Engineering at Dartmouth: Some Frequently Asked Questions

Note: To begin what we hope will become a semi-regular feature on this blog, we invited Professor Erland Schulson of the Thayer School of Engineering to answer some frequently asked questions about studying engineering at Dartmouth. In the future, we hope to have similar guest posts from faculty and staff representing various areas of the college. If there are academic or extracurricular topics you would enjoy reading more about on this blog, please leave a comment on this post with your suggestions. -Brian
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Guest Post by Professor Erland Schulson
Char, Engineering Sciences Department
Erland.Schulson@Dartmouth.edu



Dartmouth and the Thayer School of Engineering believe that nothing should stand in the way of creativity, collaboration, and innovation. That’s why you won’t find departments at Thayer, and you won’t be limited to a single area of engineering. Instead, you’ll study Engineering Sciences. You’ll master broad principles you can apply in all areas of engineering as you solve real-world problems. You’ll explore a variety of disciplines before delving into a specialty of your choice.

1) How is the undergraduate program structured in the absence of engineering departments?

A single department brings together faculty with expertise in a range of engineering and science disciplines. Students are mentored by teachers who are not only experts in one or more fields but also generalists who can envision solutions that cut across traditional disciplines.

During the A.B. program, core engineering courses give students tools that are applicable to all fields while electives allow the student to investigate a field of choice.

At the heart of the undergraduate curriculum is systems analysis. Not mechanical systems or electrical systems or thermal systems. Systems. Students apply equations for lumped, discrete, and distributed systems to engineering problems from all fields.

In our “Introduction to Engineering” course, you’ll team with other students to meet a real-life challenge, such as devising a way to conserve energy, easing life for people with physical disabilities, or helping children learn. In our core courses you’ll master principles you can apply to all areas of engineering. You’ll delve into various fields — biomedical, materials science, and mechanical, to name a few.

2) I do want to work in a specific area within engineering. Is it possible to prepare for such a career at Dartmouth?

Absolutely. At Dartmouth you can select a concentration in a particular area of engineering. This coursework focus, combined with projects and/or internships in a particular field, prepares students well for launching careers in a variety of traditional engineering disciplines.

3) The A.B. degree in Engineering Sciences does not lead to professional licensure as an Engineer. What educational and career paths do students pursue with an A.B. degree?

Approximately three-quarters of engineering majors acquire Dartmouth’s professional B.E. degree, and most of the rest go into a variety of full-time employment. Opportunities for A.B.-only graduates include:
· Lab technician
· Computer design and analysis
· Technical sales, marketing, and public relations
· Financial consulting
· Technical writing
· Science and technology public policy
Of course many students also go on to Master’s and Ph.D. programs, not only in engineering but also in other fields such as medicine, business, and law.

4) What areas of concentration are available through the B.E. degree option?

Although engineering at Dartmouth is cross-disciplinary, students can also pursue interests in traditional engineering fields. Engineering sciences majors who plan to pursue the B.E. program work with faculty advisors to develop the best programs. The sample programs accessed through the list below show the typical foundation and advanced courses for specific engineering fields.

Biomedical Engineering
Biotechnology
Chemical Engineering
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Environmental Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering
Mechanical Engineering


5) How does Thayer's approach enhance the engineering student experience at Dartmouth?

Most engineering schools advocate interdisciplinary thinking while still requiring a commitment to a specific discipline. Climb into the box first, they say, then think outside it. For Dartmouth engineers, the box does not exist.

You'll learn engineering by solving real engineering problems. Even in your initial courses, you'll be inventing things and analyzing problems using tools common to all engineering disciplines.

At Dartmouth—the smallest school in the Ivy League—you'll also experience unparalleled personal attention within a close-knit, collaborative community.

And because engineering at Dartmouth is part of the liberal arts, you'll gain the skills and knowledge that distinguish Dartmouth engineers as a breed apart. You'll know how to communicate. You'll know how to see the big picture . And, most importantly, you’ll learn how to work with people to get the job done.

Engineering at Dartmouth

Maria Laskaris, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid had a great conversation with Joseph Helble, Dean of Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering. We want to thank all our viewers who tuned in live and asked a number of phenomenal questions. It was a great conversation thanks to your questions.

Watch the video and use the notes below as resource in understanding how Dartmouth does Engineering differently. Enjoy.

