Make the 2+3 Engineering Program Really Work

Proposal 

Figure out how to make our 2+3 Engineering Program with USC more “Mills,” perhaps by adding more freshman and sophomore level intro engineering courses.

Rationale

We currently have a program with USC where a student will take the first two years of coursework at Mills and then transfer to USC to complete her engineering degree.  This is an innovative program that really does have the potential to attract to Mills smart students that we will not otherwise attract.  To date, though, we have not dedicate resources to it that would help it to thrive.

The program doesn’t work well in practice for a variety of reasons.

• First, students must walk in to Mills knowing they want to be engineers on day one. If a student doesn’t get onto the engineering track the first semester of her first year, she won’t be able to do it. 
• Second, two of the more popular fields, civil and mechanical, aren’t feasible under this program. Our program only caters to the more science-based engineering degree (chemical, computer, biomedical, environmental). 
• Third, without critical mass there is very little chance for the good experience of current 3+2 engineering students to be visible enough to recruit others.

What Would It Take

• To support all engineering sub-fields, we could add a few intro engineering courses. 
• To encourage current students to consider the program, a first semester overview and introduction to engineering could be offered.
• To remove the rigidity problem faculty could develop slight modifications to course scheduling that would introduce the necessary flexibility for, say, deciding before second semester.
• To increase flexibility, summer courses might be offered.
• A more robust program could be better marketed by admissions.

Research/Data

What do we know about how many students are drawn by our engineering program?  What are the numbers for young women interested in engineering overall.  Followup with students who have gone through program (0 have finished; 3 are in process at USC). What courses we need to offer to make our program more effective.

See Also

Occidental 3+2 Program (a useful FAQ and curriculum plan)