<p>I have a few friends - as an example - who were engineers at Dartmouth. Many went onto Wall Street. More than a few went straight into Venture Capital or went after a couple years on the street. Some went into high profile consulting such as energy consulting. Some went to law school, then become patent lawyers, etc. Some went into software. Those that wanted to be actual engineers tended to go to top 5 engineering grad schools. </p>
<p>The truth is that engineering itself is a less lucrative profession, relatively, to these other areas. If you want any of the above the Ivies get you there. It seems most students prefer this path.</p>