Don't go to an Engineering College !!

<p>If you like engineering and understand what you're signing up for, you should go to an Engineering College !!
It is true that, just because you really liked your HS physics class, you should not automatically go into engineering for the hell of it</p>

<p>"Engineering graduates make up the largest percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs among all undergraduate majors.'</p>

<p>Just curious as to what the actual % & number is and how it relates to the total # of engineers currently in the work force. Context helps to put these statements in perspective.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Engineering graduates make up the largest percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs among all undergraduate majors.

[/quote]
Wow, talk about cherry-picking from a stat to make a misleading point!! **Before you read any farther **ask yourself what the person who posted this wants you to believe is the percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs that have engineering degrees. Is she implying that its over 50%? That its a more popular major than any other, even if its not over 50%? That successful people like Fortune 500 CEOs picked engineering, and if you want to be a success like them you ought to make that same choice?</p>

<p>Of course its not true that most Fortune 500 CEOs are engineers, or that its the most popular major. So how do you make this misleading claim? You pick very carefully from the articles about this. Here's a fuller quote from a typical article touting this stat; see how a couple of extra words completely change the meaning
[quote]
engineering remains the No. 1 undergraduate degree for our surveyed CEOs, ahead of business administration and economics. Among the top 100, fully one-fifth studied engineering

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</p>

<p>Whoa!! Only 20% have engineering degrees? That means 80% picked something else. Not only that, even the 20% figure is misleading when used in comparison to other majors. They add together all engineering degrees (mechanical, electrical, aeronautical, etc) under the category "engineering". But they split out business administration, economics, liberal arts, and accounting into 4 separate groups. In fact the sum of these 4 majors is 42%, FAR surpassing the total for engineering.</p>

<p>If you want to see a study for yourself, read <a href="http://content.spencerstuart.com/sswebsite/pdf/lib/2005_CEO_Study_JS.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://content.spencerstuart.com/sswebsite/pdf/lib/2005_CEO_Study_JS.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>And to Sam Lee, note my post said "many" and not "all". I posted a link to an article that discusses this very fact. Anyone can go to the library and read it; with a bit of searching I bet you can find it on the web. Where is your evidence that it is "not true"?</p>

<p>Edit -- here's the link High-Tech</a> Melting Pot

[quote]
Then there are those non-verbal forms of communication which, on inspection, have strict rules attached to them. The unwritten rule for the amount of personal space to preserve for the person you're addressing is four feet. And there's hygiene. "Body odor is taboo" in America, says Vimu Rajdev, who owns a recruiting company that brings over Indian and European workers, trains them, and helps to place them in tech firms. In France, India, and many other countries, it's a fact of life. Ravi's boss actually took him shopping for deodorant

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</p>

<p>why are you so intent on stopping people from becoming engineers? let them do what they want.</p>

<p>
[quote]
mydixiewrecked writes: why are you so intent on stopping people from becoming engineers? let them do what they want.

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Looking at past posts by mydixiewrecked I see
[quote]
Being honest is immoral. Honesty will come back to haunt you. Always cheat.
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/574366-kids-spread-cheating-methods-youtube-6.html#post1061092264%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/574366-kids-spread-cheating-methods-youtube-6.html#post1061092264&lt;/a> post 82

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[quote]
Yes it is okay to lie. Don't listen to these people
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/579921-ok-bend-truth.html#post1061121992%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/579921-ok-bend-truth.html#post1061121992&lt;/a> post 11

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Somehow I was hoping for a better class of critic ;)</p>

<p>I hope you know both those posts were jokes.</p>

<p>
[quote]
RacinReaver writes: I went to an engineering college for undergrad and absolutely loved my time there. Made tons of friends, did some really hard problem sets, have some exciting labs, and (gasp) even had a ton of fun doing things other than school work with my friends!

[/quote]
Given the location for this poster is given as Pasadena, am I right in guessing Caltech? </p>

<p>Well, this post isn't for you; the kids that go to MIT and Caltech are going to succeed no matter where they go to college, no matter what they major in; just to get in to these schools you've shown the smarts and drive that will take you places. It's just like the well-known study by Krueger that found that kids who were accepted into a top school and somewhere else did fine no matter which school they actually chose.</p>

<p>Caltech is an intense place!! You should post (not in this thread; you need your own!) a few stories about ditch day; I'm sure you've got some :)</p>

<p>
[quote]
"Engineering graduates make up the largest percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs among all undergraduate majors.'</p>

<p>Just curious as to what the actual % & number is and how it relates to the total # of engineers currently in the work force. Context helps to put these statements in perspective.

[/quote]

US graduates between 1.2 to 1.3 millions undergraduate students per year and 60,000 to 70,000 are engineers, or 5% of the total. About 20% of Fortune 500 CEOs have undergraduate degrees in engineering. So, engineers have 4 times the chance of an average graduate to become a big CEO.</p>

<p>I remember when this exact thread was posted a few years ago too. Thanks folks for finding it so quickly. BTW, my s has a degree in Mech E. He had 4 job offers in his hand within the first month of his senior year of college. All very good paying with lots of opportunities. In todays economy engineers are still in very high demand. Marleys ghost needs to go back where he came from....</p>

<p>Professor101 just beat me to what I was going to say. :(</p>

<p>
[quote]
Given the location for this poster is given as Pasadena, am I right in guessing Caltech?</p>

