Applying to the Graduate School of Engineering from a Liberal Arts Background?

When I was admitted to Tufts School of Engineering, I felt so many emotions: joy, excitement, pride, and most importantly, gratitude. It felt like I had done the impossible: applied and been accepted into an amazing engineering school without an engineering degree.  

I didn’t always know I wanted to be an engineer. While I was always very interested in biomedical engineering, I was scared about going to a school where I was locked into an engineering curriculum. So when I went to college, I chose a liberal arts university that didn’t offer any engineering courses, and I decided to be a Biology major. However, about two years into my Biology degree I realized I really wanted to try and pursue a career in biomedical engineering.  

Despite my excitement at this big change, I was scared about what the application process would look like for me. I was someone with many credentials in the sciences and mathematics but had no official engineering classes to my name. There were also very few people around me to guide me through the process of applying for engineering graduate programs, especially at a school that emphasized the typical liberal arts trajectory. I felt like I was embarking on a completely unique application journey.  

When I started to explore Tufts School of Engineering, I discovered it was the right fit for me. The university is staunch in its support of a well-rounded liberal arts curriculum, but it has maintained impressive credentials as a top-tier research and engineering university. Tufts made it clear that they welcomed all applicants and that my liberal arts background was actually an advantage, not the disadvantage I sometimes felt it was. It was able to meet me where I am, both as a student and person.  

If you’re in a similar boat to me, here are a few of my tips for applying to graduate school in engineering as an “untraditional” applicant:  

1. Seek out opportunities at your university that may suit your graduate degree. If you’re like me and realize about halfway through college you want to pursue a different path, find mentors at your university who can help support you through this transition. For me, that looked like joining a biophysics lab, run by the only professor on campus with an engineering background. I also really doubled up on all the physics, math, and other “technical” courses I could find. I ended up conducting research on biomedical devices and sensing that I was able to discuss in all of my applications!  

2. Highlight your own strengths. Every applicant has different experiences, both academically and personally. What you view as something lacking – for instance, not having an engineering degree – makes you a more unique applicant with a well-rounded degree. 

3. Talk to people at Tufts. While I may be biased, I have found the Tufts community to be incredibly welcoming, supportive, and communicative. The Office of Graduate Admissions is here to answer all of your lingering questions, including about what your transition may look like into a program that may be new for you. The department you apply to is also there to answer questions about your specific prerequisites and any additional classes they would recommend.  I, alongside my fellow GSRs, am also here to welcome any questions and to share my own experiences in the graduate application process.  

 I am so glad that I took the leap and applied to Tufts School of Engineering. The community I have here was worth the ups and downs of my application journey, and I ultimately would not have it any other way.