<p>Yeah, I know this is a stereotypical question, but I have a good reason for asking.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago, I was invited to the Engineering Open House at UCLA. What I saw there completely changed my perception of engineers. When I was there, I looked around at all the other students at the open house. The population was about 70% Asian, 80% male, and 90% of them looked like either geeks, nerds or dorks. Nearly all of the student presenters there were geeky to some degree. What's worse was that the student presenters told us that UC Berkeley was supposedly more nerdy than UCLA and that students at Cal were more focused on academics than UCLA students were. I cannot even imagine what the Cal engineering population would be like.</p>
<p>I'm not saying that geeky-looking people can't be cool, or that all these people are anti-social nerds, it's just that I was never under the impression that such a large percentage of engineers looked like they've spent way too much time on academics and not enough with a social life. UCLA is marketed as a cool, laid-back school with a large social scene (as opposed to Berkeley), but from what I saw, UCLA's school of engineering certainly did not fit this perception.</p>
<p>I don't mean to bash UCLA or Berkeley, I'm simply stating that my perception of engineers is much different than what I saw at the open house. Was what I saw at the open house a fluke, that not all engineering student populations fit what I described above, or was it an accurate representation of the typical engineer?</p>
<p>And also, you are talking about the most intelligent portions of the respective student bodies. Geekiness correlates reasonably well with intelligence so it's not a surprise you see more geeks in engineering.</p>
<p>If you went to Cal Poly ME I think you'd be surprised at the level of non-geekiness.</p>
<p>The population breakdown is also present at my school, but not to the same extremity. There does seem to be a lot of geeky looking people, most of whom are Asian. Sometimes I can't differentiate one from another, and I'm Asian myself!</p>
<p>smart is what matters
sacrifice ur 4 years to make the rest of your life financially comfortable. It's better than doing ******** majors and not getting a job.</p>
<p>UCLA engineers are not even as geeky compared to Caltech, MIT and the likes</p>
<p>ahaha I in my English class the girls I was talking to were surprised I was a Computer Science Major...they figured something like business with my personality ;). Def. all Engineers arent geeky...just come to Penn State if you wannna see non-geeky engineers</p>
<p>yeah what you saw was accurate. but hey, that's engineering for ya. they're really funny characters and entertaining. of course there are the engineering majors that arn't like that too, but they're really rare and out of those, most usually leave engineering.</p>
<p>The geekier an engineering student, the smarter the person is. It is what I observe from my school. Some of the smartest ppl at my school, who score 98 on exam that class average is about 50, are above and beyond on geekiness.</p>
[/quote]
Fortunately, no. Look for the ones who work outdoors, like the geotechnical, petroleum, or mining engineers. These engineers are universally admired, not only for their quick intelligence, strength of character, and control of heavy equipment, but also for their rugged good looks.</p>
<p>*Fortunately, no. Look for the ones who work outdoors, like the geotechnical, petroleum, or mining engineers. *</p>
<p>That seems correct based on what I've seen as well. It also agrees with Mr. Payne's "Geekiness: CS=EE=CPE>ME>CE". Most of the "geekier" engineers you will meet are the ones that work closely with computers and not the ones you see working on cars and construction sites.</p>
<p>hmmm geekiness is more of the intelligent, loves school, not very social. nerdy is more of the intelligent, works hard, but COULD be social. sure a lot of engineers are super school focused but i know a lot of engineers and they sure can party.</p>