"At the recent Web 2.0 conference John suggested that the US should staple a Green Card to every foreign student's engineering diploma and encourage them to stay in the USA."
I really agree this. It's hard for a foreigner to work here.
50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
21–30 of 109 posts
Re: 50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
#22Because it's far easier for a smart person to get a business degree that pays just as well, if not better? Because a degree in engineering is a fast-track to career marginalization by the frat-boy MBAs who see technical workers as interchangeable cogs? Because engineering virtually guarantees you a minimum of social interaction in college, when your peers are actually enjoying their lives? Because you'll run smack in…
That's a lot of upvotes for a rant. Is this your experience personally? Do you not like working for justin.tv?
Re: 50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
#23Because engineering is difficult.
Re: 50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
#24Because it's far easier for a smart person to get a business degree that pays just as well, if not better? Because a degree in engineering is a fast-track to career marginalization by the frat-boy MBAs who see technical workers as interchangeable cogs? Because engineering virtually guarantees you a minimum of social interaction in college, when your peers are actually enjoying their lives? Because you'll run smack in…
On the other hand, as an engineer you can:
-Work for a big company, a small company or just work for yourself.
-Work from anywhere in the world you can take a laptop and an internet connection
-Use free tools to create a product you can duplicate (and sell) infinitely
-Be a part of an extremely active and passionate community that is on the cutting edge of the industry that is driving the global economy
Where else are you going to find that much flexibility and potential?
Re: 50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
#25Because Don Dodge wears a toupee.
Oops wrong article.
Re: 50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
#26If I recall correctly, something like 20-30% of undergraduates drop out during the course of their degree. Engineering is generally the most difficult program, so you'd expect that the dropout rates would be higher. I suspect there's also a number of transfers to less demanding programs baked in there.
Why should we want to minimize drop-out rates anyway? It doesn't necessarily indicate there's a problem with the curriculum - engineering should be a tough program. The only way you could minimize drop-outs would be to prevent all but the strongest students from entering in the first place. I think it's telling that the highly-selective schools have very low drop-out rates. Is MIT's methodology all that different from less selective universities? I doubt it.
Re: 50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
#27A 50% dropout rate may be a sign of health - it means the courses haven't been watered down. I'd be far more worried about a 95% graduation rate. States universities are less selective with general admission, so the engineering departments have to screen out the students who aren't up to the challenge. MIT pre-screens everyone so it's not fair to compare it to state schools.
Re: 50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
#28Because it's far easier for a smart person to get a business degree that pays just as well, if not better? Because a degree in engineering is a fast-track to career marginalization by the frat-boy MBAs who see technical workers as interchangeable cogs? Because engineering virtually guarantees you a minimum of social interaction in college, when your peers are actually enjoying their lives? Because you'll run smack in…
On the other hand, as an engineer you can: -Work for a big company, a small company or just work for yourself. -Work from anywhere in the world you can take a laptop and an internet connection -Use free tools to create a product you can duplicate (and sell) infinitely -Be a part of an extremely active and passionate community that is on the cutting edge of the industry that is driving the global economy Where else ar…
Wait here, we know that "engineer" is not a euphemism for "computer programmer", right?
Re: 50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
#29Because it's far easier for a smart person to get a business degree that pays just as well, if not better? Because a degree in engineering is a fast-track to career marginalization by the frat-boy MBAs who see technical workers as interchangeable cogs? Because engineering virtually guarantees you a minimum of social interaction in college, when your peers are actually enjoying their lives? Because you'll run smack in…
Right on timr. I have an MS in engineering and it took me 17 years on the job to figure out what a joke my degree was.
Earning a degree in engineering is the functional equivalent of buying your way into slavery.
Re: 50% of US engineering students drop out - Why?
#30Because it's far easier for a smart person to get a business degree that pays just as well, if not better? Because a degree in engineering is a fast-track to career marginalization by the frat-boy MBAs who see technical workers as interchangeable cogs? Because engineering virtually guarantees you a minimum of social interaction in college, when your peers are actually enjoying their lives? Because you'll run smack in…
That's a lot of upvotes for a rant. Is this your experience personally? Do you not like working for justin.tv?
Justin.tv is great...but it's not your typical engineering job.
I think that a lot of the appeal of startups to young engineers is that they represent the opportunity to do things differently. Rather than tethering your future to the MBA bean-counter at corporate, you can have the chance to be corporate. That's a critical difference.