Combining Engineering and the Liberal Arts

Mary Washington has always held the liberal arts and sciences at its core. But that doesn’t mean that students who are interested in a career in engineering cannot begin that pursuit even while finishing their degree at UMW. Two recent agreements provide students a pathway to a master’s degree in various engineering fields at our sister institutions across Virginia.

Students with the requisite coursework can gain early admission and credits towards an M.S. in engineering at George Mason University College of Engineering and Computing, or a M.Eng. in computer science at Virginia Tech.

Senior John Wood was the first student to take advantage of the GMU program.  He took his first master’s level class last fall, and is enrolled in two more this spring. All this while completing his double major in physics and mathematics. He commented on the experience so far:

I would describe my experience taking grad classes at George Mason as intense. The commute up to Fairfax, the three hour lectures, and the graduate level workload is a real shock to the system. That being said, this dual enrollment has given me the wonderful opportunity of easing into grad school. Last semester I took a single class. This semester two, and this upcoming fall I will be a fulltime student with three courses. This transition period, I think, is the most valuable offering from this program.

This academic year has also seen the first UMW students to take advantage of the Virginia Tech agreement, which offers qualifying students early admission and the possibility of counting specific UMW computer science courses towards their master’s degree at Virginia Tech.