• One of the most popular and busy areas of Engineering at Dartmouth is biomedical engineering. Many Thayer faculty, alumni, and even undergraduates have been involved in bio-tech start-ups.
• Faculty at Thayer are incredibly active with research and entrepreneurship and what's so amazing about Engineering at Darmouth (and this is true for departments across campus) is that undergraduates have wonderfully easy access to these professors. Dean Helble explains that undergraduates can simply go knock on a professor's door (though likely it'll be open already) to chat about possible work and involvement in research. Or undergraduates can just chat with a professor right after class.
• Computer Engineering at Dartmouth focuses more on hardware while Computer Science focuses more on software, but there's lots of collaboration between the two fields and departments at Dartmouth.
• For more information about the BA Major in Engineering (liberal arts degree) and the BE (Bachelors of Engineering) visit the degrees webpage.
• Students can begin taking engineering classes as early as their first year. AP credits can certainly help students get a jump-start on prerequisites for the degree and that can help them graduate in 4 years with a BA and BE.
• Students interested in Engineering may submit an abstract of their previous research work with their application, though it won't be sent to the Engineering School for review, it'll just help the officer reading your application get a sense of your intellectual work and interests. Please don't send entire papers.
• All Dartmouth majors require a culminating experience (this can be independent research, a play or performance, a project, or any number of things). Similarly, Engineering at Dartmouth (the major and BE) requires a culminating experience.
• Engineering, like all academic programs at Dartmouth, requires time and effort, but engineering students are involved across campus with everything from serving as Captain of the Ski Team to being a tour guide.
• Engineering undergraduates will take courses across campus and fulfill Dartmouth's liberal arts distributive requirements (this is true for BA and BE students).
• Courses in engineering may be co-taught by faculty from other areas of campus, including the Medical School, Tuck School of Business or other departments. Dartmouth is very interdisciplinary by nature given it's size and philosophy.
• Engineers from Dartmouth go on to do pretty much anything and everything. Graduates of Thayer are leading corporations large and small, have started their own firms for engineering or architecture or gone into the arts and design. Some go into finance and consulting while others go into public service and the non-profit sector.

Other Great Resources related to Engineering at Dartmouth

• The Big Green Bus
  
• Dartmouth's Thayer Formula Hybrid
  
• The Syllabus for Engineering 21, the first required course for a degree in engineering
  
• Dartmouth's HELP group (Humanitarian Engineering Leadership Project)
  
• Sustainability efforts at Dartmouth
  
• Green Lite Dartmouth, which helps shape people's behavior to lessen their energy use
• Gyrobike, a company started by Dartmouth undergraduates from a project in Engineering 21. They even have a Wikipedia entry
  
• Visit Dartmouth FAQ
  
• Visiting Thayer information
  
• Previously recorded Pre-Med video chat (Sorry the video's a bit choppy, but hopefully it's still helpful)
  
• Thayer360
  

Pre-Med Video Chat with Dean Laskaris and Frances Vernon '10

Additional references and resources:

• More about the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
  
• Dickey Center for International Understanding
• Research grants at Dartmouth
• Credit/placement you can get from AP/IB/A-Level/SAT Subject Tests
• We offer many placement exams during First Year orientation to help make sure you're taking the classes that are best for you
• Either SAT or ACT are considered equally. Take whichever is best for you. In addition, you will need to take 2 SAT Subject Tests
• Dartmouth-run Study Abroad programs
• For those less familiar with Dartmouth and its surrounds, the Upper Valley is the region surrounding Dartmouth (the Connecticut River Valley)
• Students can get funding from a number of offices and departments across Dartmouth
• A tribute to President Jim Kim

Also, don't miss Colleen's post about Pre-Health at Dartmouth. She provides numerous specific examples of how Dartmouth's Pre-health Program stands out.

So you want to be pre-med?

When talking to prospective students and parents, we field a lot of questions about how Dartmouth prepares students for medical school. Our Admissions staff met with Dartmouth’s pre-health advisors earlier this fall, and below are some key points from our discussion.

Many Dartmouth students are interested in medical careers. Typically, about 1100 students – a quarter of the student body – follow the Nathan Smith Premedical Society email list. About 180 to 200 students per year apply to Medical, Dental, or Vet programs. Learn more about the Nathan Smith Society.

Dartmouth has fantastic resources for pre-med students. Chief among them:

• Dartmouth Medical School (DMS). The medical school is on campus and many professors have dual tenure with DMS and Dartmouth College. Undergrads can collaborate on research projects with med school faculty and students.
• Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC). One of New England’s best hospitals is located just one mile from campus, providing incredible research and internship opportunities for undergrads.

At Dartmouth, students do not “major” in pre-med, but they CAN take all the courses they need to be ready for medical school. Their major can be in a related area, like Biology, or in a completely different subject like Anthropology, International Relations, you name it. In fact, less than half of our medical school applicants are science majors – and this can be a real asset in the medical school admissions process.

Support for students interested in health professions abounds! Our Health Professions Program assists students applying to Medical, Dental, and Vet schools. Open office hours are available 4 days per week to assist students with course planning, internships, and applications.

