Boston University LEAP Program

[v834]

Has anyone heard back?

Not yet, I am waiting anxiously!!!

Hi,

I'm a working Mom with a couple of kids graduating HS in the next two years. I have a BS in Mgt and an MS in Project Management. I've been working for an engineering firm for over 10 years. I'm interested in the LEAP Program because my career has stalled (engineers get most of the perks). Anyway I can't seem to get some answers and wonder if anyone here has them.

1. After completing LEAP, are graduates eligible to sit for the PE?

2. Is LEAP online or in person?

3. I'm thinking of electrical engineering but really prefer civil. Does anyone know of a similar program at another institution that offers something similar to LEAP in Civil?

4. Have any adult LEAP students been able to receive scholarships or financial aid beyond loans. With 2 kids starting college in two years, I don't want to overburden the budget.

Thanks All !

1. The state requirements can be found here, I don't think it would be impossible, but it would be difficult because if you don't have a ABET accredited degree then it takes longer and ABET generally only accredits the bachelor degrees, not master degrees. I'm planning on asking this on the online open house on the 13th of February. I asked a student about it off hand when visiting and the didn't know what the PE was . You should go online for the open house if you are really interested in LEAP. PEs are only really strongly relevant if you are interested in public sector work. ETA: Regulations vary by state so it might be easier in a different state or potentially completely impossible, it all depends really .

2. No. This should be pretty obvious from reading the website, you need the hands on experience with engineering classes as you haven't had any before. This doesn't mean that some prereqs or less lab oriented courses might not be available online, but you can't do the whole program online and I think it'd probably be a waste if you could.

3. No, the reason is Civil really requires a PE because it's public sector based, if you want to do civil engineering you really need to go back and get a bachelor's degree first.

4. From the website :

Awarding of LEAP scholarship is based on financial eligibility and merit. Students who wish to be considered for scholarship funding must fulfill the following requirements:

• Enroll at least half-time
  
• Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
  
• Demonstrate need through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at www.fafsa.gov (code 002130)
  

As part of the financial aid package, students eligible for the LEAP scholarship must also accept a Federal Stafford Direct Subsidized Loan of $8,500 per academic year.

The amount of LEAP scholarship varies depending on the level of demonstrated need, merit, enrollment and availability of funds. Assistance is potentially available for up to seven semesters. International students are not eligible for financial aid for Phase I and must submit financial documentation with their application.

Edited February 9, 2012 by v834

[v834]

Does anyone know how difficult it might be to obtain a license to be a PE with a non-ABET Master's in Eng, and non-engineering BS degree? My concerns for doing a program like LEAP would be that we do not have a ABET-accredited BEng degree which is what a lot of employers are looking for (As well as being a PE). Thoughts please?

It's not impossible, but potentially very difficult (see post above for link to Mass requirements, also check the state in which you'd want to work). There is an open house on the 13th that you can attend online and I plan on asking if people have done this. That said, I think PEs are mostly seen nowadays as only relevant if you want to do public sector work and what you build could cause lives (i.e. structural, civil whatnot). I spoke to a student when I visited and offhandedly mentioned the PE and she didn't know what it was, so I doubt it's highly emphasized.

[brella]

Has anyone heard yet?

[ukosi]

Just received a rejection letter via email this morning. I wish I could find out what I did wrong.

Not sure what I'm going to do now since I was really hoping for this

Edited February 23, 2012 by ukosi

[ghanada]

Just received a rejection letter via email this morning. I wish I could find out what I did wrong.

Not sure what I'm going to do now since I was really hoping for this

oh wow, I'm sorry to hear this. I am currently in the program and I think it has gotten a lot more competitive lately...I don't think they really rejected anyone when I started 3 years ago. If you give me some info on your background and stats I might be able to offer you some advice for getting in for spring.

[StaNg72]

Has anyone heard yet?

Just received a rejection letter via email this morning. I wish I could find out what I did wrong.

Not sure what I'm going to do now since I was really hoping for this

Still waiting, very anxiously...and sorry to hear that ukosi . I hope they aren't going ridiculously unpredictable on us..you should definitely find out what you can do to better your chances if you choose to reapply. Don't let this get you down. The world needs people like you!

