With the fall 2019 admission notification date on March 30, many students are considering their options for higher education. The 2+2 Engineering program, offered at UNC Wilmington, UNC Asheville and Craven Community College, is a transfer program for students who were not initially accepted into NC State, or who simply want to live in another part of the state. 2+2 provides students with the opportunity to complete their first one to two years of pre-engineering courses remotely before transferring to NC State.
Amy Reamer, who previously attended and worked at NC State, is the program director as well as academic advisor for the NC State Engineering 2+2 Transfer Program at UNCW.
“The purpose was to help these students find opportunities back in their part of the state, that we would kind of spread the engineering wealth … we need engineers in all parts of the state,” Reamer said. “One of the key reasons why this program came to be is that UNC Wilmington and [UNC] Asheville would become satellite locations for the NC State College of Engineering.”
Since applying to college, Connor Avery Bryant, second-year electrical engineering intent at UNCW, said that he had trouble picking an engineering major. He said that the 2+2 program has helped him find his passion and declare his electrical engineering major.
“When I got my acceptance letter from State, I wasn’t accepted in my first choice [aerospace engineering] but I was accepted in my second choice for chemistry,” Bryant said. “The reason I went with the 2+2 program is because I talked to some advisors at NC State … what they basically told me is that CODA is pretty easy going within a specific [college], but to go from [College] of Science to the College of Engineering is extremely hard.”
Reamer said that students in the 2+2 program complete the same courses listed as CODA requirements for the College of Engineering before transferring to NC State. However, unlike first-year engineering majors at NC State who must CODA into an engineering department, Reamer said that 2+2 students transfer directly into their preferred department.
“Every fall, I teach Engineering 101 at UNC Wilmington,” Reamer said. “I’m able to bring in local guest speakers in engineering disciplines. I really want them to be able to plant roots in southeastern North Carolina as they start their education at UNCW, and then transfer to NC State with the hopes of potentially coming back.”
Bailey Butler, fourth-year industrial and systems engineering major at NC State, said that she chose the 2+2 program because of the financial support that UNCW offered.
“I honestly think about it now and I probably would have started the same way, because I was able to make an impact at both schools,” Butler said. “Not a lot of people can say that they went to two schools and overall, I got a lot different opportunities than the average student.”
Ryan Callahan, a second-year student at UNCW, will be transferring to NC State as a mechanical engineering major in the fall. He said that he enjoyed the smaller class sizes at UNCW.
“I think that’s definitely the biggest advantage because you get to know everyone in your class and the professor,” Callahan said. “The only disadvantage that certain courses that we could take at State, we can’t take here, so it can then make your course schedule a little out of whack.”
Reamer said that approximately 75 percent of the students in the 2+2 program at UNCW are admitted into NC State after transferring, as compared to the 33% transfer admission rate for NC State in fall 2018.
“This program is very well suited for high school students that maybe just missed being admitted to the College of Engineering directly,” Reamer said. “It’s not a bad thing to start your education at the beach … our location is fantastic and the same can be said for UNC Asheville. I think what we are willing to offer is a very equitable education in the first two years that translate well to being prepared for upper level courses at NC State.”