Unique advantages to Dartmouth’s pre-med program:

• The advising system lasts 4+ years – we continue to work with students through graduation and beyond.
• Because of Dartmouth’s small size, the advising and letter-writing processes are very personal. Most universities have a pre-health committee that writes letters of recommendation. At Dartmouth, students select who writes the summary letter on their behalf (a faculty member, dean, etc.) This creates a much more personal letter than what typically comes from a committee.
• Dartmouth has very strong extracurricular programs that allow students to test their interests before they make a commitment to pursue this as a career.
• We have about 300 Dartmouth alumni in medical school, who have specifically agreed to assist students interested in pursuing medical school. (For example, they often host Dartmouth students visiting for interviews.) Students can also draw on the overall strength of our alumni network.
• We offer excellent support in the medical school admissions process, and the Dartmouth Medical School Admissions Office also offers guidance.

What is your medical school acceptance rate? This question comes up time and again. Here is the short answer: If a student comes to Dartmouth, works hard, utilizes pre-health resources, and has an average GPA and MCAT score, they are VERY likely to be accepted to medical school.

• Nationally, the medical school acceptance is about 45%, and Dartmouth’s is far higher (approaching twice) that average.
• 11 of 85 students in this year’s Dartmouth Medical School incoming class are Dartmouth College graduates.

More resources for our pre-med students:

• 80 Medical School Faculty members offer shadowing opportunities in a wide range of medical specialties. We also have community vet and dental shadowing programs.
• The Health Professions Program maintains a research opportunities directory, and students engage in a wide variety of medical research projects.
• Women In Science Project (WISP) connects students in their first or second year with paid part-time research internships with science faculty members (or researchers in nearby industrial or government laboratories).

In short, if you decide the medical field is for you, Dartmouth will provide the support and opportunities to make you successful!

Passion and Practicality - Dartmouth and the Liberating Arts

This is one of my favorite sections from President Kim's Inaugural Address - see the full link here.

"Since I joined the College, I’ve learned a lot about what makes this place so special. Certainly the setting is uniquely beautiful. The faculty and academic programs – both undergraduate and graduate – are superb. The history and tradition of the College animate every aspect of life here. But I don’t think any of those alone captures what truly makes Dartmouth what it is.

The writer Jack Beatty, who taught in the English Department last fall, was one of many who shared with me their insights on Dartmouth. In an email to me this summer, he wrote:

“I taught a senior writing class here last fall. I stress ‘senior’ because all the students had had four years of Dartmouth socialization. The class was built around collective critiques of student short stories. The students all wrote well, a few wonderfully. But what impressed me more than their talent was their decency. I feared hurt feelings, bruised egos, too-critical critiques. Instead, they managed the social miracle of being at once honest and empathic in their comments. They cushioned criticism in respect, even affection. I told them how humanly rare that kind of communication was. I checked my experience against that of a friend who teaches political science here. In over forty years of teaching in a half dozen universities both here and abroad, he told me, he had never had students who treated each other so well. That speaks volumes of good about the Dartmouth experience.”

Jack Beatty’s fine observation recalls how President Ernest Martin Hopkins, more than a half-century before, expressed his own understanding of what makes Dartmouth unique. At the inauguration of President Dickey, President Hopkins, then stepping down after 29 years at the helm of the College, said “I have become impressed more and more with the sweetness that attached to the relationship between one and another which constituted this great family which we call Dartmouth”...

The sweetness of Dartmouth.

The sense of color and proportion as you stand in the center of the Green, taking in Dartmouth Row, Webster Hall, Baker Library. The men and women who for almost two-and-a-half centuries have loved this place...

By inviting me to serve you as the seventeenth president of Dartmouth College, you’ve given me the highest honor of my life. In return, I offer you this promise, backed by both passion and practicality to the fullest measure of which I am capable: I will do all I can to enable Dartmouth to continue delivering the treasury of its centuries-old dream safely into the hands of those who will shape the future. To send a legion of young people out into the world so inspired by this place that there is no challenge from which they will shrink—all the while remaining true to the abiding sweetness of the College on the Hill."

Dartmouth obsession of the week....

Colleen just sent us the link to the Thayer School's new Panoramic Virtual Tour...very cool. I also love the nighttime aerial shot of the campus in slide six of the "Thayer Throughout the Seasons" slideshow.

Back to travel planning....

It's not bragging if you can do it...

Dartmouth ranked #1 in new US News ranking for 'Best Undergraduate Teaching' among national universities.



Like many of my colleagues at Dartmouth and at other institutions, I often worry about the amount of weight prospective students put on the college and university rankings in publications like the US News & World Report. On the one hand, I see the value in these websites and publications. Most of the high school students that I encounter are considering a list of colleges and universities that reflect pretty strong family, school, and/or regional biases regarding different institutions. Websites and publications that consider and compare a wide variety of schools really help students consider a broader range of college options.

On the other hand, there is a lot that these ranking systems don't capture. Am I thrilled that we were ranked first in this category among national universities? You bet. Do I think the educational experience we are offering to our students lives up to this claim? Absolutely. But we would be the same college, with the same commitments and quality of teaching, if we were ranked #2, or #11. Just something to keep in mind :)