Dual Degree Engineering

Engineering Dual Degree Program

Muhlenberg College has a dual degree program in engineering and applied science with the engineering school at Columbia University in New York City. The program offers students the ability to earn both a BS degree from Muhlenberg College and a BS in engineering from Columbia University.

Typically, a student spends three years at Muhlenberg and two years at the engineering school, hence the term 3-2 program. Many students opt to spend the full four years at Muhlenberg followed by two years at the engineering school, the 4-2 program.

Employers tend to look very favorably on students who graduate from these programs. Columbia's engineering school reports that, in recent years, the dual degree students have had better job opportunities, with higher starting salaries, than students who go directly through traditional engineering programs. Employers value the reasoning, critical thinking, problem-solving and communications skills which students acquire at the liberal arts college. These skills, combined with the outstanding technical preparation from the engineering courses, make for an attractive job candidate.

Prequisitie Muhlenberg Courses

The prerequisite courses taken at Muhlenberg for the all dual degree concentrations at Columbia University are as follows:

Interested students should consult with the College's program liaison officer, Department Chair Adam Clark, to determine the equivalent courses at Muhlenberg.

Students apply to the dual-degree engineering program after they arrive at Muhlenberg. A student interested in this program is strongly advised to contact the program liaison officer in the first or second semester. The application to the program is made in the winter of the third year (for the 3/2 program) or fourth year (the 4/2 program) at Muhlenberg. Students must complete all of Muhlenberg's general academic requirements and all of their major requirements before transferring to Columbia. Students in the 3-2 program transfer course credits from the engineering school back to Muhlenberg College to complete the 32-course graduation requirement. The engineering school does not specify any particular undergraduate major for admission to the program; however, some majors at Muhlenberg are more appropriate than others, depending on the specific engineering field the student wishes to pursue. For example, students interested in Mechanical, Civil, or Electrical Engineering or Materials Science should consider majoring in either Physics or Physical Science, while students interested in Chemical Engineering could consider a Chemistry major.

Columbia will review all applicants in a holistic and competitive review process. While they expect students to meet the following guidelines, they will also consider overall academic preparation and fit for Columbia. Students should have at least 3.3 overall average. In addition, a student should achieve a pre-engineering GPA of 3.3 and the minimum grade in each pre-engineering science and mathematics prerequisite course should be a B the first time the course is taken. Pre-engineering prerequisite courses should be taken at Muhlenberg. Positive letters of recommendation from the College liaison officer, a science professor and a mathematics professor are required. Students must also have completed a minimum of two years full-time at Muhlenberg College. Students who do not achieve the requirements may still be admitted, but admission is not automatic.

There is no longer guaranteed admissions to the program by meeting guidelines. Students are strongly encouraged to take all pre-engineering courses at Muhlenberg. In the rare instance when taking a course elsewhere is necessary, the dual-degree liaison must approve the course before it is taken. This approval is in addition to the approval of the appropriate department chair.