We do engineering differently.
There are no big lectures at Sweet Briar. No waiting for your second or third year before the work gets interesting or you get your hands on the equipment. You’ll jump in right away: Every class is project-based, hands-on learning. It’s all the challenge and sense of purpose you’re looking for — discovering all the ways you can become a woman who gets things done.
Engineering employers and grad schools want big-picture thinkers. Become one here.
Where do Sweet Briar engineering students go after graduation? To jobs with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, IBM and the U.S. Navy, and highly competitive graduate programs at Duke, Virginia Tech and Johns Hopkins — to name a few.
It’s all because we teach engineering as a flexible mindset and a fundamental, interdisciplinary set of skills that will fit any specialty. It’s the solid foundation you need to ride the constant wave of changes in technology — and exactly what employers and competitive graduate programs told us they were looking for.
Tough, yes. Sink-or-swim, no.
Engineering at Sweet Briar means joining a community where everyone has your back. It’s challenging work, of course — but engineering here is a tight-knit group of young women who prize individuality and share your love of making things that matter in the world.
And when you’re up against a knotty problem — whether it’s untangling circuits or troubleshooting a stress test in materials science — no one will tell you “Talk to the TA (teaching assistant).” Here, you’ll work through problems face-to-face with a professor who knows you and knows your strengths.
The Sweet Briar College Margaret Jones Wyllie ’45 Engineering Program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, and offers elective courses in environmental engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. It’s one of only two degree-granting engineering programs at a women’s college in the U.S.
