<p>I wonder if studying engineering at LACs would be an excellent option, since someone said the career aspect is not that great. So what are most engineering students going to do after graduation?</p>
<p>Thanks! =)</p>
<p>the whole 'lac graduates cant get jobs' thing is a myth. bucknell publishes a postgraduate report every year, which you can find here:</p>
<p>one thing i want to point out is that this data is collected by a survey sent out to recent graduates every year. bucknells response rate is incredibly high and therefore the data is highly representative of what bucknell grads (who dont go on to grad school) earn as starting salaries. many schools have much lower response rates and, given the logical assumption that people who get good jobs are more likely to respond, have inflated figures. also, schools like lehigh report by the field entered. so if an engineer does something like 'teach for america' for a year, it lowers the average engineering salary at bucknell but does not impact the engineering data reported by lehigh.</p>
<p>the other point i would like to make is that there is a difference between liberal arts colleges that have full-fledged engineering programs (bucknell, harvey mudd, lafayette, swarthmore, union) and those that have 3-2 programs with other universities. i know some people who have enjoyed 3-2 programs (three years at your college, two years somewhere else), but i would not recommend them.</p>
<p>Arent those salaries a little low considering that the average starting salary for an engineer is around $60,000?</p>
<p>if the average starting salary for engineers were $60,000 i would agree, but its not. the average engineering graduate from mit doesnt even make $60,000. in fact, bucknells 2005 chemical engineering majors made more than mits. admittedly, mit won everywhere else, but given that mit is perhaps the best engineering school in north america and its students are among the brightest in the world, there would be a problem if it didnt.</p>
<p>the problem with many of the statistics out there is they are self-reported. send out 1000 surveys asking women what size jeans they wear and youll get a number smaller than the population mean. ask 1000 guys how much they can bench press and the results will be similar; youll get a number much higher than the true average. there is a motivation to lie, for sure. but more importantly there is also a motivation to not respond if youre number isnt 'ideal' and a motivation to do exactly the opposite--respond--if your number is. </p>
<p>bucknells response rates are nearly 100 percent.</p>
<p>further, average salary numbers often only reflect those who entered their field. many schools, lehigh being an example, would not consider an civil engineer who did 'teach for america' it its statistics. </p>
<p>bucknell does.</p>
<p>statistics are what they are. and perhaps the most important thing to learn here is that not all published statistics are created equal. i still cringe when i think that colgate refuses to publish sat statistics for enrolled students on its website. why? their enrolled class (much like bucknells) has an average about 40 points lower than the admitted group. average salary reporting is the same thing, only much more complicated and as such easier to manipulate.</p>