New three-year science degree offered

Program, set to begin in Fall, projected to save students approximately $15,000

The Georgia College Department of Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy will be launching a new degree program that will enable incoming freshmen to graduate with bachelor’s degrees in chemistry or physics in just three years. Beginning in the Fall 2011 semester, chemistry and physics majors can join residential learning communities in which they will take classes all year around. The program is also projected to save students at least $15,000 in tuition and housing costs by entering the program.

Around 150 students will be accepted into the program, and they will all be housed in one residential building at West Campus.

“The basic idea of the program is if you do 10 classes in the summer, you can get a bachelor’s degree in physics or chemistry in three years. The attractive part of it is there is a cost savings as well as time savings,” said Department Chair Ken McGill. “But it also works well with our new living and learning community. Since the West Campus contracts are for 12 months, it just makes sense if you have time to go to school in the summer, you can finish up early.”

Freshman students will take identical core science classes. In the residential learning community, instructors will hold special sessions in hallways, and students will be allowed to work problems on the walls with the use of wall coverings. The West Campus Center and the Wellness and Recreation Center will also be used by the program.

“That’s a really awesome idea, since the people in those programs are always getting together and working problems anyway,” said senior middles grades education major and chemistry minor David Paperno, who is familiar with the program.

Prospective students will go through the standard application process to Georgia College, and any students interested in chemistry or physics will be contacted by the university about the new program.

Current Georgia College students will also be allowed to participate in the program.

“Anyone can adapt to it. If a sophomore or junior wants to join the residential learning community, they can,” McGill said.

According to McGill, another major benefit of the new program will be directed toward the physics and engineering program at the university. Currently, those students operate on a “three-plus-two plan,” in which they attend Georgia College for three years and finish their final two years at Georgia Tech, completing an engineering degree. In many cases, students take six years to complete their degree.

“What we are proposing is to stay here three years, go ahead and get your degree in physics with all of the engineering prerequisites as well as some extra engineering classes, and then graduate with a physics degree and then go to Georgia Tech to get a master’s degree in engineering,” McGill said. “Generally speaking, you’ll have a really good chance of getting an assistantship, so the master’s degree will be paid for. For the same investment of six years, now instead of just having a degree from Georgia Tech, you have a bachelor’s degree from here and a master’s from Tech.”

McGill added that the program should bring significant advantages both financially and in terms of helping to raise graduation rates.

“I think it’s innovative. I think there are a lot of students that it will resonate with and with some some it won’t. But we still have the four-year program that they might be happier with,” McGill said. “In the economic times we’re in, this will give us the chance to attract students, especially with what’s going on with HOPE. This gives us another alternative for some real cost savings for parents and for students for a college education. So it will be a real benefit in that sense.”

Current students at Georgia College have expressed mixed opinions of the new program.

“I think it’s doable, but it will be very tough,” senior chemistry major Jeff Ivie said.

One main concern is that the students will be around only a select group of people for the majority of their time and could become removed from the overall college experience.

“If these people are near each other inside and outside of class, it may not work,” Paperno said. “So in theory, it’s a great idea, but in actuality it may not work out so well, and these people may isolate themselves a little bit.”

Ivie said he didn’t see isolation being much of a problem.

“The science people are usually a very tight-knit group anyway,” Ivie said. “So in that aspect, they should be fine.”

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Mar 3 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.