[v834]

Still waiting

[brella]

Sorry to hear that ukosi. When did you apply? Which track did you chose? What is your background?

[StaNg72]

Wouldn't be awesome if we all heard back today? Y'know, LEAP news on Leap Day, amirite??? -__-

[ghanada]

Wouldn't be awesome if we all heard back today? Y'know, LEAP news on Leap Day, amirite??? -__-

haha we actually have a LEAP event going on right now to celebrate leap day! A whole bunch of people are gathered in an engineering study hall to play guitar hero haha. Best of luck to you all, the LEAPers are a great group of people and since nobody is a "typical" engineer there's a lot of social things going on and everyone is really interesting.

[StaNg72]

Accepted =) Best of luck to everyone!!

[HKLincoln]

^ Congrats!

If you don't mind sharing, how did you do on the GRE?

[CMC_Kid]

Accepted =) Best of luck to everyone!!

Can I ask when you submitted your application?

I'm still waiting...

[StaNg72]

^ Congrats!

If you don't mind sharing, how did you do on the GRE?

Can I ask when you submitted your application?

I'm still waiting...

HK - I scored a 158 on both Quantitative and Verbal...it's all right, but obviously could have been better. That translates to about a 740 and 580 on the old scoring system. My writing score was terrible...3.5. Writing an essay within a half hour - not my forte. I can work on it, though.

CMC - I submitted my application on November 11th. I only found out because I e-mailed last night...heh. At first I was told I'd find out by mid-February. Now it's March, so I decided to follow up, although I was hesitant. I haven't actually gotten an official letter yet, so if I hadn't asked, I'd still be waiting.

To both - Just wondering, did you guys apply for Summer or Fall?

[ghanada]

Accepted =) Best of luck to everyone!!

Congrats!! Welcome to BU. Are you going to start in the summer or fall? Hopefully I will catch you around BU if I am still here.

[CMC_Kid]

HK - I scored a 158 on both Quantitative and Verbal...it's all right, but obviously could have been better. That translates to about a 740 and 580 on the old scoring system. My writing score was terrible...3.5. Writing an essay within a half hour - not my forte. I can work on it, though.

CMC - I submitted my application on November 11th. I only found out because I e-mailed last night...heh. At first I was told I'd find out by mid-February. Now it's March, so I decided to follow up, although I was hesitant. I haven't actually gotten an official letter yet, so if I hadn't asked, I'd still be waiting.

To both - Just wondering, did you guys apply for Summer or Fall?

StaNg - I feel you on the writing section, and you have more guts than I do to email. I submitted mid February so I guess I might not hear back for a while. However, I applied for Fall 2012, but wanted to take a summer class or two . I hope this doesn't prevent me from taking summer school...maybe I should email about it. Congratulations, by the way.

[StaNg72]

Congrats!! Welcome to BU. Are you going to start in the summer or fall? Hopefully I will catch you around BU if I am still here.

StaNg - I feel you on the writing section, and you have more guts than I do to email. I submitted mid February so I guess I might not hear back for a while. However, I applied for Fall 2012, but wanted to take a summer class or two . I hope this doesn't prevent me from taking summer school...maybe I should email about it. Congratulations, by the way.

Ghanada - Thanks! I'll be starting summer. Any tips on where to live? My friend is taking a job in Boston as well, and we're looking for a place.

CMC - I think most people will hear back within the next two weeks if you made the Feb. 15th deadline. And thanks! I hope you get good news soon.

[HKLincoln]

Here are some admissions stats from 2008-2009 annual report. Just go to page 49 of the document

http://www.bu.edu/bme/files/pdf/2008-2009AnnualReportCombinedFile4.pdf

[ghanada]

I'm assuming neither you nor your roommate will have a car? If that is the case, you should def live either walking distance or off a green line branch (maybe a bus, but most people prefer the green line). Most students in general live in Allston, but it is heavily dominated by undergrads and very "party" oriented type of area. Brighton neighbors Allston and is a bit older crowd and more quiet, however, the train doesn't have a stop in Brighton so you would have to find a bus route or have a car or if you don't mind biking, it is a VERY easy bike ride (which is really popular in Boston).

