Hello, I am currently looking into colleges and have loved Smith College. The thing is it only has a general engineering degree, which is not the worst. What can someone do with a general engineering degree, or what have y’all done? Also, if anyone is a Smith alumni what have you done? For reference, my current ideal job is devolpment and work in lower income countries (Togo, Burkina, Benin).
Hello! Not an alum, but as a high school teacher I had some thoughts after reading this post. And I think you should really think hard about them as you go into college hunting.
- Why do you love Smith College?
- What specific area of engineering are you interested in, and have you asked the engineering dept at Smith if there is a way to specialize in it?
- For ideal career helping with development in other countries, is there a “best” degree/background needed?
If you visit a college, and it just feels like home, that’s a very powerful reason to go there. You’d be surprised that the faculty (especially at a small private college) will be every willing to help craft an academic program that helps you reach your goals. It could be a perfect fit.
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I work at a major university with a large engineering college and a significant foreign enrollment—the most popular majors for students from developing countries are Ag Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Electrical Engineering.
This makes sense if you think about the needs of developing countries. Food, Roads, Water & Electrical Systems are the foundation on which developed economies are built.
Smith as in near Amherst?
If so, my cousin (Hampshire) and her friend (Smith) go there.
They have a unique-ish situation as far as classes are concerned, pretty sure this is very similar with Smith.
What specifically do you find attractive about Smith College? Do those attributes contribute to your long-term goals better than some other school?
What sort of education and work experience are needed to do the development work you are aiming for? It is likely that one would be much more effective doing development work with 5-10 years of work experience. What types of qualifications do employers typically require? With the prevalence of computerized candidate screening software, not having exactly the correct buzzwords on one’s application often leads to automatic rejection before one gets to talk to anyone.
What sort of educational and work experience do the governments of those countries require? I have done two international moves and the regulations can make it quite difficult, depending on one’s education and work experience.
Lastly, what sort of life do you want to live in 20-30 years? Will your stated career path allow that? Have you spoken with 2-3 people doing the type of work you are considering?
Is this college quite small? Are they known for the quality of their engineering program? If they are small and not known for their engineering program, it may be something that was added to make the school appear more well rounded to donors. If this is the case, it is likely that graduates will have difficulty getting jobs in an engineering field.
That was a lot of potentially difficult questions but the answers and the path one chooses will have very long-term effects.
My wife went a women’s college and had a great experience.
If you like smith have you looked at wellesley? They are a women’s’ college that have programs with olin & MIT to do your engineering coursework and with the international development angle might be a bit of a better place to launch that work.
The small School of Engineering that I attended (a long, long time ago) didn’t put a specialization on the B.S. engineering degree. There were plenty of electives especially in years 3 and 4. Before signing up with them do find out what the college’s expectations are for YOU to select what courses you want to take and how they lead to graduation.
What have I done with a no-name degree? A brief sample: system programmer for corporate mainframe computers, nuclear physics, thermal energy transport, develop inventory control systems, instrumentation and control, FRC robotics grades 4 to 12.
This ^
Gathering enough skills to be a generalist is something you actively have to put a lot of work/time into. Over my life in academia I think I have seen a resurgence in (more) generalist appreciation in the form of multidisciplinary work (note this varies from interdisciplinary a little).
I think this is summed up pretty well by @SLAB-Mr.Thomas :
However a lot of this comes down to who you know, the key is knowing enough that you get talking with people, or at least being a good enough conversationalist to let others talk at you and have a good convo as you learn. The Peoria IL group (1756, 2481, and others) really gives out the “who ya know” vibes - the skills are there, it’s getting into position. If you wanna dig through some of Ben’s responses in particular on CD it will be worth your time on this front. Point is: varied skills are important for opening/ discovering doors.
Final thing. VERY few people plan things out and execute to the “t” post highschool. Resumes may look like a linear progression, but the individuals behind them are often the product of a very convoluted and winding path.
“Life is what happens while you were busy making other plans.” —John Lennon (possibly borrowed)
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Agree – in terms of getting jobs, having somebody to vouch that you’re a reasonable person who works hard, is easy to work with, has good judgment, and has the skills or is quickly able to acquire the skills required to do the job. What you’ve done in the past via your resume can indicate if you do or don’t meet the skill requirement.
The college you have and type of degree are only two elements of your personal brand that incorporates into this.