinnell made him much more marketable and desirable to employers, and he has a wider range of knowledge about more disparate topics than many of his peers.

Adrienne Enriquez
Class of 1998
Assistant Dean of Admission
Coordinator of Multicultural Admission
Grinnell College
Grinnell, Iowa 50112

(800)247-0113 -- toll free
(641)269-3612 -- direct line
(641)269-4800 -- fax
enriqadr@grinnell.edu

Hello there! My name is Yos Bugallo, and I am an Admissions Officer here at Brandeis University. Here at Brandeis, we have a 3-2 program with the Fu School of Engineering. We find that the students who participate in this program are those that like to think out of the box. They want to eventually become engineers, but they don't want that experience to define their undergraduate education. Most students will take advantage of the liberal arts coursework during those first 3 years. While there are a few requisite courses that they must take in order to be eligible for the engineering 2-year program, most students find they have room in the schedule to take a few elective courses. Although this isn't an extremely popular choice among many students, those students that do participate find that they get the best of a liberal arts and a science degree.

Yos Bugallo
Admissions Counselor
Brandeis University
Waltham, MA 02453
781 736 3514
yoselin@brandeis.edu

A benefit of a 3-2 program in engineering is the ability to complete in five years with two degrees as opposed to just one that you would get from an engineering school. Although most engineering schools offer degrees in four years, I would research and see just how many of their students are actually graduating in four years and not five. You might end up at an engineering school a year longer and you would still only have one degree.

Lori Hunt
Assistant Director of Admission
Whitman College
515 Boyer Ave
Walla Walla, WA. 99362
huntlo@whitman.edu

The benefits of a 3-2 program are numerous, but two stand out in my mind. The first is that students at St. Lawrence who participate in the 3-2 program will find that the writing intensive environment we offer produces students who are better able to communicate both orally and in writing. The second is that there are many students who think they want to major in one area and decide that after taking several courses in said area, they discover that suddenly, they would rather be a teacher, lawyer, or doctor than an engineer so there is an "out" for the student who changes his or her mind. Although I said two, a third would be the connection with two separate institutions and being recognized as an alum of two schools provides more job opportunities if alumni connections are readily used at a particular school as it is at St. Lawrence for example.

Steven J. Jo
Assistant Director of Admissions
St. Lawrence University
Canton, NY 13617
Office:(315)229-5259
Fax: (315)229-5818
Email: sjo@stlawu.edu

The primary benefit of a 3/2 Engineering Program is allowing students the opportunity to explore the liberal arts before committing to the specialized course of study that engineering requires. While gaining the necessary background in mathematics and science, students in the program also have the scheduling freedom to explore other interests. Moreover, engineers with a background in the liberal art can be better prepared to apply their technical expertise to the issues that impact society.

Simon's Rock College has dual degree agreements with Columbia University, Dartmouth College and Washington University in St Louis. Students in the combined B.A./B.S. program spend three years at Simon's Rock and two years at the affiliated engineering school. At the end of five years, students who have satisfied the requirements of both institutions receive a B.A. from Simon's Rock and a B.S from the engineering school.

Simon's Rock is a highly selective, coeducational, four year college of the liberal arts and sciences. It is specifically designed to offer bright highly motivated students the opportunity to begin college after the tenth or the eleventh grade. It is the nation's only four year college of the liberal arts and sciences specifically designed for younger scholars.

Want to talk about whether or not our 3/2 program is right for you? Just call or e mail me and I will put you in touch wit one of our professors.

Mary - King Austin
Associate Dean of Admission
Simon's Rock College of Bard
Great Barrington, MA 01258
800 235 7186
maryking@simons-rock.edu