If you head a bit south of BU you will be in Brookline. Brookline is great, but it is a big area so depending on where you live in Brookline, you can be as close as across the street from BU or as far as a 20 min train ride away. I lived in Brookline for 2 years and really like it except that there is no overnight parking and most places don't have any type of parking garage. Basically, if you will have any desire to own a car while you are in Boston, Brookline is a terrible place for it. But Brookline is fairly inexpensive and close to campus. If you live a bit further out from BU in Brookline, find a place that is either close to the C or D line trains. The D line is the fastest of the green line branches because it does NOT go in the middle of the street with car traffic like the B, C, and E lines do. The B line is ridiculously slow because of traffic, but the C line is reasonably quick and it is nice because it goes through Coolidge Corner, which is a great area.

If you want more of a city vibe you can live closer to downtown. Some people live near Beacon Hill or the North End. These are very busy areas with lots of tourists but are close to all trains and have LOTS of things to do. Also, the South End is a really nice and cool area to live in, but public transportation options are bit limited. And finally, Cambridge/Cambridgeport area is another big area for BU grads. However, you would be living across the river and definitely can't take a train into BU. You would have to either do a long walk, short bike ride, or a bus.

ok, that is what I can think of off the top of my head. Dealing with housing in Boston is a pretty terrible experience. 90% of all apartments have a move-in date for Sept. 1st. This means if you need a moving truck you have to reserve it very soon otherwise you can end up renting on in NY and driving it over here. Also, like more than half of all apts for rent require a move-in brokers fee which can range anywhere from half a month's rent to a full month's rent. You should feel free to message me about specifics if you need some more help.

[ghanada]

Here are some admissions stats from 2008-2009 annual report. Just go to page 49 of the document

http://www.bu.edu/bm...mbinedFile4.pdf

oh wow, this is great...I have never even seen anything like this from BU before. However, keep in mind that I am fairly certain this is NOT counting LEAP students in the graduate admissions stats. In fact, I think during the time this report was made LEAP was a much smaller program and had less than a dozen incoming LEAP students per year. Those numbers have easily doubled (and then some) since that time.

[HKLincoln]

Ah, here's the 2010-2011 annual report! Pages 32 and 38 of the document itself talks about enrollment and admissions. It may not show LEAP but I can definitely see that it's gotten very competitive.

http://www.bu.edu/bme/files/2011/10/2011-BME-Annual-Report-_web.pdf

[v834]

Ah, here's the 2010-2011 annual report! Pages 32 and 38 of the document itself talks about enrollment and admissions. It may not show LEAP but I can definitely see that it's gotten very competitive.

http://www.bu.edu/bm...Report-_web.pdf

I've actually seen these for other departments and it looks like BME admits more people than they do (certainly seems to be more women), but then again isn't it ranked 8th in the country? I think they count LEAP students once admitted into Phase II masters section, so no Phase I students are in there, but the others are. If you search the web they have the reports for the other departments as well; it makes for interesting reading.

[ghanada]

I've actually seen these for other departments and it looks like BME admits more people than they do (certainly seems to be more women), but then again isn't it ranked 8th in the country? I think they count LEAP students once admitted into Phase II masters section, so no Phase I students are in there, but the others are. If you search the web they have the reports for the other departments as well; it makes for interesting reading.

Yeah take these reports with a grain of salt, these are specifically looking at the BME dept only, which is highly ranked. The LEAP admissions is not nearly this competitive and there are lots of other types of engineering than just BME. And you are correct, these reports don't reflect LEAP admissions, but for head counts they will count LEAP students in Phase II. This is also because once you finish Phase I you will have to REAPPLY to the Masters program. I haven't heard of anyone getting rejected, so I think it is more of a formality than anything, but once you get into Phase II you have all the same standings as any other "normal" eng grad students. One thing that is nice though is that as a Phase I student, even though you aren't counted as a Masters student, you are still considered a full grad student so you have all the privileges of a grad student.

[v834]

One thing that is nice though is that as a Phase I student, even though you aren't counted as a Masters student, you are still considered a full grad student so you have all the privileges of a grad student.

Well that's very good to know!

[v834]

So I took a page out of StaNg72's book and emailed Helaine since I had just completed my FAFSA and I'm accepted . She said the offical letters should be going out this week with Financial aid offers in the next two (what I really want to know about), so everyone should know really soon!

Edited March 6, 2012 by v834