Steve,

At Drexel University, where I went to school, you go to school for five years. You have three semesters in your freshmen and senior years and two semesters of school and two semesters of co-operative work experience in your sophomore, pre-junior and junior years. You still had to take English Literature, History, etc., but they were geared to help you communicate your ideas, etc., when you got out of school. For instance, I remember doing three term papers that were technically oriented for the English requirement. I enjoyed the history courses, since I am a history buff.

Drexel University also has a Mechatronics Lab:

http://prism.mem.drexel.edu/

It is too bad they didn't have that when I went to school 20 years ago, building a robot would have been a great senior project.

Jacob