Engineering
Engaged 4+1 Engineering
Engaged 4+1 Engineering takes what you’re learning in your courses and puts it into practice through internships, research, study away, winter term, career exploration, and beyond.
Because 4+1 students spend all four undergraduate years at Oberlin, there’s room to build a deep record of hands-on work before applying to Penn—and Penn Engineering is looking for exactly that.
Ways 4+1 Engineering Students Rise
Research
Each 4+1 pathway grows out of research already happening at Oberlin. Students work alongside faculty in the sciences from their first years, and that work is the strongest part of a Penn Engineering application. Master’s program tracks include:
- Biotechnology
- Energy and Sustainability
- Materials Science
- Scientific Computing
- Systems Engineering
Oberlin’s STRONG program (Science and Technology Research Opportunities for a New Generation) supports students entering science research careers, and the Oberlin Research Review features student work.
Internships
Oberlin’s Career Communities connect students to organizations across engineering, energy, technology, and the health sciences.
Study Away
Spending all four years at Oberlin makes a semester or year abroad easier to fit around pathway requirements than it is in a three-year track. Students planning for Penn work with their major advisor and the 4+1 advisor to place study away where it won’t collide with prerequisite sequencing.
Experiential Learning
- Winter term projects, taken in January, give students a month to build, test, or field-test something without competing coursework.
- The Oberlin Innovation Studio and LaunchU connect entrepreneurial students to startup funding—$13,000 distributed to student ventures last year.
Where the 4+1 Leads
Students complete the master’s at Penn Engineering in one of five programs: Biotechnology, Energy and Sustainability, Materials Science, Scientific Computing, or Systems Engineering. The first Oberlin cohort applies in February 2027 and enrolls at Penn in fall 2027. We will publish destination and placement data here as it becomes available.