<p>Does anyone have an idea of what the freshman engineering retention rate is at UT? What percentage of engineering students don't make it to the beginning of their sophomore year? Any help or insight would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I second that request. How scary is it?</p>
<p>I don’t understand why people think engineering is so hard. If you have a good grasp of math, self-study skills, and persistence, engineering is a breeze. People who drop out of engineering because they just want to party and not do any work.</p>
<p>^^
I understand that is your opinion liu02bhs but it does not come close to answering the question of what the current freshman engineering retention rate is at UT? What percentage of engineering students don’t make it to the beginning of their sophomore year?</p>
<p>Don’t know how recent this is, but according to this doc, the retention rate is 85% <a href=“Custom 404 page”>Custom 404 page;
The biggest hurdle for most engineering students is developing the discipline to study. So many breezed through HS that although they are prepared academically, they have to learn how to study.</p>
<p>^^^
The link you included had data from the 2010 USNWR, so it must be somewhat current. Thanks very much for your help.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that unofficially it is 50%. As for the comments about working hard and developing self-study skills…almost everyone I met at UT does that. Not everyone parties and drinks themselves silly, people DO work hard but engineering is just tough for some people so they have no choice but to drop out.</p>
<p>You will learn that at UT, you could work your ass off and still struggle in classes and in some classes you could not even show up and half-ass things and get an A. It just depends…</p>
<p>So for engineering majors ask your self the following questions:</p>
<p>1.) Am I willing to forgo my social life and devot my time and energy to school and engineering courses?</p>
<p>2.) Do I love math and have an aptitude for solving tricky problems?</p>
<p>3.) How badly do I want to become an engineer?</p>
<p>If you are unsure or answered no to the questions then I would seriously consider another major. BTW, regardless of how hard you work engineering IS NOT a brezze!</p>
<p>Just my thoughts…Good Luck!</p>
<p>
According to the link above:
85% first year retention for freshman engineering students
60% six year graduation rate for engineering students.</p>
<p>What is the racial/gender breakdown of the dropouts? </p>
<p>I would guess that more women and NAMs(Non-Asian Minorities) dropout. I always see women come crying out of the engineering buildings. </p>
<p>Engineering is not for everyone. I think a lot of people dropout because it is too hard. I think only a small minority dropout because they “want to party”. It could be a combination of both factors. I think that it requires a certain type of mind to handle engineering work, and some people just can’t do it, no matter how hard they try. I’ve met very few engineering students who think that “engineering is a breeze”. It’s like 1 in 10 that think that way.</p>
<p>^^^
While I agree that engineering is not easy or “right” for everybody, there does seem to be a wide disparity of freshman engineering retention rates among colleges. IMHO…you can’t just write that disparity off to the theory that not everyone is suited for engineering. It appears as though some college engineering programs are doing a better job of selecting and supporting their freshman engineering students than others. When evaluating a potential college for engineering it should, IMHO be a factor to consider.</p>
<p>The issue many 1st year engineers have is not wanting to party. It is that in HS, they could earn good grades with a minimum of effort and never learned good study skills. I’d STRONGLY encourage new engineering students to join an engineering FIG or take a general engineering course. During some of the sessions, the instructors cover study strategies that many engineering students never had to use before.</p>
<p>Crossposted with aglages.</p>
<p>Cockrell has amazing support services, but students must take the initiative to seek help. Instructors, advisors, and other support staff will bend over backwards to help students if the student goes to them. However, the successful UT student (even outside of engineering) is self-motivated. LACs, private, and smaller schools are a better choice for a student who needs more hands-on guidance.</p>
<p>^^^
Good advice. Although even self motivated students might benefit from more hands on organized study programs. Freshman in particular (IMHO) are somewhat hesitant to ask for help until it is (almost) too late.</p>
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<p>LOL, that wasn’t my experience at all. I graduated with high honors. Most of the other women in my class did pretty well, too. Better than the average guy, for sure.</p>
<p>
They may be crying because the engineering boys are so socially inept. Just kidding…mostly.</p>
<p>The retention rate is a lot(i could of sworn “a lot” was one word in elementary lol) higher than i would’ve guessed.</p>
<p>For EE there are a few weeder courses, but once you’re through them its a lot smoother. Differential Equations and EE 411 both have very bad reps for sending people to other majors.</p>