Liberal arts colleges with strong science programs

Alternately, professional education instructs students in a singular subject, developing the skills needed for success in a particular field of study and preparing them for entry into the professional world.

Learn more about the difference between a liberal arts and professional education in our blog Liberal Arts vs. Professional Education: Which is Better? More Support: One of the major benefits of attending a liberal arts college with an engineering program is smaller class sizes.

Engineering students are challenged with numerous difficult prerequisites such as calculus, physics, and chemistry—smaller institutions are better able to provide a supportive environment for learning. Smaller classes allow for more one-on-one interaction between students and faculty, make it easier for students to ask questions, and encourage a deeper exploration of topics.

More Well Rounded: Proponents of a liberal arts education argue that they produce more well-rounded engineers than those from professional programs. In addition to technical skills, students from liberal arts colleges have developed the problem-solving and critical-thinking skills that make them valuable collaborators in brainstorming sessions, while their ability to clearly communicate their thoughts and ideas, write papers, and prepare presentations allows them to more easily adapt to professional life.

More Flexibility: Liberal arts colleges with engineering programs are also ideal for students not ready to fully commit to pursuing an engineering degree.

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In a program, a student spends their first three years at a liberal arts school and their final two years at an engineering school affiliated with the liberal arts institution. Dartmouth College offers students from participating colleges the opportunity to study at their Thayer School of Engineering as part of a program—although they also offer a more traditional program as well.

While part of the program, students spend their first, second, and fourth years at their home schools and their third and fifth years at Dartmouth.

Here are liberal arts schools with 5-year engineering programs in partnership with another university. While it is less common, some LACs actually do offer engineering majors.

Here are the schools with this option:. Want access to expert college guidance — for free? When you create your free CollegeVine account, you will find out your real admissions chances, build a best-fit school list, learn how to improve your profile, and get your questions answered by experts and peers—all for free. Sign up for your CollegeVine account today to get a boost on your college journey.

The school is exclusively undergraduate, making it a prime choice for students seeking a focused, attentive setting. Unlike larger research universities, the faculty is there exclusively to give undergraduate students their undivided attention. Founded by Baptists in the early 19th century, Colgate has gone through many transformations, but one thing that hasn't changed is the school's commitment to quality education.

While the school is non-sectarian, it recognizes the importance of religion in many of its students' lives, and fully supports on campus religious or non-religious life organizations for students of various faiths.

The school actively encourages students to integrate their learning with the spiritual and ethical beliefs of their faith. This makes the school a fantastic choice for students devout in any faith, as most non-sectarian schools go to great lengths to ignore the religion of their students, whereas Colgate seeks to provide students with all possible support.

This Roman Catholic liberal arts university adheres to the Jesuit academic and spiritual tradition. In addition to receiving a top notch education, which is one of many things for which the Jesuit tradition is known, students are also encouraged toward service. The Jesuit tradition encourages students to take up advocacy for social justice, particularly the world's poor and disenfranchised. Carleton College is focused on providing the best available undergraduate education.

The school consists only of undergraduate programs, and is ranked 1 by U. This distinction is especially meaningful because liberal arts colleges traditionally focus primarily on undergraduate teaching, and many have no graduate programs at all. Bates College was one of the first colleges in the United States that was established as a co-educational school, admitting both women and men.

The school is also the oldest co-educational school in New England. As most liberal arts colleges, Bates offers only undergraduate programs, preferring to provide students a well rounded, rigorous, uncompromising education at the undergraduate level. Though the school boasts just around 2, undergraduate students, it has a large international population with 90 countries represented in its enrollment.

The school is considered one of the best schools in the United States for undergraduate teaching. While its primary focus at the undergraduate level is providing students a strong liberal arts education, what makes WU unique is that its graduate and Ph. The Little Three is a small, unofficial athletic conference formed by the three schools which compete against each other in various sports.

Pomona College is the oldest of the five liberal arts colleges in Claremont, and the founding member of Claremont Colleges, an organization whose purpose is to facilitate partnerships and events between the small concentration of colleges in the town.

The school is small, and provides an intimate setting where undergraduate education is the only focus. Middlebury College was founded in , making it one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. The school has a history of progressive thought, and in graduated the first African American graduate of any college in the history of the United States. Continuing in this tradition, in Valedictorian Mary Annette Anderson became the first African American woman to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa, still to this day considered the nation's most prestigious honors society.

Middlebury offers strong undergraduate liberal arts programs, and is, as many liberal arts colleges, exclusively an undergraduate school. Originally a Baptist school, the University of Richmond is now a non-sectarian liberal arts university.

Distinguishing itself from many liberal arts schools, the University of Richmond has a dedicated business school and a school of leadership. In addition to its 4, student undergraduate enrollment, the school also serves nearly 1, graduate students through its MBA and Law School programs-the only two graduate programs offered by the University of Richmond. Film Toggle Film.

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Teaching Credentials Toggle Teaching Credentials. Civil Engineering Toggle Civil Engineering. They represent the extremes in LAC size Wes 2, and Haverford 1, but both have excellent programs.

I'm fairly certain Wesleyan's size gives it a course breadth advantage over most, if not all, of the other LACs including Williams and will have at least as many faculty as any other LACs in the sciences. I would also keep in mind other aspects of the school, like location, calendar semester vs. HC has nice campus and is 1 hour from Boston. Holy Cross also has strong pre-med program. The difference is mostly due to the greater numbers of math and computer science profs at Williams; the science depts have similar faculty numbers.

Most of the difference reflects the higher number of math and computer science majors at Williams. Other factors will affect your undergraduate experience as much or more than the number of faculty or course offerings.