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| Course
requirements by program |
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| Why
Enter the LEAP Program? |
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| Working
professionals who seek new job opportunities
recognize Engineering as the ideal gateway
to a fast-paced career in high tech. Many
such opportunities, however, are inaccessable
to individuals who lack a basic bachelor’s
degree in engineering. |
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For
over two decades, the Late Entry Accelerated
Program (LEAP) at Boston University has
allowed talented individuals and working
professionals to obtain graduate degrees
in engineering. The LEAP program first
brings matriculants up to parity in undergraduate
engineering coursework, then allows them
to earn a Masters Degree in one of several
engineering fields.
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The program was originally funded by a 1980 grant
from National Science Foundation as a means to
attract more women into engineering. The program
now admits both men and women and is supported
by Boston University. |
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Who Wants to be An Engineer? |
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According
to David Perreault, a professor in the department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering and
longtime LEAP enthusiast,
"People
from all walks of life and every academic
background are attracted to what LEAP
has to offer. The LEAP program turns
the deficit of a non-engineering background
into an asset."
The
typical LEAP students are between the
ages of 22 and 45 and have an undergraduate
degrees in such diverse fields as math,
music, physics, chemistry, life sciences,
education, english, psychology, business,
or the fine arts.
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What
Do LEAP Students Study? |
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LEAP
students may choose from any of the college’s
six graduate programs in biomedical, computer
systems, electrical, manufacturing, mechanical,
or photonics engineering. The undergraduate
courses that must be taken to fulfill
the first phase of LEAP are individually
determined for each applicant based on
prior background, work experience, and
previous undergraduate degree.
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Some students – physics undergraduates,
for example – may need to take
only three or four undergraduate courses
before proceeding to the Master's program.
Others students, such as social science
or business majors, will need more undergraduate
courses. Students with relevant on-the-job
experience may also be exempted from
some undergraduate course requirements.
After
meeting individualized under-graduate
core curriculum requirements, LEAP students
make the transition to a regular Master’s
Degree program in engineering. Some
LEAP students also choose to continue
on to the PhD program at Boston University.
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Admission
to LEAP requires that the applicant have
at least one prior college-level calculus
class with a grade of B or better, suitable
scores on the general Graduate Record Exam
(GRE), and a strong motivation for advanced
study. Once a student has been admitted
to LEAP, the needed academic preparation
for masters-level can be obtained through
courses at Boston University. Non-English-speaking
applicants must take the TOEFL exam. |
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Who
are LEAP students? |
LEAP
students come from all walks of life. Diane
Kiwior, a former public school teacher,
exemplifies the ideal LEAP applicant. After
teaching math for 11 years in central Pennsylvania,
she joined the LEAP program at Boston University.
In her own words, |
“I kept reading about all the
wonderful things that were happening
in the world of computers and the Internet
and I wanted to be a part of it. I can’t
tell you how much I’m struck by
the breadth of the engineering field.
I don’t think people are aware
of the enormous variety of job opportunities
that are available to individuals with
advanced engineering degrees.”
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Kiwior
thrived on the transiton from teacher to student.
As a nontraditional student, she found the faculty
supportive and the younger students very helpful.
She now works at TASC in Reading, Massachusetts,
where she designs methods for the rapid retrieval
of visual information. |
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| LEAP
Student Daniel Pascual had an undergraduate
degree in biology and worked in a hospital
for a year before applying to the program
in biomedical engineering. While pursuing
is Phase I studies, Dan decided to switch
to Mechanical Engineering. Says Dan, |
“I started
out pre-med with an interest in diagnostic
medicine, but I wanted to enter the
world of high technology. Now I’m
using engineering principles to solve
some of those same problems. My laboratory
work experience will be a particularly
valuable asset when I complete the program
and begin my job search.”
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While
a Master's Degree candidate in Mechanical Engineering,
Pascual has worked as a research assistant in
the Precision Engineering Research Laboratory
where he uses laser interferometry to design
micro-machined hydrophone arrays. The graduate
research assistantship pays all his tuition
costs plus a generous monthly stipend.
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| In
recognition of the financial hardships
that returning non-traditional students
may face, the College of Engineering at
Boston University offers need-based tuition
scholarships of up to $27,595 per academic
year in addition to loans and work-study
jobs for the first, undergraduate-equivalency
phase of the program. Scholarships, graduate
research assistantships, and graduate
teaching fellowships are available for
full-time Masters students.
LEAP
alumni have been very successful as professional
engineers. The experience they bring to
the program combined with the technical
engineering expertise they gain allows
them to work even more effectively on
modern, complex engineering problems. |
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