<p>Well, this post isn't for you; the kids that go to MIT and Caltech are going to succeed no matter where they go to college, no matter what they major in; just to get in to these schools you've shown the smarts and drive that will take you places. It's just like the well-known study by Krueger that found that kids who were accepted into a top school and somewhere else did fine no matter which school they actually chose.</p>

<p>Caltech is an intense place!! You should post (not in this thread; you need your own!) a few stories about ditch day; I'm sure you've got some

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</p>

<p>Actually, all I know about ditch day is the undergrads leave campus a mess since they don't clean up after themselves. I was at Carnegie Mellon for undergrad. ;)</p>

<p>Here is for background.
<a href="http://www.antolin-davies.com/antony/research/ceos.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.antolin-davies.com/antony/research/ceos.pdf&lt;/a>

[quote]
Educational Background
According to our research, 97% of S&P 500 CEOs earned an undergraduate degree at a college or university. Engineering and Business Administration were the top two most often-received degrees.

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</p>

<p>instead of only criticizing a widespread field of study, how about you offer some suggestions for high school students who are most skilled in math and science subjects and like problem solving...</p>

<p>This guy is a whacko. When I worked at Arby's a good percentage of the people there had liberal arts degrees. Both of my parents got liberal arts degrees and couldn't get any work. Both of them had to get technical skills in order to get a job, period. I have seen tons of English majors working dead in service jobs. I have yet to see an electrical engineer making fries. </p>

<p>Sure, engineering isn't perfect, but it's better than being a fry cook because only a small percentage of liberal arts majors can actually get the management jobs. </p>

<p>Yes, there is outsourcing, but that's because the US doesn't produce nearly enough engineers to meet the demand, and those that we hire in the US earn insanely huge salaries compared to other fields (especially if you remember that everyone who gets an engineering degree gets a job, but only a handful of liberal arts majors get the i-baking degrees).</p>

<p>OP's post could be a biography of the lives of both my Engineer-father and Engineer-brother (both retired now). I would add, however, that they both seem to be happy with the way their lives turned out.</p>

<p>On the other hand, the two liberal arts majors in my family went on to earn a JD and MBA and out-earned the Engineers by at least double their salary.</p>

<p>But don't forget there's nothing stopping the engineers from getting a JD or MBA.</p>

<p>My brother's in law school and was a liberal arts undergrad; I'm in grad school and was in engineering for undergrad. I can't even imagine how much money it would take to get me to swap careers with him.</p>

<p>BTW I actually kind of agree with the OP to an extent. You should only do engineering if you really like that stuff, and are good at math/science. otherwise it's not worth it.</p>

<p>this guy makes somewhat of an interesting argument, but i still think engineering is an excellent major choice, and should not be discouraged at all. </p>

<p>First of all, Engineering pays considerably well compared to nearly all other jobs, especially a high starting salary. Just undergrad in engineering, your looking at around 50-60K straight out of any college. If you get your masters and go to some place like MIT, you can expect 80-100K straight out of college. And there is room for growth, a lot of engineers actually start their own companies! </p>

<p>If you do something in liberal arts, well, you can't really expect anything, and from there you have no solid educational basis that people look for. For instance, my friend's parents went to ivy league schools and did liberal arts like most other people. Where are they now? My friends mom worked as a customer service rep, and now owns a cookie shop. My friends dad ended up going back to a state school to do nursing because he couldn't find job, and now he's still a nurse. In the end, engineering forms a much more solid and applicable educational basis than something like english or liberal arts!</p>

<p>I could go on and debate this guy's argument, but i want to move on, and tell you how just because you major in engineering, it doesnt mean you're doomed to a smelly foreigner dominated workplace and unhappy college years. I know lots of people that majored in engineering and have had fun throughout college and are equally as cultured in other academics, such as english, art and history. </p>

<p>Engineering may have its faults, but it is still an excellent choice</p>

<p>Wow, i didn't know chances to become a manager were that low. Can someone comment on this.</p>

<p>While I'm not speculating on the growth (or shrinkage) of the engineering field overall, the numbers given (1 out of 10 become managers) seem reasonable. And having known people where were 1st-line managers, that may be one of the less enjoyable jobs in the whole field. You're close to the people doing the actual job but don't have as much time to do it as you did before as an engineer; you're expected to supervise your employees, attend meetings to coordinate your projects, etc. Many who are promoted into 1st-line management find the transition to be a shock and they leave behind what they enjoyed most.</p>

<p>After 1st-level manager, the pyramid continues. In many companies a group of engineers report to a director, who in turn reports to a VP. 1st-line managers often don't make that much more than those they supervise; the good pay really starts at director-grade and above. Needless to say the odds of hitting 2nd-line or 3rd-line management are much less than becoming even a 1st-line manager.</p>

<p>BTW this management pyramid holds in many careers, not just engineering. Forget that every salesperson sitting at the desk of your local bank or brokerage is titled as a "VP". They're not VP's of anything, they don't have a staff reporting to them. Same with the "marketing managers" working in sales & marketing in many companies; they manage nobody. There just aren't that many managers around.</p>

<p>I'm not an engineer but many members of my family (father, siblings, cousins, uncles, in-laws) are. Some electrical, some mechanical, some civil. I can't think of a single one of them who doesn't enjoy his/her line of work, though of course there may be the same routine job-related stresses and annoyances that go with any job. None of them has gotten rich, but all appear to be pretty content with the comfortable middle- to upper-middle-income status they enjoy. Sorry to hear the OP is so miserable, but I wouldn't take that to be representative of the field in general.</p>