<p>Agree that you have to love it here, but not so sure I agree with why.
First of all you have to be really good at math & science, and interested in these subjects. A lot of people just aren't.</p>
<p>A lot of the people who are really good at math & science have other career prospects available to them here besides engineering. The health professions for example. Computing. These other fields seem as likely to be remunerative as engineering is, in this country, so there's no bias towards engineering here from the perspective of financial rewards.</p>
<p>Engineering study requires a lot of work, but most of the people who undertake that work are well suited to this task. A not insignificant proportion of these same people are completely unsuited to success as an English major, IMO. One can see this from the disparity between the English & Math SATs of entering students at virtually all but three or four engineering schools. I have seen it in person. I don't think an English major would be easier than engineering for many people who study engineering. Less total hours of homework, perhaps, but much lower success on average. IMO.</p>
<p>So I personally don't think the loss of potential engineers here is so much to "easier" majors as it is to other majors that may be more remunerative or more interesting to particular students. Whether they are easier or not. Many of these other majors are not much easier. I majored in Physics as an undergrad, and the courses I took in the engineering college were on the whole easier, to me, than many of the courses I took in my own college (Arts & Sciences).</p>