What to Look for in the Best Undergrad Engineering Programs
A career in engineering is full of complex, rewarding problem solving and the first step in making an impact is getting your undergraduate degree. But knowing what to look for in an engineering program isn’t always obvious.
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Nearly every industry requires engineers to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that can leave a long-lasting impact.
For this reason, engineering degrees have become increasingly valuable, with high job demand and lifetime earnings across a variety of specializations.
Securing a job as an engineer begins with an undergraduate degree from an accredited engineering program that helps set the foundation for a lifelong career.
But great engineering schools do more than just offer the classes that prepare you for licensure. Rather, they combine theory, research and hands-on experience to create engineers prepared to thrive after graduation.
With the many different types of engineering degrees and options for majoring in engineering, identifying what the best undergraduate engineering schools have in common can help you choose the right program for you.
Discover why getting your engineering degree at a liberal arts college can get you all the technical experience you need to succeed while still allowing you to pursue your passions.
An Interdisciplinary Curriculum
A career in engineering involves much more than just expertise in math and science.
While professional licensure is dependent on a combination of technical knowledge and supervised experience, engineering physics majors can make themselves more competitive with a diverse skillset.
The best engineering schools understand this, and involve an undergraduate core curriculum in their degrees that emphasizes in-demand experience in:
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Communication. The ability to persuasively communicate your research can help advance your career more quickly and help better secure things like funding and fellowship opportunities.
Classes in both general and engineering-specific writing and communications are built into all undergraduate engineering degrees at Pacific.
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Leadership. Effective engineers are those who can not only use their insight to solve problems, but also leverage that insight to help others do the same.
Whether through accompanying business courses or through involvement in student organizations, engineering physics undergraduates have the opportunity to leave school with leadership experience.
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Natural sciences. A common companion to an undergraduate degree in engineering, coursework in natural sciences can open new avenues for an exciting career.
Nonprofit, government and private industries frequently prioritize engineers with experience in environmental science to help solve complex international problems.
Pacific empowers students, regardless of major, through an all-around education in liberal arts, meaning that undergraduate students with a major in engineering can graduate poised to make an impact in a variety of environments.
Engineering Specializations
There are many different types of engineering degrees, each of which prepare you for a specific career or post-graduate specialization.
These specializations are greatly desired by employers, and the top engineering schools encourage students to explore fields within engineering while establishing a foundation of general knowledge.
Some schools offer joint-degree engineering programs, which allow you to receive two bachelor’s degrees which compliment one another, such as physics and an accompanying engineering specialty.
Highly sought-after, these specializations can help you break into fields like environmental science, healthcare, transportation, aerospace, and more.
Pacific’s undergraduate core curriculum allows you to pursue an engineering degree while finding space to pursue additional passions that could support your career.
Great engineering schools allow students majoring in engineering to flex their specializations through program-ending capstone projects, giving them an opportunity to explore a specific niche.
Plentiful and Accessible Hands-On Training
Putting what you learn from the classroom into practice is the hallmark of the best undergraduate engineering programs.
In engineering degree programs, this emphasis on hands-on training starts early, with students integrating the concepts they’ve learned during class into real-world projects.
Whether in engineering department lab settings or in a school’s dedicated makerspace, chances for budding engineers to turn their ideas into reality are plentiful.
Making use of these spaces demonstrates to future employers not only that you can tangibly put what you learn to use, but also that you have project management skills to carry out complex tasks.
Great engineering programs are those that give you the tools to create things large or small, with the opportunity for those creations to have a real, meaningful impact on the lives of others.
Due to Pacific’s location within the Silicon Forest (an area with a large industrial presence in tech), internships are abundant for those who want to practice engineering in a professional environment prior to graduation.
Faculty and Staff that Encourage Research
Perhaps no undergraduate degree is more closely associated with “research and development” than engineering.
Student participation in that research is how the best engineering programs distinguish themselves from the rest.
During your engineering degree, you can work alongside faculty in physics, healthcare, natural sciences and more to aid in the material development of new ideas, methods and products.
All types of engineering degrees can benefit from research throughout the undergraduate timeline, and both graduate schools and employers look for demonstrated R&D when evaluating candidates.
Dual-degree engineering programs can provide specialization in this research, resulting in capstone projects that get to the heart of your passions.
Pacific alumni work in industries all over the world, and you can use that extensive network to help land a role doing what you love after graduation.